35

Piper

On The Hard Ground Of Oklahoma

Adam held out his hand, waiting for me to give up the key. He held it in his hand for a moment and watched me, giving me half an idea of what I looked like. I wore the darkest clothes I packed, but the black hoodie had a bedazzled turtle outline. My blonde hair was all fuzzy from partying and I rubbed out most of my eye makeup. In short - not my best.

He slipped the key into his pocket, silent.

With a quick walk, that enormous football player picked up the largest piece of wood and sized it up in his hands. He was so much stronger than me. The black shirt could barely cover his muscles, and he handled the wooden plank with ease. Adam took a casual stroll to the window.

"What are you doing?" I asked, taking a step back when he motioned me to.

"If nobody's here, we have to do this right." He planted his feet apart and lined up the piece of wood with the window. A spiderweb of cracks started around the middle where I'd hit it, about six inches apart. Slowly, he lowered the wooden piece back and forth from the window, testing out the weight. "I'm teaching you how to break a window, ice princess."

I raised an eyebrow, just sober enough. "I thought you were a football player? That's a baseball stance."

"How do you think I got this nice ass?"

My mouth fell open and Adam wiggled his eyebrows at me before the piece of wood whistled in the air. With a crack , the window shattered into a million pieces, glass sprinkling to the ground.

My hand flew to my mouth, and I squealed with happiness, running over to the other side.

"Like this?" I asked twice, setting up my stance.

"Arch your back more. You're too stiff."

Making the loop around the car, he took his place behind me. Heat pooled between my legs when he touched my hips, adjusting my pose. His fingers rested on my hip. Adam was right behind me and my body knew it. My heart thumped in my chest just feeling his presence. The shower…

"You did baseball?" I said, breathless.

"My high school coach had me try out for everything." He chuckled and my blood cooled.

If there was anyone who needed their car smashed in, it was Adam's old coach. I couldn't believe what he did to him. And when Adam was a kid . My fingers dug into the divots of the wood, and I let the piece pull back over my shoulder. I thought about sixteen-year-old Adam, unable to stand up on the field. Sixteen-year-old Adam, hurt .

The piece of wood flew through the air and struck the car with a symphony of broken glass.

"Out of the fucking ballpark!" Adam shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "Piper—motherfucking— Piper knocks it out of the park for a home run!" He put his hand close to his mouth and imitated an audience screaming in applause. " Piper! Piper! Piper! "

A blush blossomed across my face. "Oh my god."

" Piper! Piper! Piper! " Adam took his stance by the next window, still imitating the audience.

Laughter burst out of me, and I almost dropped the wood. "No, hit the front!"

"The what?"

I motioned towards the front of the car. "The front!"

"The hood? " Adam demanded. "You're drunk!"

"You're drunk too!"

"Alright, back it the fuck up." The linebacker took his place in front of the hood of the Clemenza and rolled back his shoulders, gearing up with the piece of wood.

Oh, this is going to be perfect.

Adam took a deep breath and hoisted up the wooden plank over his head, ready to smash it down on the hood of the car. "I love Clemenzas but I'm going to love seeing Xavier's fucking face even more."

A shout made my stomach drop.

Oh no.

Adam smashed the car while I jerked back to see headlights coming from the distance. They were barreling down the road. Right towards us. And even if we had dark hoodies and bandanas and whatever else we'd tied together, whoever was in that car had definitely seen us beating in the car.

This was bad. This was worse than the pool, worse than the presentation, worse than the turning off the building's water.

If they find us—

My thoughts flew out of my head when Adam grabbed my hand. I wasn't coherent enough to know exactly what was going on, but the linebacker was three steps ahead of me, dragging me off. Half-carrying me, half-pulling me along, Adam led the way, and I just stumbled alongside him.

More shouts echoed behind us, and before I knew what was happening, the two of us raced across a dirt road and into a field. Breath pounded out of my lungs. Any second now, we were going to be caught. The only real thing I could focus on was Adam's hand, his fingers woven through mine.

"Here!" he hissed and my feet flew out from underneath me.

The sky rocked ahead before I realized he yanked us down to the cold ground, one of the bare patches without snow. Adam draped his body over mine, hunkering down the both of us while the car raced by. He clapped his hand over my mouth, holding me close.

All I could do was gaze up at him. Up at those dark eyes.

In the moonlight, on the hard ground of Oklahoma, Adam was so beautiful. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that.

"Okay," he muttered and released me. "I think they're gone. We need to hurry."

"Okay," I whispered back.

"Are you good?"

I nodded, still a little drunk. "Yeah. Thank you."

"No, thank you, ice princess." His grin was blinding. "Out of the fucking ballpark."