Page 44 of I Never Expected You (I Never 2)

“I thought it wouldn’t happen until after the school year was over, but your dad thought otherwise.”

“Maybe next time you’ll listen to me, Jacobs. Have I ever been wrong with my intuition? No, that’s right.” My dad sits back in his chair, arms crossed, looking like he is feeling pretty proud of himself.

I’m so glad our parents find this amusing and our dads bet on us. How could they see this coming before us? Was it that obvious? Well, this dinner sure is turning out to be interesting.

Kelly props her elbows on the table after the waitress came around for our drink orders. “So tell us how this all went down?”

Zach and I both share a loving look, and he continues to caress my hand under the table while we explain the details of it all, of course leaving out the sexual parts and the spanking. I squirm in the seat a few times at the mere thought of that and feel my panties dampen. This is nice, though; our smiles never leave our faces as we steal glances at each other throughout dinner, and I watch similar smiles on our families’ faces too. This is something good that both our families needed.

We say goodbye to our parents outside of the restaurant. With his arm around my shoulder and me tightly tucked into him, Zach and I head toward the parking garage where his Jeep is parked.

“See, that wasn’t so bad.” I feel the vibration of his laughter against my body.

“I can’t believe they bet on us.” I feel mortified that they did that, but knowing our dads, I shouldn’t have expected anything less.

He lets out a loud laugh. “I know. That was fucking epic.”

I punch him lightly in the gut. “It’s not funny.”

He looks down at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Okay, okay. It’s hilarious and mortifying all at the same time.”

“I told you it would all be okay, Hails. Maybe you should start listening to me from now on. Huh?”

“Yeah, okay, probably not gonna happen.” I look up at him and see his eyes darken. “But how about I suck your cock on the ride back to school instead?”

Zach takes off running toward the garage, nearly pulling my arm out in the process. I think I’ll take that as a yes.

Seven months later…

One year ago today something changed between Haylee and me, only she didn’t know it at the time. For the past eight months, we have been inseparable. If you had asked me one year ago where I pictured my life, I would never believe myself saying “standing at my best friend’s grave placing flowers with my girlfriend whom I love very much in my arms.” I’m still trying to figure out how it is that we’ve managed two years in this world without him though.

; “You doing okay, Hails?”

Her arms tighten around my waist, but she lets out a relaxing breath, letting me know she’s doing okay. I know this is hard, and at times, she puts on a brave face, but I know her well enough to know when she is just pretending to be strong.

She nuzzles her face in a little more to my chest. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Hanks.”

Her beautiful blue eyes meet mine. “I’m fine, seriously, Jacobs.”

It always makes me laugh a little when she tries to act like one of the guys and call me by my last name. She pushes up on her toes and presses her lips quickly against mine.

She breaks the kiss and giggles and turns so her back is to my front.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was thinking of something ridiculous my brother would probably say just then to break up our kissing. Like ‘get a room—no, wait, that’s gross, don’t do that.’ Or ‘get your filthy paws off my sister.’”

“Ha! Remember that time I caught him and Dani making out on the back deck?” I ask, resting my cheek against the top of her head.

“Which time?” Haylee breaks out into more laughter, knowing that there was more than one occasion that any of us had caught them making out on the back deck, let alone anywhere else.

Those two could never keep their hands to themselves, but for the first time in my life, I get it. Every minute I’m with Haylee, I just need to touch her to remind myself that she’s mine.