26. Ashlie
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
ASHLIE
Hunter
You’re gonna be late for your date…
Me
And you’re annoying.
Hunter
The club shuts down in 4 hours. You gonna be ready before then?
Me
Give me 10 minutes!
I ’m nervous. A New Year’s Eve date with Trevor seemed like the best idea when he asked, but now the pressure of a potential kiss at midnight fills me with anxiety. It’s not that I don’t like Trevor. I do. We’ve been talking since our hiking date, and his flirting is top tier. He’s sweet, thoughtful—I have no complaints so far. Kissing him would probably be great, but the last person I kissed was Hunter. And I haven’t been able to move past it.
Hunter definitely has. When I brought breakfast to his room last week, his phone buzzed in my hand and I glanced at it. Ava and all her business were barely covered by the black lingerie. The reality check helped me box up the newly confessed feelings I shared with Willa. They’re currently bundled tight in the crypt of memories we don’t talk about. Hunter’s already on to his next thing. I’m the one who needs to get control of my feelings. But he really should turn his text previews off.
“You’re shiny.” Hunter looks me up and down, his face unreadable as I slide into the passenger seat. He’s in his standard black button down and jeans.
“Uh, duh…” I smooth a hand down the silver bodice of my mirror dress. “It’s New Year’s Eve.”
“Oh, that explains it.” He scowls as he pulls out of my parking lot, squinting as soon as we hit the first stoplight.
“You know, I can drive us if it’s too hard for you to see at night… or you could just wear your?—”
“I don’t need my damn glasses. I’m fine.”
I chuff. “Are you going to be this much fun all night? What’s your problem?”
“Nothing,” he murmurs, staring straight ahead. The muscle in his jaw flutters as he clenches his teeth.
“Is this because I was late? I’m always late.”
“I said it’s nothing. Can you drop it?” he snaps back at me.
“Miss me with that attitude, Hunter. I just got in here.” Pressing my lips together, I settle back into the seat. Whatever his fucking problem is, I’m not entertaining any of it. Sending him the clear sign that I’m done talking to him, I open my phone and scroll. We’re silent the entire drive to the club, and I keep my body turned toward the window, seething until I reach for the door handle to get out.
“Hey,” he says, putting a hand on my arm. “I’m sorry. You look great.”
“Oh, I know I do. When was that even a question?” I shoot him a playful look, waiting until he cracks a smile before getting out of the car.
Willa and Trevor meet us by the doors, and she already looks like she’s ready to bounce. Her shimmery gold dress clings to her hips. Long, sleek twists flow down her back, almost reaching the hemline at her thighs. Trevor’s in a simple gunmetal V-neck and jeans. The smile on his face grows when he sees me.
“Hey, pretty lady.” He pulls me into a hug and whispers, “You look amazing.” My cheeks burn, and I bite my lip while Trevor holds out his fist to Hunter. “What’s good?”
Hunter taps Trevor’s knuckles with his and quickly sticks his hand back in his pocket without a word.
“Don’t mind him. He forgot to remove the stick from his ass today.” I shoot Hunter a glare, and his eyes drop to the ground. “Should fit right in with my sister tonight.”
Willa’s middle finger is backed by a sarcastic smile, and all I can do is roll my eyes. So much for a fun night .
“You ready?” Trevor asks.
“More than ready,” I say. He guides me to the door with his hand on my back.
“Come on, Hunter. You’re with me tonight,” Willa says behind me. We file into the building, losing them in the strobe lights.
Trevor pulls me onto the dance floor, moving in close as we sway and bounce to the beat. We make it several songs into the night before I lead him over to the bar for a drink. “Whew!” I say, flopping on a stool, mojito in hand. “I didn’t know the Midwest had moves like that.”
“The way you were dancing circles around me, I was just trying to keep up!” He runs his hand over his short hair and takes a swig from his water.
“Come on, you’re a good dancer, Trev.”
“I take all my inspiration from the cornfields.” He shimmies in his seat, making me choke on my drink.
“Explains where all your corny jokes come from too…”
“ Ooh , okay. I see how it is.” Laughing, he knocks his knee against mine. I smile back, but it’s short-lived when my gaze drifts over his shoulder.
“ Ugh .” I roll my eyes. Trevor looks behind him and back at me with his eyebrows raised. Marcus sits a few tables away, chatting up a blond. “It’s my ex.”
“It didn’t end well, I take it.”
“If you count a short-form email on official hospital letterhead as not ending well, then yep.”
“Ouch. That’s messed up.”
“Little bit.” I pinch my fingers together and take a drink.
“You didn’t deserve that.”
“Oh, I know ,” I say bitterly before taking another. It’s clear as day now that Marcus treated me like shit. I deserved better.
Trevor pops out of his seat, reaching a hand toward me. “Come here.”
“Wh-where are we going?” I ask as he pulls me off the stool.
“You’ll see.” He winks and walks me right up to Marcus’s table, digging his phone out of his pocket once we get there. “Hey, bud. You think you could take a picture of me and my girl?”
Marcus shoots a surprised look at Trevor, then does a double take on me. My immense joy at seeing his face fall is off the charts. His mouth hangs open, and he blinks a few times before the blond across from him chimes in. “Oh, sure! You two are such a cute couple! Aren’t they cute, Marcus?”
Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Marcus slides a look to his date, before nodding curtly. He looks away as she takes a few pictures on Trevor’s phone.
“Hey, thanks!” Trevor sends a wide grin over the table before pocketing his phone. His arm curls around my waist as he walks me out onto the dance floor. “Don’t turn back, but that’s a man who just realized what he lost.”
“You are messy !” I laugh.
“Maybe, but it worked. Did you see his face?”
“I’ll never forget it… Thanks.”
“Hey, he clearly didn’t deserve you. It was worth it just to see that pretty smile light up your face again.”
I’m almost certain my cheeks are red, hidden only by the purple neon streaking across the dance floor. “Come on,” I say, biting my lip. “We can get a few more dances in before the ball drops.”
“Ten…nine…eight,” Trevor and I count down to midnight, watching the ball drop on the big screen in the main dance hall. He’s standing behind me, one hand settled loosely on my hip. My nerves from earlier return as I anticipate what may happen when we get to the number one. “Seven…six–”
But when we get to five, he whispers in my ear, “Do you want to get out of here?”
I nod, and just as the crowd explodes in a sea of the New Year’s kisses I was worried about, he leads me by the hand to the exit. Outside, I pause on the sidewalk and pull out my phone. “I just need to tell Willa and Hunter we’re leaving…” Opening a group message, I type out a quick goodbye as we walk to Trevor’s rental car. The drive to his hotel takes about twenty minutes, and halfway there, my phone dies. “Do you happen to have an extra charger?” I ask.
“Yep.” He reaches into the center console and pulls out a long charging cord, which is great, except it’s not compatible with my phone.
I tsk, shaking my head. “Don’t tell me you’re a Pro-Phone guy…”
“Always. And by the tone in your voice, I’m guessing you have a StarCell.”
“Yep. I just ran into your first red flag,”
His laughter booms over the soft music playing on the radio. It must be contagious since I giggle along with him. “Welp, if that’s the only red flag so far, I’d say I’m doing pretty well for myself.”
“Guess we’ll see.” I grin at him.
We pull into a parking spot, but he keeps the engine idling, turning in his seat to look at me. “I want to be perfectly clear about my intentions tonight… I plan to throw on a movie and cuddle the hell out of you, and then I’ll drive you home after.”
“Cuddling and a movie?” I click my tongue. “I don’t know… You didn’t say anything about snacks. Sounds iffy.”
He sucks in air through his teeth like we’re in serious negotiation mode. “You drive a hard bargain, but I think I can make that happen. I’ll even throw in some overpriced water bottles.” I laugh as those dimples accent his smile, and he shuts off the car and escorts me inside.
After clicking on the dim light in his hotel room, we dump our movie snacks onto the bed and agree on a comedy from a few years ago. Once we’re comfortable against the headboard, he reaches for the fruity candy, then slides an arm around my shoulder. The tingling warmth coursing through me is a stark change from the heart palpitations I usually get with guys. It’s nice, just…different. I follow the impulse to snuggle into him, and he drops his arm to my waist. My breath hitches when his thumb grazes my thigh.
“Oh, you want to cuddle- cuddle,” I tease.
“Shh,” he says playfully. “The movie’s starting.” With his hand on my hip, he tugs me closer. Biting my lip, I glance at him, and he’s already watching me with a sly smile on his face. I reach forward for some chocolate, and when I settle back against him, his hand searches for mine until he hooks his thumb around my pinkie. It’s so adorably sweet, I can barely stand it. Just like those high school movies where I’d be kicking my feet at the cuteness of it all.
But after the first few scenes of the movie, I can’t take the quiet. “Sooo…you learned about my ex. Can I hear about yours?”
“I guess that’s fair.” He shifts so we can see each other better. “It’s been…”—he blows out a puff of air—“a couple years since I had anything serious. She was a coworker, and it turned into a long-distance thing when she got promoted. We ended up wanting different things.”
“What kinds of things?”
The smallest shadow falls over his face as he scrunches his lips. “Well, for starters, she wanted her boss, and I wanted someone who wasn’t a cheater…”
“Ooh, yeah, those are very different things.”
He shrugs, and just like that, the shadow is gone, replaced with a glint in his eye. “It was for the best. I learned a lot about myself.”
“Like…?”
Chuckling, he nudges my shoulder. “Like, now I know I need to take things slow, keep things light and fun while getting to know someone. Only jumping into exclusivity when we’re both sure it’s what we want. Most women get fed up and call it quits because of my pacing, but I’m not rushing something like that again.”
“I don’t think slow is a bad thing, as long as you’re upfront about it.”
“Welp, that makes you different than most.”
“You did not just hit me with ‘You’re different than most girls,’ did you Trev? What a line …” I tease, bumping him with my elbow. He laughs, and I reach for more chocolate. When I sit up, a stray curl rests on my forehead.
“It’s not a line if it’s true,” he says, tucking the curl behind my ear. His thumb trails to my chin, and my breath stutters as desire simmers in his eyes. I’m sure he’s about to kiss me. I think I want him to .
He tips my head up with his finger under my chin, leans in, and whispers, “I really want to kiss you, but New Year’s feels a little cliché.” His thumb brushes my bottom lip, eyes flicking to my mouth. He breathes out a shuddered breath while shaking his head. “So I’m going to be a gentleman and wait. And then I’ll kick myself in the morning when I replay tonight in my head.”
I snort and immediately cover my mouth. His joking smile gives me permission to let my giggles take over. My friends were right about him . Trevor’s warmth and openness have sucked me right in, and he seems to be into me too. He isn’t rushing this; I like that. His penchant for going slow could be good for me. I’ve tried jumping in quickly, which is probably why I’ve missed all the red flags in the past. Slow and steady might be exactly what I need right now. Thank you, Kayla .