A Perfect Mistake by Zoe Dawson

so
shocked.
    Booker slammed into
Braxton and Aubree into him. “What the hell….”
Booker said. Then he saw us, too. His face went slack, his eyes more
stricken with both fear and immediate anxiety.
    Then Aubree, and she
gasped loudly and said into the stunned silence, “Verity?!”
    All three of them
stood there like fucking idiots. All three of them just stared like
we were the main attraction at a freak show.
    Then Verity swore
again, her voice catching, and scrambled away from me. She rushed
into the bathroom and came out a few seconds later with her clothes.
    “Verity,
wait,” I shouted, then started coughing again. Damn.
    Aubree dashed after
her, and my brothers stalked into the room, both of them talking at
once.
    “Why don’t
you answer your fucking phone?” Booker said.
    “Are you out
of your fucking mind, huckleberry?” Brax yelled.
    “I knew
something was going on with that girl.” Booker said, sounding
sick.
    Braxton shook his
head like he still couldn’t believe it. “The preacher’s
daughter! Are you stupid?”
    I totally ignored
them and jumped out of bed. Okay, I went to jump out of bed, but I
actually crawled on my hands and knees because I was so weak. I
snatched my jeans and fumbled into them, barely managing to zip them.
Stumbling out of the room, I staggered to the kitchen and I caught
Verity coming out of the laundry room fully dressed with Aubree.
    “Verity,
wait.”
    “Boone,”
she said, her face full of embarrassment. “I’ve got to
go.”
    “But we need
to talk.” I glanced at Aubree, but she didn’t budge. She
would be on Booker’s side, I guess, not really sure what she
thought about all this. Verity was one of her best friends. “You
can’t just say what you said and leave now!”
    Her eyes knotted me
up inside.
    I needed a chance to
talk to her. It wasn’t because I wanted her, although I did
want her. I was tied up inside and a little frantic. This was
something else. I didn’t know what, couldn’t put a name
to it, but whatever I’d seen in her face this morning had been
profound. It had compelled me. It still compelled me. She pressed her
hand to my chest, right over my heart. “Later,” she
whispered and turned away, practically running out of my house.
    “Oh, God,
Boone, you really are the reckless one,” Aubree said, and she
followed Verity out. I watched them get into Booker’s Mustang
and drive away.
    I turned around.
“ Fuuuccckkk !”
I said, low and broken.
    Both of my brothers
stood there looking like they were going to kick the shit outta me.
    Booker had such
disappointment in his eyes that my stomach knotted and I shifted.
    “I really
thought you put this behind you, Boone. Verity Fairchild is nothing
but trouble. Have you forgotten who we are in this town? There’s
no way anyone is going to accept you hanging out with the preacher’s
daughter, least of all the preacher,” Braxton said, and here I
expected my lecture to come from Booker.
    I met Booker’s
eyes. The disappointment still there and it really hit me hard, but I
just couldn’t give him what he wanted.
    “You guys
don’t understand. I have to talk to Verity. It’s too
important.”
    “You need to
break all ties with her, Boone,” Booker said. “This has
all the makings of a disaster, and there’s going to be a lot of
fallout if anyone finds out about you two.”
    Everything in me
stiffened. “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do,
Booker. You’re my brother, not my daddy. The only person who
can tell me to back off right now is Verity. We have something going
on. Plus I’m already pledged to do the landscaping at the
church, and I’m following through with that. I’m not
going to back out on my word to the reverend.”
    “This town is
going to stone you, if the revver doesn’t draw and quarter you
first.”
    “Boone,”
Booker said. “What’s going on that you have Verity here?
In your fucking bed.”
    “I was sick. I
had a fever. Nothing