Why aren’t you moving? And why isn’t he?
I stare at him, across three feet of space, wondering why it feels so far. And he stares back at me, a whole galaxy of different desires alight in his eyes.
I’m not sure who moves first. Looking back, it might’ve been me, but I can’t say with any sort of certainty. All I know is, suddenly we’re chest to chest, breaths tangling in the space between our faces. My spine arches up as his lips begin to descend, and…
The bathroom door swings open with a bang.
We spring apart at the sound like two horses spooked by a gunshot on the starting line, whirling to watch as Carly barrels into the hall, dressed in a sleep-shirt that falls to mid-thigh. When she catches sight of us, her face contorts in a wince of regret.
“Sorry!” she hisses in a stage-whisper, sliding into her bunk across from Aiden on the bottom row and tugging the curtain closed. “Don’t mind me!”
But the moment has shattered like glass.
Heart thudding, I keep my eyes averted and swallow hard enough to clear some of the haze from my head.
“Right. Well. Night, then.”
He doesn’t respond as I walk out of the kitchen, grabbing my overnight bag off the couch as I go. I close myself inside the bathroom and lock the door before I do something supremely stupid. Something that makes my nerve-endings sing with sheer anticipation as I unzip my dress and tug on my thin nightgown. Something that has my knees weaker than water as I stand at the sink wiping scarlet off my still-tingling mouth.
When I step back into the hall, the lights have been doused. My breaths come far too rapidly as I wait for my eyes to adjust. When they do, I don’t see Ryder anywhere, and the only sound I can hear is Lincoln’s rhythmic snores rumbling behind the pulled curtain on my left. Shoving my bag into an empty storage cubby, I quickly ascend to the top-level bunk above Carly’s, my bare feet cold on the recessed ladder rungs.
It’s not until several moments later, after I’m tucked firmly in bed, that I hear Ryder finally make his way down the hall from the galley and close himself inside the bathroom. I close my eyes, trying to sleep, but I’m still wide awake when he hauls himself up into the bunk above Aiden’s — directly across from mine. I hear a rustle of bare skin against sheets, and feel my mouth go dry.
Pretend you’re asleep.
Don’t you dare look at him.
Rational reason abandoned, my eyes sliver open. He’s lying on his side with his head propped on one hand, watching me. Our gazes lock instantly in the dark. I notice his breaths are just as unsteady as mine as one minute creeps by, then another.
His eyes hold a promise he can’t yet make; mine an apology I can’t yet voice.
Neither of us says a word as we lie there, simply staring at each other. Nor does either of us move to pull our curtains closed. If not for the narrow hallway between us, I could almost convince myself we’re lying side-by-side in the same bed.
It’s a soothing thought, after all that’s happened today.
The bus rolls ever onward beneath us, headed eastbound, the rhythm of the road lulling me toward sleep with each spin of the tires. When my heartbeats have slowed, when my eyes have grown too heavy to keep open another instant, I finally succumb.
Ryder’s two-tone eyes, holding mine in the darkness, are the last thing I see before I slip under.
Chapter Sixteen
ryder
“Dude! Get up!”
Linc’s fist bangs against my bunk, and my eyes spring open. The bus is no longer moving. Harsh light streams through the tinted windows at the end of the hall. I squint as I take in the empty bunk across from mine.
She’s already gone.
I sit up, banging my head against the roof of the bus. “Fuck.”
Lincoln chuckles.
I glower. “What time is it?”
“Just after nine.”
“When did we get here?”