Chapter 19

As Austin got off the bus, Luke spotted him.

“Virginator!”

Every head turned to look at Austin.

“Dude, what’s that all about?” Austin asked as Luke came up and gave him a hug.

“Your new nickname. Like the Terminator destroys mankind, your mission is to destroy virgins.”

Maverick overheard the last part as he joined them.

“More like the ‘virgin ate her.’”

Luke gave Mav a high five for his lame joke. Austin looked around and saw every eye was on them.

“Guys, we really shouldn’t be talking like this in public.”

Luke and Maverick laughed at his discomfort.

“Bro, you are about to become a legend. You’ll have to fight off all the pussy when word gets out,” Maverick teased.

“Fuck you guys,” Austin said, then turned and walked away.

The two Neanderthals cackled behind him as he walked into school.

Tina strode into their study room and asked, “Who’s Victoria?”

“Uhm...”

“Ed sent me a message with her number and asked that you call her. His message said it was urgent.”

“She’s Ed’s cousin.”

“I take it she was in the ‘artistic’ film you idiots shot last night.”

“Hey, now. I thought you were on board with all that,” Austin said, suddenly worried.

“It’s not that. In fact, it’s not you; it’s those idiots Maverick and Luke. They’re going on about how you’re some kind of sexual god who deflowers girls and that I should be worried you’ll leave me to service your following.”

“I’m your sexual god,” Austin said and bit his lip to stifle a grin.

She blinked for a moment, then her lips tightened to show her displeasure. Austin pulled Tina into his arms and kissed her.

“Let me borrow your phone, see what Victoria wants, and then we can ‘study.’”

They kissed again, this time with more heat.

“I guess I can’t really be mad since I sent you last night,” Tina said.

She unlocked her phone and handed it to him. He scrolled to the message with the number and clicked on it.

Once Victoria recognized it was him, she got to the point.

“How old are you?”

“Why do you ask?” Austin asked.

“I’m trying to figure out if Ed and I are going to jail. If you’re under 18, then we’re in trouble for making child pornography. But even if he destroys the pictures and video, there’s still the problem of statutory rape. The age of consent in Texas is 17. Tell me you’re at least that old.”

“Ed had me sign a nondisclosure.”

“You need to be at least 18, or your guardian has to sign a document like that for it to be legal.”

“I wondered about that,” Austin said.

“Oh, my God! You are too young.”

“So were Clare and Suzanne,” Austin pointed out.

“They didn’t have sex with me,” Victoria said. “I’m about to marry a youth pastor. How will that play if word gets out?”

The devil of raging hormones on Austin’s shoulder shrugged while the angel on the other shoulder shook its head in disgust. This could be bad, really bad. He remembered seeing stories in the news about teachers sleeping with their students. He imagined a pastor’s wife boning him was probably on par with that disgrace.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll never tell anyone,” Austin promised.

“Who should I worry about?” Victoria asked.

She was sharper than he’d guessed to figure that out so quickly.

“Probably Luke and Maverick. They seem to be pretty full of themselves.”

“I’ll tell Ed. He’s always been the black sheep of the family. I should have known better.”

“I had a good time, if that’s any consolation,” Austin said.

“It’s really not, but thanks. I had a good time, too. You might have to sit down with Bradley and give him some tips.”

He foresaw that going well—not!

“Have him call me if he’d like a pointer or two.”

Victoria snorted and then got serious.

“Promise me you won’t say anything, even if the police ask.”

“I would never,” Austin said.

“Okay. I’ll make sure Ed destroys the video and photos. And I’ll have him deal with your two friends,” Victoria said and hung up.

Tina had listened in on the entire exchange and had two raised eyebrows.

“Who’s Victoria?” she asked again.

“I can explain, or we can go back to kissing. We only have an hour,” Austin pointed out.

Lucky him, Tina wanted to talk.

Then, to top it off, she told him her parents were taking her to visit her grandparents that weekend, so they couldn’t go out Friday night. Austin wouldn’t see her until Monday. Her parting shot was that he should keep out of trouble until she saw him again.

Austin was worried when the devil grinned, and the angel did a face-palm for some reason. He could be good for a couple of days ... couldn’t he? The angel shook its head ‘no.’

Nora was confused because everyone was suddenly talking about Austin. One of her friends clued her in that Maverick, Luke, and Austin had made a porno. The rumor going around was that Austin had taken four girls’ virginity, and his porn name was The Virginator. It sounded like the girls in question loved having sex with the cowboy.

Later, the number of virgins jumped to six or eight, depending on who was telling the tale. Nora called bullshit because Luke was supposed to be a stud, and he was only good for a couple of times. There was no way Austin went eight.

Girls who couldn’t tell you his name the day before were suddenly cracking jokes about ‘save a horse—ride a cowboy.’

She figured two people would know the truth. One was Tina, who was his tutor and seemed to get along with him. The other was Macey since she rode the bus with Austin and spent time with Luke during their study hall.

Tina was missing in action, but Nora cornered Macey in the locker room during PE.

“Okay, spill it. What do you know?”

Macey’s brows drew together in an agonized expression.

“About what?” she asked, trying to deflect.

“What my brother, Luke, and Austin did last night.”

Macey clamped her mouth shut and fixed Nora with a strange gaze, but when Nora’s stare showed no sign of letting up, she caved and opened up.

“You were smart to bail when you did. Luke told me they were in a porno. He explained that I was still good enough to suck his dick, but he’d soon be dating college girls once they saw him in action. He said they would want his porn dick.”