Chapter 15
AVERY MOORE
“Thanks for driving,” Ivy tells Reid after we’re given our movie tickets and head toward the concession stand. The smell of the popcorn is drawing me in with the promise of chewable distraction instead of who I wanted to chew on the entire drive here.
I sat next to Reid in the front seat of his elaborate, silver sports car while Dustin and Ivy filled the car with conversation from the cramped back seats.
As much as I tried, I couldn’t help but watch him drive.
He was confident in the way he steered, and the car roared to life with a simple press of his foot on the pedal.
He effortlessly glided the car through traffic, one strong hand on the steering wheel and the other resting dangerously close to my thigh.
Every now and then, he’d catch me looking at him and would wear the smuggest smirks that tingled my insides. I’d blush and look away, but my entire body was heated. Hell, it still is. The cold autumn air did nothing for it.
Ivy and Dustin get in line before us, and I’m keenly aware of Reid’s body directly behind my back. We’re almost touching, and every nerve in my body is lit, waiting for him to close that distance.
He leans a little, not enough to touch my backside but enough to purr into my ear, “Your hair smells amazing.”
My cheeks redden, and I look down at my feet.
When I say nothing else, he adds, “And you look stunning in sweatpants.”
I bite my bottom lip as butterflies kick up in my stomach and swirl around. Ivy and Dustin have no idea what he’s saying to me. They’re too wrapped up in their own little bubble to notice that Reid is most certainly hitting on me.
Popcorn and sodas in hand, Ivy and Dustin step to the side, giving us space to approach the counter. The clerk looks up, and I place my order. “A medium popcorn and a medium Diet Coke, please.”
“Make that two of each,” Reid says, pulling out his wallet from his back pocket.
I frown at him. “I can pay for myself.”
“I know you can,” he murmurs while pulling out cash. “But you don’t have to.”
“I’m a big girl, Reid. I’m capable of taking care of myself.”
He hands over the money and lifts his eyebrows at me. “And I’m telling you that, when you’re with me, I’ll take care of you.”
We hold each other’s stare until our sodas and popcorn are laid out in front of us. I sigh and take mine. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” he says, picking up his drink and taking a sip.
“Ready?” Ivy asks as we meet them off to the side.
I nod, and she and Dustin turn on their heels and head toward our theater.
Dustin, balancing their shared popcorn and his soda in one arm, grabs Ivy’s hand and closes his fingers around hers.
It’s such a simple act, and I’m so happy for my brother that he’s found someone to share little moments like these with.
We walk by a bathroom, and two skinny, dolled-up women do a double take at Reid. They lean into each other, whispering as they keep their eyes on him. Jealousy is an ugly thing, and that ugly thing is rearing its head. I shouldn’t be jealous that other girls are ogling him. He’s not mine after all.
Reid spares them a glance before he wraps his free arm around my shoulders and pulls me in close to his side. He presses a soft kiss to my hairline, and I don’t miss the disappointment on the two girls’ faces.
I hide my grin well when I say, “You’re being mighty bold.” I tip my head to Dustin.
“As far as he knows, I’m just being friendly.”
“Is that so?” I ask, looking up at him. God, he’s beautiful.
He curtly nods. “He told me as much before we came and got you girls.”
“Oh?”
He smiles down at me. “He wants us to be friends.”
I laugh under my breath. “He’s going to kick your ass when he finds out.”
Cringing, he replies, “Probably.”
“And yet, that doesn’t stop you.”
He kisses my hairline again as we head into the darkness of the theater. Against my skin, he says, “Nothing is going to stop me, Avery.”
I bite my bottom lip and pray to God that he means it, because, try as I might, he’s getting to me.
It’s simple acts here and there that tell me he’s more serious than I give him credit for.
And not once has he given up. In fact, he presses hard without forcing me.
I’ve never had a guy fight for me. It doesn’t help that I also find him insanely attractive.
If those women by the bathroom are anything to go by, I know I’m not the only one, and that thought frightens me a little.
The previews are already playing as we fully enter the theater and turn toward the stairs.
Reid drops his arm as I follow Ivy and Dustin up the stairs, but they turn toward the middle rows, and I hesitate.
Do I really want to sit next to them when I know for a fact that they’re going to make out for half the movie?
I mean, this was supposed to be a girls’ thing, but…
“Let’s go up top,” Reid suggests quietly.
I bite the inside of my cheek. Sit next to a making-out couple, or sit next to the hottest guy I know? He makes that choice for me, gently nudging me to climb the steps. I go to the very top row where no one is sitting and slide into the aisle. Once I pick a seat, Reid sits next to me.
We settle in silence and take in the previews, but I’m not paying attention because the shared armrest? We’re sharing it. Do I move my arm? Do I ask him to? My heart beats rapidly when his pinky brushes my finger. Was that deliberate? Or was it a twitch?
As the movie begins to play, he does it again, and my lips part. I sneak a glance at him, and that’s when he smiles and gently moves his hand over, curling his fingers between mine. He slowly looks over at me. “Is this okay?” he asks after a moment.
I clear my throat, look at our joined hands, and nod.
I might have a heart attack, but his holding my hand is something I simply cannot refuse.
Because…I want it. I want that connection.
I want to, just for a moment, pretend like I don’t have a million walls.
For a moment, I just want to be the girl I used to be, one who’d never been hurt so badly that she can’t give easily the sweetest guy in the world a chance.
For a moment, I want to pretend. So I curl my fingers around his knuckles.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, so I pull it out with my free hand and look at the text.
Ivy
Oh my god! Oh my god! Tell me I don’t need to rescue you!
I look up and see Ivy staring at us from her seat and blush so hard that my cheeks feel like they’re on fire.
Reid looks at the screen and chuckles under his breath.
With the hand that’s not holding mine, he holds out his hand and I don’t know why, but I pass over the phone.
He snaps a picture of our joined hands and sends it off to Ivy.
I watch as her face lights up when she gets the picture, hiding the screen from Dustin. She holds the phone to her chest and looks at me, little hearts practically dancing in her eyes.
Reid chuckles again, and I turn my attention back to him. He’s doing something on my phone, and I frown as he gets into my contacts. He starts typing something into it, and when he’s finished, he passes me back the phone.
I quickly look at what he did. He put his number into my phone.
Shocked, I glance up at him.
“No pressure,” he says, his voice barely above the movie. “But it’s there when or if you ever need it.”
My breathing shallows as he looks at my parted lips.
With Neil, he always pressured me to do things, but the way that Reid is going about it…
I don’t feel pressured whatsoever. In fact, all I have are these intense butterflies that damn near demand that I kiss him.
And the way he’s looking at my lips tells me he wants me to.
“You’re really taking this off-limits thing to a whole new level,” I whisper.
He flashes me a grin but never looks away from my lips. “I live on the edge.”
“Always?”
He shakes his head and slides his gaze back up to mine. “Only with you.”
My heart skips a beat. “Is it because you can afford to?” I ask, wanting an honest answer and knowing that he’ll know what I mean by it.
He blinks, and I know he caught on to my meaning. “Where’d that come from?” he asks with a squeeze of my hand.
I shrug. “I was told you had a lot of money. I just want to make sure you’re not hiding behind it.”
Slowly, he nods. “My parents have the money. I only get an allowance for food, gas, and rent until I’m finished with college. Nothing more.”
“And the nice car?”
“I got that when I turned sixteen.”
My eyebrows rise. “It’s rare for a teen not to crash their first car.”
He shrugs and squeezes my hand again. “Like I said, I only live on the edge when I’m with you.”
“Why?”
He reaches and touches my chin, and it’s then that I realize how close we are. “Because you’re worth every secret.”
I glance at his lips and then back up at his eyes. “I’m glad that your parents aren’t throwing money at you.”
“I’m glad that my parents’ money isn’t all you see.”
I shrug. “Money means nothing to me.”
“Oh yeah? What does?”
I smile a little. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
He chuckles. “So you have secrets of your own. I get it.” He releases my chin and settles his hand on his lap. “So I heard you had college paid for. Did your parents-”
I shake my head. “It was all my own money.”
“Care to share?”
Blushing, I shake my head. He doesn’t need to know that I stripped to a bikini and posed for a million horny men, especially when I no longer look that way.
“More secrets.” His eyes are intently back on my lips again.
“I have many.”
He closes the distance and presses his lips to mine. It’s over too quickly, but it was enough to make my pulse hammer. “Share them with me, Avery. Date me.”
I look down at our joined hands. His fingers curl tightly around mine. “I can’t,” I whisper.
I’m surprised that he heard me, but he answers, “Why?”
“I’m not ready.”
It takes a moment, but he brings my face back to his. “What did he do to you?”
I shake my head as a tear gathers in my eyes. It spills over, and he wipes it away.
“If I could go back in time, if I could turn back the time, I’d find your brother sooner so that I could find you.
Then I’d have you, and you’d never have to go through the heartache your ex put you through.
You wouldn’t be in pieces with me trying to put you back together.
It’s a task I’m willing to take on, but I could have stopped it from ever happening to you.
That is how much you mean to me, Avery.”
“Yeah?” I ask with a sniffle.
He nods. “Your brother’s forbid me not and everything.”
I chuckle under my breath, and he smiles a little. “There’s my girl,” he adds.
“Your girl?”
He nods again, the smile never leaving his face. “If I have anything to say about it, you’re off the market.”
I don’t tell him how the sound of that makes me want to kiss him and kiss him hard.
I don’t tell him that no one has talked to me the way he is.
In this moment, I feel cherished, and I just want to feel that feeling a little longer before the movie is over and our little bubble is burst, and we go back to reality where I can’t let him in—because I know it’ll happen.
As soon as the lights come back on, the walls will resurrect.
So instead, I rest my head against his shoulder, and he plants his lips on top of my hair, periodically kissing there throughout the rest of the movie.
And I can’t help but think…I like the way he helps me escape. How it feels to be here, right now, pretending. How it feels to pretend that Neil never existed and that this is exactly where I was always meant to be.