I jut out my lip. “Had to match your girlfriend,” I snap, theimage of him with a brunette with big tits at his school’s winter dance invades my head whenever I want to feel rage.
He steps closer until the heat rises between us, and I remember. Those kisses last year. The one before he held me close and told me goodbye until next year. “You sound jealous.”
“I’m not,” I lie, tipping my chin up.
But he only holds it with his fist, and my stomach does flip-flops rapidly as he leans in close. Barely above a whisper, he murmurs, “Then who’s that fuck in the pictures on your Pixtagram with your dad?”
Talon Moretti. Skinny, annoying, pimpled prick who I keep getting paired with because his uncle’s boss is friends with my family.
“Who’s that fuck in the photos of you on yours?”
His arm presses against my back, and my pulse thunders. Even harder as he pulls me in close. The reds, blues, and purples bounce off the reflection in his eyes as the fireworks boom loudly overhead. Scents of the woods, musky and adventurous. Reminding me of that kiss: my first…and our last of the summer.
His lips brush mine until I hold my breath, hoping we can be right back to that night. The one before we said goodbye.
“She’s nothing. Doesn’t matter who I’m with or you’re with…” Seriousness crosses his usual smirky face as he tells me, “Doesn’t matter who your daddy approves of. You’re mine, Ashlyn. You’ll always be mine, baby girl. Always.”
As tears heat my eyes, he leans in and reminds me of the reason I can make it through the hell of The Crest. And then he gives me a reason I can survive.
“Baby, I’ll tell you right now. We’ve got summer.”
“But what about after the next? You’ll be gone. I’ll be here alone…” I whimper, trying to stuff the tears back. But my heart already aches, thinking of letting him go when we haven’t even had our full second summer together.
He snorts as if it’s absurd, and I flush with embarrassmentuntil he says, “I’ll be eighteen. And I’ll show up and take you away from here. Steal you to be with me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ll be eighteen, Cardell! The police will arrest you for kidnapping and throw you in prison!”
“Not if they can’t catch us.” He says it as if he’s thought it through. Like it’s truth. But somewhere he has to know that it’s impossible, right? We can’t get away.
Reality will come between us and rip us apart.
But until then, I’ll pretend. I’ll play along that we have forever.
The memory clings to me like heat from a match, and I press harder on the gas, chasing the road into the dark.
I can still feel the fireworks echoing in my ribs.
I can still feel the way I believed him.
twenty-two
Landon won’t stop fidgeting.
His foot keeps tapping against the concrete, heel grinding grit into the fence like he’s trying to spark a fire. He smells like weed and bad cologne, the kind meant to announce presence instead of disguise it.
I check my watch.
How did I, the president, get roped into doing a peon’s task on Thanksgiving? I blame the man beside me. First of all, this assignment was a solo mission given to a missingThetamember by the board. But no one’s seen Malik for a month. Then, it was passed to Landon Turner. Who’s still drunk and high from last night. Not sure if he’s even sober enough to know where he is these days.
And I got the pleasure of finding out about this duty when I was half passed out from too much whiskey. After my brothers dragged me off Talon’s body before I killed him. Assignmentshaveto be followed. The entire fraternity could get in trouble; not to mention, Lan could be killed for not following the order. Though, I’m considering if that’s such a bad optionright now…
“Relax,” I say as a warning, head pounding with my hangover.
He laughs under his breath. Too loud. “Iamrelaxed.”
But he’s not. His pupils are blown, his jaw working like he’s chewing on nerves. He keeps glancing toward the corridor, where the guards passed a minute ago, eyes darting as if he expects them to reappear just because he thought about it.
They won’t. Because I know we still have seven minutes until the next round of their checks.