Free Need You Tonight by Roni Loren

pick on that, they’d go after his other obvious weakness—his stutter.
    He pulled the latest Stephen King novel and his Walkman out of his backpack, putting
     the headphones over his ears, and turned to the place he’d marked in the book. But
     before the guitars could even kick in on Metallica’s “Until It Sleeps,” a lilting
     laugh cut through the music and carried his gaze up and across the yard. The minute
     his eyes landed on her, his stomach tightened into a fist of familiar longing.
    Tessa McAllen twirled around, showing off some cheerleading move to her gaggle of
     friends. Her light brown hair fanned out around her, and the little spin made her
     skirt flit up a bit, revealing a golden swath of upper thigh and the edge of what
     looked to be pink panties.
    Pink panties.
Fuck. Me.
    Kaden grimaced and shifted his weight, willing his body not to respond to the sight.
     And putting extra effort into forcing his mind not to draw in the rest of the picture
     of what was beneath her skirt. God, he’d imagined that so many times it probably qualified
     as some diagnosable mental illness. And if he let his thoughts go there now, he may
     as well drop out of school and go on the lamb. Because sporting a boner in the fucking
     schoolyard would be an unredeemable humiliation to come back from.
    After she finished her demonstration, her boyfriend, Doug, slid his arm around her
     and gave her a discreet pat on the ass. Kaden wanted to break every bone in that fucker’s
     hand. It’d take care of two things at once—without that hand Doug couldn’t touch Tessa
     like that
and
he wouldn’t be able to throw a damn football again until the season was over. His
     daddy’s money couldn’t buy that back for him. Boo-hoo. The king would be ousted.
    The morbid thought made Kaden smile.
    “Hey, what the fuck are you grinning at, asshole?”
    Doug’s loudmouth best friend, Quincy, had been hanging in the group with Tessa. But
     now the guy’s focus was solidly on him. Kaden barely resisted flipping the dude off
     and looked back down at his book, pretending the music was too loud for him to hear.
    But, of course, the idiot couldn’t let it go. He ambled over, the group trailing behind
     him like a pack of dogs following a scent—in this case, the scent of potential drama
     and humiliation, the most enticing of all here at school.
    Quincy peered down at Kaden, his bug eyes making him look like a pissed off pug. He
     kicked the front of Kaden’s Doc Martens. “Hey, I’m talking to you, K-K-Kaden.”
    A few of them laughed at the old joke. Tessa didn’t. She had this cute little frown
     line between her brows that he wished he could reach over and smooth with his thumb.
     He didn’t think that’d be appreciated though. So instead, he shoved his book in his
     bag and stood, not saying a word. He’d worked hard to beat his childhood stutter,
     but when he was nervous, it came back like a fucking horror movie villain who wouldn’t
     die. So he’d learned to keep his mouth shut when at all possible.
    Not that he was nervous about shit-for-brains Quincy, but Tessa . . . Well, he’d probably
     forget how to speak the English language if he tried to say anything to her. Once
     he was up on his feet, he was looking down at Quincy. God bless that unexpected six
     inches of height. At least something had gone right this year.
    “So what’s the smile for, big boy?” Quincy asked, dialing up the menace in his voice,
     but backing up an inch. “You wouldn’t be looking at Douggie’s pretty girlfriend would
     you?”
    Heat rushed upward, and Kaden prayed it wouldn’t make it to his face. “N-n-no.”
    Fuck!
Why did his body have to rebel on him at the worst goddamned moments? Blushing and
     stuttering. He should just hand over his balls now.
    “N-n-no?” Quincy teased.
    “We all see how you look at her,” Doug said, stepping next to Quincy.
    “Guys, stop it, okay?” Tessa said, her gaze darting away from