Colton’s POV

“You look fine.”

My mother was standing in the doorway of my bedroom with her hand on her hip. I tugged at my shirt one more time before grabbing my keys.

“You know that she really surprised me last night. Sutton is special Colton,” she said.

I walked over to her and squeezed through the small gap she left in the doorway. “That’s why I like her.”

Before I could escape, my mom grabbed my arm and pulled me into a small hug. I breathed in her familiar lavender smell that always reminded me of home.

“You treat her good, alright?”

I rolled my eyes and took off towards the garage. Tonight had to be perfect. I had everything planned out, and nothing was going to ruin it. Sutton deserved a special night. She was more than just a girlfriend to me. Ever since the black and white party she’s been all I can think about. I don’t understand how everyone could just look past her. Melody was beautiful, but Sutton is so much more than a pretty face.

“Whoa my brother, she’s got you in deep. Those eyes tell all.”

Charlotte sat at the kitchen table with her new phone glued to her hand. No doubt she was online tearing apart a little girl’s picture or scrutinizing someone. She had a talent with words…

“When you start dating, I’ll be here every step of the way. Karma’s a bitch Char,” I told her with a smirk.

She raised her eyebrow. “I’m impressed, normally you would have just scowled.”

“Good bye devil.”

I checked the time on my phone and realized that I was running late. Great, my perfect night was already on a time crunch. I hopped on the back of my bike and sped down the street like a crazy person. I usually wasn’t too much of a reckless driver but I wanted to make sure I was on time. Sutton’s house was only a few minutes away, and by the time I pulled up I could feel my hands start to sweat.

I never got nervous.

Taking a deep breath, I took off my helmet and made my way up towards her front door. Before I could knock, her father opened the door and smiled down at me.

“I’m sorry we didn’t have a very good introduction the other night,” he said sounding slightly embarrassed.

“I’m Tom.” He held out this hand.

We had a firm handshake and I pulled away as fast as possible. He probably was disgusted with how wet my palm was. “Colton.”

Mr. Bran smiled. “Yes Colton, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Good stuff I hope?”

He laughed. “Why of course. Why don’t you come in, Sutton will be down shortly. I’d love to chat, but I have a meeting in a few minutes so I have to go. Take care of her tonight.”

I waved goodbye to Sutton’s dad as he rushed off towards the kitchen. My hands we still wet so I slid them along the back of my pants nervously. Why in the world did I feel so jumpy? Sutton and I had spent enough time together to the point where she was even comfortable around me.

“Well don’t you look handsome.”

Sutton was standing at the bottom of the stairs with a giddy smile on her face. She was wearing a short red dress the came in at the waist and flared out to mid-thigh. Of course she remembered my favorite color on her, she always remembered that sort of stuff. She raised her eyebrow in my direction as if she knew I was checking her out and laughed.

God I loved the sound of her laugh.

“I have something for you,” she told me.

Was I supposed to get her a present? Would she be mad that I didn’t have anything for her?

“Well actually I guess you could say I’m returning something of yours.”

Sutton walked over to the front hall closest and opened the door. She bent down and moved a couple of things around before she stood up and held out my favorite leather jacket.

“It’s from when I was mad at you. I only just remember yesterday that I had it.”

She spoke to the ground, and I could tell by the way her cheeks heated up that she was extremely embarrassed.

I grabbed the jacket from her hands and threw the familiar material over my shoulders. Wow I really missed this jacket…

“I forgot about it too. Wow that was a while ago.”

I took her hand in mine and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

“Come on I have something really special planned.”

She followed me out the front door and lit up when she saw my bike. I smiled to myself and handed her the helmet.

“You ready?”

Sutton nodded her head and climbed on after me. She pressed her front side into my back and wove her arms around my torso. Having her close was really all that was important to me. I took off down the driveway and smirked when Sutton held me even tighter. She loved my bike, but I could tell it made her nervous.

I tried to concentrate on the road but my mind was in a different world. What if she didn’t want a romantic night? I mean, she wasn’t like the other girls I hung out with before. She was down to earth and wanted more than to just hook up. Well, it’s too late to go back now, I though as we finally pulled up to our destination.

I parked my bike near a path that wove through the park my father always used to take me to. When I was younger, we would come out here and go fishing on the docks. They weren’t public property, but the owner of the lakefront was never home so it didn’t matter.

“You’re not going to murder me or something, are you?” she asked sarcastically.

I grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder in one swift motion. “Well now that you said it—“

“Put me down!” she squealed as I carried her towards the path.

I shook my head in protest and made my way through the trees with Sutton over my shoulder. She was almost as light as Char so it was easy to keep at a normal pace.

“You know you ought to eat some meat, you weigh nothing,” I told her with a chuckle.

She grumbled. “Do you want me to be so fat you can’t carry me?”

Laughing, I lowered her to the ground. We were here.

She noticed my attention was focused past her and she turned around. Instead of watching the sunset and the dock, I turned to watch Sutton. She was so beautiful. Everything about her was different. I loved the way her freckles looked darker some days, and then were almost as light as her skin the next. And the way that her big green eyes sparkled whenever we looked at each other.

Wow I sound like a girl.

“How do you know about this place?” she finally asked.

I grabbed her hand and led her out towards the sand where a blanket was laid out. A bottle of campaign and a few beers tucked were away in a cooler. Of course they were under the cheeses and meat, just in case.

“A picnic at sunset, how…”

“Cliché, stupid? I’m sorry I thought—“

“Perfect,” she said interrupting me.

She sat down next to me and gazed out at the water. “You never answered my question.”

Oh right. “Well it’s my dad’s land but he doesn’t come here anymore,” I lied.

I didn’t want to tell Sutton that this private property wasn’t mine because I knew she’d probably be mad. Let’s not forget the first place I ever took her happened to be a warehouse that I didn’t own.

“I see,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”

I had to agree with her. I had never been to a place more peaceful and calming than here. Even after my dad abandon us I still felt a sense of relief walking the shores of these waters. The memories were painful but they always would be.

“You’re thinking about him aren’t you?” she asked.

I nodded my head. “It’s hard not to. But I don’t want to think about him when I have you to think about.”

I pulled her into my lap and kissed up and down her neck. “This is much better,” I whispered into her ear.

She giggled as she leaned up to kiss my jaw. “This is very enjoyable, I have to agree.”

With our hands intertwined, I looked out at the water with an idea in my head.

“So I heard that you crossed off a few more things with Mark, Vee and Blaine.”

“Is that okay?”

“Of course that’s okay, as long as it didn’t include the one that had to do something with having on no clothes.”

Sutton laughed, her cheeks turning bright pink. “I saved that one.”

“Oh really?”

The sun was almost down by now. I’d have to light some candles pretty soon. It was almost a perfect setting for skinny dipping.

“Why, what did you have in mind Colton?” she asked, pretending to play stupid.

I tugged at the edge of her shirt and shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know getting you naked and wet does sound—“

She smacked me in the arm before I could finish my sentence. We both looked at each other and erupted into laughter.

“You go first.”

Nodding my head, I helped her to her feet and started off towards the water. She watched me as I made it to the shoreline and slipped my shirt over my head. Then, I unzipped my pants and let them fall to the wet sand. Sutton was still watching me as I turned my back to her and pulled off my boxers. The cold air hit my skin like a whip right before I jumped into the water.

“Your turn!” I called back to her, spitting out cold water.

She looked a little nervous as she came to the edge of the dock, not the shore. I could tell that her mind was racing with thoughts. I’d kill to know what she was thinking at this very moment. Sutton reached up to unzip the back of her dress. The red material fell to the dock in a heap, revealing  the very sexy lingerie she had bought with me. Groaning in delight, I plunged under the water.

The things she did to me

I resurfaced as she pulled a clip that was holding up her hair. “Sutton quit teasing me,” I called over to her.

“Turn around.”

Rolling my eyes, I turned around to face the barely visible sun. She splashed into the water just seconds after. I was still facing away when I felt her hands on my back, trailing hot marks across my skin. She pressed up against me, her bare breasts touching my burning back.

I tried to hold in my groan but it slipped out. “Sutton I don’t want to yet. I think we need to wait.”

She laughed. “Then what are we doing right now? Why are we even—“

I spun around to face her, glad that the water reached just past her chest. “All I need you to do is kiss me and I’ll be fine.”

Making sure that nothing but our lips touched, I leaned down and caught her mouth in mine.

“Hey what the hell are you kids doing!”

We both sprung back in surprise and I pulled Sutton behind me as a flashlight broke through the darkness. A police officer stood at the shore, taking in the scene around him.

“This isn’t your dad’s property, is it?” Sutton asked, her voice sounding surprisingly amused.

**

I looked around the familiar cell before bringing my eyes back to Sutton. We were facing each other sitting cross legged, a few metal bars separating us. I was still able to reach over and hold her hand in mine. It felt different being in the local jail this time—maybe because I was with the girl of my dreams. I couldn’t quite figure it out.

“I’m so stupid, this is my entire fault.”

She nodded her head. “Yeah, it is.”

I looked down at the ground in disappointment. “You’d think I would have learned my lesson the night that we broke into the warehouse.”

She nodded again. “Yeah, you’d think.”

We looked up at each other and burst into laughter.

“That was probably the most mortifying thing I have ever experienced,” she said truthfully.

I couldn’t agree less. “At least he was nice.”

Sutton nodded her head. “My dad is going to kill me. I’m so dead.”

A womanly voice coming from the other room boomed throughout the small sheriff’s office. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but I could tell she was mad.

“Oh my God,” Sutton gasped. “It’s my mom! She’s home!”

She looked happier than ever, but then suddenly a grim expression crossed her face. “She’s going to kill me.”

I laughed. “What’s the point of being rebellious if you don’t get caught at least once?”

Sutton contemplated my words. “You have a point.”

“I always have a point,” I gloated.

“But what about the list? I mean, I’ll never be able to finish it if I’m grounded the rest of my life…”

I thought back to the night I had read over her list.

1.       Sneak out

2.       Steal something

3.       Break into school

4.       Stand in two places at once

5.       Get a tattoo

6.       Drive a motorcycle

7.       Buy lingerie

8.       Make out with someone

9.       Go skinny dipping

10.   Fall in love

Sutton already completed 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 with me. Mark and her other friends helped her take care of the rest, so there was 10.

Fall in love. That one was already crossed off, at least for me.

I turned to look at her before reaching through the bars and cupping her face in-between my hands. “Sutton, I hope to God you’re in love with me because that was crossed off the first day I laid eyes on you."

Her green eyes watched me carefully. “It was crossed off before I even made the list, and here I was pretending like I wasn’t in love with your crazy ass this whole time,” she admitted.

I laughed. “My sexy ass.”

She rolled her eyes. “Just kiss me smart ass.”

We both leaned forward, but just before our lips could reach our heads clanked against the metal bars separating us. I pulled back with a hiss as Sutton burst into laughter.

I don’t think I’d ever forget this moment; sitting in my familiar jail cell, but this time with the girl that I loved. She changed me for the better, and I changed her for the better. Maybe it didn’t seem that way now, but everyone needs a little release in their life. I saved her from her seemingly never ending grief and she got me to see that it’s not all that bad to care for someone.

Everyone comes and goes, but you can’t live your life too scared to lose someone you love. We saved each other, and all it took was being a little rebellious.

Holy.....

WOW it's crazy to think that this is already over. I can remember starting this story like it was just yesterday. Thank you to everyone who supported me through this book. I hope the ending wasn't too cheesy, I actually thought it was one of my best endings yet...

Love you all, and don't forget to check out my new story...the first chapter is up!