“How long?”
I exhaled.“Since I was fourteen.”
He stared at me, shocked.“Honestly?”
I nodded.“Yeah.”
“How the hell did I not know?”
“Because I tried very hard not to let it show.I was not at all prepared for possibly getting teased and then also rejected by you,” I confessed.
“Who would’ve made fun of you?”he asked.
“My jackass brother,” I said.
He laughed.“If I’d known…”
“You wouldn’t have done anything,” I said.“You were a punk on a dirt bike.”
“And now I’m a punk on a motorcycle on a date with you.”
I smiled.“I like this version better.”
He leaned forward.“I like it too, Clove.”
My heart did a flip.If only fourteen-year-old Clove could see me now.She would be screaming into her pillow and freaking out.
Check the first date with Ender off the list.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ender
The water was already hot by the time I stepped under it.
Steam filled the bathroom, fogging the mirror and blurring the sharp edges of the morning.I braced one hand against the tiled wall and let my head drop forward, water beating against my shoulders, my neck, my back, trying to wash off the restless energy that had been sitting under my skin since I woke up.
Clove was still asleep when I slipped out of bed.
Curled on her side, hair fanned across the pillow, breathing slow and deep like she finally trusted the world not to pull the rug out from under her again.I’d stood there for a long moment just watching her, fighting the urge to climb back in and wrap myself around her like I had all night.
Last night had been… good.
Quiet.
When we got back to the clubhouse, the common room had been mostly empty.Junior and Arlo were the only ones around, both of them tipping their heads at us without comment before going back to whatever the hell they’d been doing.No questions.No looks.No bullshit.
We’d gone straight to the room.
We’d kissed slow, lingering, stolen like it was still a secret even though everyone knew.We’d fallen asleep tangled together with her leg hooked over mine, and her hand tucked against my chest like she belonged there.
I didn’t want to rush her.
Didn’t want to rushus.
This wasn’t something we could fuck up and just walk away from.Our lives had been braided together since before we knew what that meant.If this went wrong, it wouldn’t just be awkward, it would be catastrophic.
That mattered.