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My dad rose to his feet. “I’ll walk you out.”

He ushered me towards the front door and I saw Vaughan leaning against his truck when we stepped out onto the porch. It wasn’t necessary for him to walk me out and when he looked from me to Vaughan and back again I knew something was going on. If he saw the altercation with Alex he didn’t mention it, but I was still surprised when he said, “You’ve got a good one there, sweetheart.” He motioned towards Vaughan.

“We’re not…” I didn’t know what we were, even if he had his hand in my panties yesterday.

My Dad just gave a lopsided smile, and kissed my head before going back inside.

Well then. Nothing strange about that, right?

Wrong.

My Dad and my brothers were all far too relaxed about having Vaughan take me home. They became particularly growly when I was with any guy, really. And it used to drive me insane when I was in high school.

I stepped up to Vaughan’s truck, and he opened the passenger side door for me. He put his hands around my waist and gave me a boost. He shut the door as soon as I was seated and walked around the front of the truck to get in on the drivers’ side. He keyed the ignition and drove down the length of the road my Dad lived in without uttering a word.

“Where’s Daniel?”

The little guy had been hanging around with Aiden and the team a lot and I knew Staci had been helping Vaughan take care of him. They were a real family and somehow Daniel had become part of the ‘team’ family too. The guys on the team, including Liam, Aiden and Jackson, all had a soft spot for him. Oddly enough, so did I.

“Staci’s taking him home. I didn’t want him to be out too late.”

“Oh.” Were we not going to his house?

Disappointment lay heavy in my gut. Guess our night was over. Except Vaughan drove right past my apartment building and then went in the opposite direction of his house. We drove past the University and headed closer towards University Hill. The sun hung low on the horizon which wasn’t unusual for this time of year. We had fourteen hour days and the sun only set after eight p.m. The rays caught Vaughan’s profile and I noticed he was gnawing on his bottom lip while tapping out a beat on the steering wheel. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought he was nervous but Vaughan wasn’t someone who ruffled easily so it was hard to tell. His silence wasn’t making it any better.

After a few minutes of silence Vaughan turned off the main road and hit a gravel road leading to the drive-in located just outside of town. It was pretty much deserted, but then a security guard appeared to open the gate. Vaughan rolled his window down, slipped the guard some money and drove in. He reversed so that the tail of the truck was facing the massive white canvas screen that came into view.

He hopped out of the truck and busied himself in the back. I opted to jump out, rather than wait for him, and when I rounded the side, I saw Vaughan had turned the truck’s flatbed into an actual bed. Pillows, comforter, everything.

“What’s going on?” I asked him, taking in the amount of effort he’d put into whatever this was. There were enough snacks to see us through a week long snow storm, and considering we were about thirty minutes away from being submerged in darkness Vaughan had set up several lanterns on the roof of his truck.

He gave me a sheepish smile and my belly dipped at how boyish it made him look.

He jumped down, and faced me. “This is our first date. Officially.”

“Is this why you’ve been so quiet since we left my Dad’s house?”

He nodded, and I saw his throat work as he swallowed.

“I thought it was because you were mad about what happened with Alex.”

He bridged the small gap between us, and I craned my neck so that I could look him in the eyes.

“I don’t care what happened between you and that schmuck, as long as it’s over.”

“I didn’t sleep with him,” I blurted out. I needed him to know that nothing like that really happened with Alex. I wasn’t about to disclose that we came pretty close, but what mattered is that we hadn’t had sex. It was important to me that Vaughan knew that.

“I know,” replied Vaughan. “And it wouldn’t matter if you had. All that matters to me right now is that you’re here, with me.”

Before I could respond, Vaughan jumped up onto the bed of the truck and held his hand out. He lifted me easily and gestured for me to sit down. He hopped off the flatbed and disappeared and when he returned the screen came on. He took his place beside me and we got comfortable, fluffing the pillows behind us. Vaughan grabbed some peanut M&M’s and some waters and the opening credits started playing.

“What are we watching?”

Vaughan gave me a sneaky grin. “You’ll see.”

I looked back at the screen and the moment the movie title popped up I bounced on the spot. “The Breakfast Club? It’s my absolute favorite movie of all time. How did you get them to show it?”

“I know some people,” chuckled Vaughan.