Tucker Chapter, PT. 1

5 Months Later

Violet frowned at the computer screen, where her unfinished article for the school newspaper was laid out in incomplete paragraphs. She’d been sitting here for at least twenty minutes and hadn’t changed one word. She was staring at the screen, but her mind was far away. The steady clicking of her pen gave away her agitation.

Someone stuck their head into the empty classroom, capturing Violet’s attention. She sat up, a smile breaking across her face as the boy entered and came toward her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked her boyfriend as he stopped beside her.

“Looking for you.” Tucker leaned down to give her a swift kiss. “Let’s get out of here.”

She didn’t hesitate. She saved her work, shouldered her backpack, and felt her stomach flutter when he wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Jesse has practice, so I knew you’d be around here somewhere,” Tucker said. “It took me a while to find you. Since when do you hide out in Mr. Halstead’s classroom?”

“How’d you know I was hiding?”

He cocked his head as he looked down at her. “I was kidding.”

“I wasn’t,” she said sourly. “Is there something on my face?”

Her boyfriend’s brows shot up. “I’m sorry?”

“I swear, people have been staring at me funny all day. It’s been getting on my nerves.”

She blew out a breath as they left the building and headed toward the deserted parking lot. When she started her junior year with Tucker as her boyfriend—senior and lead singer of his band with a notorious reputation, she’d received quite a bit of attention. She ignored the speculation, gossip, and sidelong looks. Tucker may be known as a bad boy, but around her, he was sweet and attentive. After a month, people were finally getting used to seeing them together, but today started to feel like day one all over again. She couldn’t make sense of it.

“I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary, and I’m not wearing anything scandalous,” she said, gesturing to her blouse and shorts.

Yes, the blouse was a little more fitted than what she’d gone for in the past, but compared to her classmates, her clothes were still toward modest and conservative. She’d been stared at so intently, she excused herself to go to the bathroom several times to make sure she didn’t have a stain or rip on her clothes. She told herself it was all in her head until she heard her name said three separate times in her last class. The temptation to confront her classmates was strong, but what could they possibly be gossiping about? Her conscience was clear… for the most part.

As Tucker’s eyes moved slowly and deliberately over her body, she gave him a little push as her cheeks flushed.

“Stop looking at me like that!”

“Like what?”

“Like…” She flapped her hands, unable to bring herself to say it out loud. “You know!”

“Like you’re gorgeous? Like I want to strip you naked?”

“Tucker! You can’t say that!”

“Why? It’s true. You have nothing to be self-conscious about. They’re just jealous because you’re a knockout.”

Her heart leapt when he patted her butt. She glanced around self-consciously, but there was no one around to witness Tucker’s PDA. Tucker felt like her first “real” boyfriend. Tobias and the others she’d dated had been more friend than boyfriend, but Tucker made it clear from the start that he wanted to be much more. He kissed her on their first date and wasn’t embarrassed to hold her hand or touch her in public. It was exciting and thrilling. She allowed him to go further than she ever imagined, though she hadn’t gone all the way. The fact that she even considered allowing him to be her first was shocking when she’d vowed to save herself for marriage. But with her sexual frustration mounting, Tucker was a much-needed, healthy outlet she could indulge in without feeling guilty.

Tucker led her toward his Bronco parked in the back corner of the empty lot and opened the passenger door for her. When she made no move to get in, his eyes narrowed.

“You know what my dad said.”

He rolled his eyes and held up a hand like a Boy Scout. “I swear, I won’t speed again.”

She shook her head. “He said if he finds out I got in a car with you again, I’ll be grounded for life.”

“He won’t find out.”

She arched a brow. “Jesse will tell him.”

Tucker glanced at his watch. “He won’t finish practice for another hour. I can bring you back before he’s finished. He won’t even know you left campus. You can say you were in the library the whole time.”

Her insides twisted. This was just the sort of thing dad had lectured her about—her boyfriend urging her to lie and break the rules. Tucker made a terrible first impression when he sped through their neighborhood after picking her up. Dad hadn’t ordered her to break up with him, but she wasn’t allowed to get in a car with him. If they wanted to meet up, someone always had to pick her up or drop her off.

The males in her life all unanimously disliked Tucker. Her father, Jesse, and her guy friends had protested the moment they started dating. It was all happenstance. Tucker’s band played a set at a concert she and her friends attended this summer. They hung out after and… The rest was history.

Tucker was so different from everyone she knew. He had big dreams of becoming a rock star. She loved listening to him talk about music and his plans to travel the globe. Being around someone who had such large aspirations made her reexamine her own future. He was free, liberated. Not bound by the constraints of religion or the weight of family expectations. Being near him made her feel like she could be a different person… But she wasn’t willing to break all the rules just yet.

**This is a raw draft of the prequel for Corrupt Idol. Please do not share or distribute.

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