Thorns

11 - Carlie

Carlie

It's her fault, Miss I'm-too-late-to-have-breakfast! Now, because of her, I can't go on a normal vacation with Jackie. Why did Whitney have to ruin every single thing for me? Wasn't it enough that I couldn't eat crap like Mac? Wasn't it enough that I had to be taken care of like a toddler?

"Honey, just go have some sun." Daddy said when I was tapping my feet on the high stool in the kitchen "Go read or listen to some music on the porch."

Yeah. Like it was a spa! Ok, so maybe he was right. It was kinda relaxing. I could focus on my reading and on my music, instead of how screwed up Whitney must be.

"Miss Carlie."

I looked up from my book only to see Mr. Vega getting off his old truck.

"Hi, Mr. Vega." I smiled, getting up my chair "What's wrong with our house, today?"

The man laughed and pulled my hair. He was really nice. Santana was so lucky to have such a cool dad like him around. Not like me, who had two dads, and not even one of them actually cared about me being happy.

"The lawn needs to be mowed." Mr. Vega said "And I have to help your father, Tom, with the phone line in his office. So, I brought my son to help me. Miss Carlie, this is my son Rai."

I looked up. Up and up. Up. Ah. There he is. Wow! Smokin' hot was what Mac would say if she could see him! And wait, she could! Note: text Mac to come here ASAP. As in NOW!

"Hi," I said, and I know I mumbled and looked ridiculous.

The guy said something to his dad in Spanish, and Mr. Vega nodded. The guy picked the rake and began working on the far side of our lawn. Mr. Vega went inside, and only five minutes after I texted Mac, she appeared on the road. I saw her long light brown hair bounced as she ran. Her legs – I think she's growing too fast, she looks more like fifteen than thirteen, damn it! - stopped abruptly when she almost hit the hot guy that was cleaning our lawn.

"Sorry." She muttered, and then widened her blue eyes when she came to sit next to me "Holy crap, Carlie! He's smokin'! Where did you get him?!"

"He's Mr. Vegas's son." I whispered both of us take a seat on the porch's white rail "Man... I hope all the leaves fall on our house this Autumn."

Mac kept her wide eyes on the guy, her pink lips – damn it, why am I the only one who can't wear makeup?! – opened in a wide O when Rai took off his shirt and his flawless tanned abs and muscled back shined in the Autumn sun.

Wow! So many tattoos! His abs were flawless, clean from tattoos except for a small one over his heart, something that we couldn't see from this far. His back, however, was a different story. He had some thick scars over his left shoulder blade, and other a little down, tiny white Os. He had a huge black crow tattooed on his left forearm, and many words on the other one. There was a tiger in his right upper arm and shoulder. This one had colors on, and the tiger's eyes were scary. He had his teeth showing and his claws seemed to tear apart Rai's skin. Frickin' awesome!

No piercings. I actually like piercings. I want to do one when I turn sixteen. And lots of tattoos too!

Whit's such a lucky idiot. If that guy was in my class, I'd never leave school.

"Dude..." Mac whined "He's super-hot! Thank you so much for texting me! I think he's ruined every other guy for me, though."

"Same here" I sighed, and Mac and I gasped as Rai looked at us from over his shoulder.

His grin was so wicked that I actually felt my knees tremble. Man... that guy knew how to make a girl cry Uncle.

He had some faded jeans on, black boots and carried a black crucifix around his neck. Wasn't he cold? It wasn't exactly that cold, granted, but still. I had a long-sleeved shirt on and felt the tingles of the cool air on my skin. Guess when you're that hot, you don't feel it.