Chapter 27 #2
Dustin kept one hand on the wheel, the other draped casually on the armrest console, except nothing about him felt casual. His jaw was locked tight, his shoulders too stiff, like he was holding himself back from an argument.
They’d decided to talk about everything when we were back, which sucked, because Dante, Noah, and Savannah were in the other car, and I could guarantee there was no silence in their car.
Fine. Two could play the silent game. I turned toward the window, arms folded, trying to pretend my pulse wasn’t doing that annoying fluttering thing anytime he inhaled.
I thought back to the house and could see the version of him they knew, and somehow I knew it was different from the Dustin I knew. Harder. Less warm. I preferred the one I knew.
I didn’t need to be thinking about that right now.
Five minutes passed.
Ten.
Fifteen.
By minute sixteen, I was either going to scream or fling myself out of the moving vehicle. Finally, I snapped.
“Are you going to be weird the whole way back, or is this just a temporary performance?”
He didn’t look at me. “Not being weird.”
“You’re being extremely weird.”
Another beat of silence. Then, “I assumed you were thinking.” He glanced at me. “But you seem to be sulking instead.”
“I am not sulking.” I was absolutely sulking, now. “I was thinking.”
He huffed a low laugh, the kind that somehow annoyed me and pulled heat down my spine at the same time. We sat in it again — the almost-laugh, the almost-fight, the almost-everything.
I tried again because I needed to talk about it, and I no longer cared if he didn’t. “So? What did you think about what Ava told us?”
He rolled his shoulders, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I think she’s going to be on a football show in the future. Her recall is impressive.”
“But?”
He gave me a look. “I think she’s also the girlfriend of Jett Santo and has learned pretty quickly that info means power.”
“You think she knows more?” I agreed, relieved when he nodded. “But she wasn’t dancing around anything. I just wish she’d told us.”
He didn’t respond, but something in his expression sharpened, his brow furrowed even more. “She’s a good person. They are too. They’ll tell us when they know more.”
“You think they’ll look into it?”
Dustin huffed out a laugh. “They were looking into it before I even turned the engine over.” Dustin pointed to the car in front. “He knows it too — be glad you’re in this car.”
I exhaled slowly. “It’s getting deeper. You know that, right?”
“I know.” His voice dropped an octave. “That’s why I’m here.”
I blinked. “Here . . . meaning in the car with me, or here meaning in this mess with me?”
“Yes.”
God, he was truly infuriating. And also, that answer had done dangerous, terrible things to my insides. I crossed my legs, irritated at my own reaction. “I can handle myself, Dustin.”
“I never said you couldn’t.”
“You don’t need to worry about me.”
“Not so sure about that,” he countered, his voice quiet but rough. “I can give a damn about the fact you might get hurt.”
My breath stuttered. And there it was again — his raw, unfiltered sincerity. The feeling he actually was concerned hit harder than any kiss.
“I’m not fragile,” I whispered.
“I know that,” he said with a smirk. He finally looked at me, really looked. “And maybe that’s the problem.”
My heartbeat went sideways.
He dragged his gaze back to the road like it physically cost him something. “You won’t back off. Even when you should.”
“Because I’m right.”
He made a face. “Or because you’re stubborn.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
He snorted, shaking his head. We fell silent again, but it wasn’t the choking silence from before.
I shifted in my seat, watching the lights flash across his profile — sharp jaw, focused eyes, that stupidly attractive vein in his forearm where his hand gripped the wheel, showing his strength even when he was relaxed.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked suddenly. “Helping me. Chasing leads. Getting in the middle of something that could blow up your whole damn career?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Because you’re already in it,” he said. “Savannah was already in it before we knew you were. Because there is shit we need to fix, or at least understand . . .” He looked over at me. “And I’m not letting you, or her, do it alone.”
Heat poured through me so fast I had to press my palm to my thigh just to steady myself. “That’s not—” I swallowed — “That’s not the answer I expected.”
He gave a humorless laugh. “Yeah. Me neither.”
Miles rolled under the tires as I thought about everything he said, everything Ava had said, which, to be fair, hadn’t meant much to me — except where to find Mason.
There was a good chance he went back home after whatever actually happened at Wrighton.
I ran through everything in my head that Mary had told us.
Something didn’t add up. But more importantly, Ava remembered Mason.
Mason had been a big deal. Who the heck in the program had enough influence to wipe him out completely?
“Dustin—”
“Yeah, I know,” he agreed, patting my knee. “We’re not done talking about earlier.”
My pulse slammed. I turned my head. “Earlier?”
One corner of his mouth lifted — not a smile, exactly, but the ghost of one. Dangerous. Knowing. “Don’t play dumb.”
I refused to blush. “I wasn’t thinking about earlier.”
He cut me a look that shut me up instantly. “Really?” he asked softly. “Must just be me, then.”
Was he kidding me? Now I was thinking about earlier. I . . . Oh my God, I was speechless again. What the fuck was wrong with me?
“And that’s my problem,” he added, eyes flicking to my mouth for half a second before snapping back to the road. “You live up here now.” He tapped the side of his head.
My entire body lit up like someone plugged me into a wall socket. But I wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of letting him see how much he affected me when he said something like that. So I said, “Well, you’re a bigger problem.”
He huffed out a laugh — real, warm, and so unexpected it knocked the air from my chest. “Yeah,” he whispered. “I know.”
“Which problem do we tackle first?” I asked him carefully. “The issue at school or . . . the one between us?”
He glanced at me, heat in his eyes, and his gaze dropped down my body like a caress. “I don’t think this is the best time to answer that.”
Really? In a car, just the two of us, where no one could hear? This was the best time to hear it.
“I won’t tell if you don’t,” I whispered.
Was it hot in here? It felt like it was really hot in here.
“For what it’s worth,” he said quietly, eyes still on the road, “I didn’t walk away from you that night because I wanted to.”
My heart did something stupid and complicated. “Okay.” I watched him intently. “Why did you, then?”
He licked his bottom lip, and it was ridiculously hot, and it was unfair because he wasn’t even being hot on purpose. His knuckles loosened on the wheel. “I didn’t think my new social media marketing PR girl would appreciate it if she found me fucking you in the street like I wanted to.”
I opened my mouth to tell him he had a high opinion of himself, but he silenced me with one look so hot it burned.
“You know I’m right,” he said quietly. “We were so close to losing control. I saw you the other day, and I didn’t think about conversation.
I was thinking about how wet your pussy was when I fingered you, I was thinking how goddamn sweet you tasted, and I wanted more.
I wasn’t thinking about anything at all other than laying you flat on my bed and eating your pussy until you screamed, and then fucking you every which way you’d let me. ”
My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. I made a sound, more of a whimper than an actual coherent sound.
Dustin looked at me, fire in his eyes. “Hadley?” His fingers trailed up my thigh, slipping between my legs, pressing against me. “Tell me what you want.”
There were a thousand answers to what I wanted, but I gave him the only one I could right then.
I unbuttoned my jeans.