Chapter 18 #3
“Yeah,” he breathes, running his tongue across his lower lip.
His forehead is nearly pressed against mine, and my heart pounds as I drop my eyes to focus on my fingertips, finding that spot beneath his ribs next.
His face is so close that I can feel how warm he is.
I press a hand over the top of his shoulder, and the temperature changes slightly beneath my palm.
“You never need to hide these around me,” I tell him. “I remember when you were wearing the sling at your parents’ Christmas party. You were so—”
“Angry?” he finishes.
My eyes jump to his, and I smile that he’ll admit it.
“I’d have been angry, too,” I whisper, like it’s a dirty secret.
“I remember how badly you wanted to make this your life. So, angry makes sense.” Everything in me hurts for him.
“I, for one, am so proud of you,” I tell him, pressing my palm flat, warming his skin with the heat of my hand.
“Nothing about this changes what you accomplished. You achieved your dream. Not everyone has the guts to do that.”
His eyes lower to my mouth, as if to absorb the words coming out of it with his, and my nerves suddenly take over. Skyrocketing up between us.
“But I’ll shut up if you let me hug you again,” I say, pulling him in closer, letting whatever was happening wash over me while exhaling over the top of his shoulder.
The warmth of his body feels like a blanket, and I force myself to shake it off.
Shake off everything about this conversation before pulling back. Hoping I look calmer than I feel.
“Now,” I announce, forcing my breath to slow, “watch Dateline with me for God’s sake. It’s all there is to distract us from this horrible room besides that damn mirror up there. And that’s . . . well, that’s just going to stay up there, isn’t it?”
I shove the remote into his hands and quickly lie back down onto my side of the bed, feeling mildly breathless.
He follows my lead, tilting back more gently beside me, sinking into the mattress as the springs relax underneath.
Then he side-eyes me while I stare up at the ceiling.
Unfortunately, he looks up too, so we’re both looking at our reflections staring back at us from above.
I tuck everything away that just happened beneath a flushed smile that quickly turns into a laugh because I don’t know what else to do.
My heart pounds as I watch what’s playing out between us like a movie in the mirror bolted above.
Me lying next to Rhett.
In a bed.
One bed.
One thankfully gross bed that does nothing for the tension churning up between us right now.
God help us.
“Should I take a mirror selfie?” I ask, breaking the thick silence, pretending to reach for my phone on the nightstand. “If only Axel and Hollis could see us now,” I joke.
“Shhh.” He rolls over to cup a hand over my mouth while I watch it happen in the mirror. “The last thing I want to think about while lying next to you in a bed starting at a mirror bolted above us is my sister or your brother.”
I swallow a laugh. Fair enough.
He turns back to the TV while I attempt to slow my heart rate.
Neither of us builds the wall of pillows back up, but every few moments, I steal a glance at our reflection on the ceiling, just so I can see him lying next to me, until without a word, he hops off the bed and grabs his wallet near the wall.
When he turns around, he has the same look in his eye that he used to have right before grabbing me off the dock to do something very naughty.
I stare at him, wondering what in the world he just grabbed.
“I nearly forgot,” he says, interrupting my ridiculous thoughts, narrowing his eyes with a grin that spells trouble.
“I know that look,” I say lightly, shifting to my side, half-afraid and half-excited for whatever’s about to happen.
“I found something while you were changing.”
“What?”
He reaches down to his side of the bed while I eye him suspiciously, wondering what on earth could make him smile like that inside this room.
Then I hear it.
Clink, clink.
Two coins descend into a metal chute, followed by—
“Ohhh myyy Godddd,” my voice rattles in my throat.
The entire bed is shaking.
Vibrating.
Rhett must have found a coin slot that makes the bed vibrate while I was changing.
He hops onto the pulsating mattress, then kneels beside me on all fours, grinning.
“I will never forget thissss,” I say, sounding like a munchkin from the Emerald City as my voice rattles along with the bed. But a few seconds later, it still hasn’t turned off. “Rhettt . . .” I laugh. “What if this thinggg is brokennn? What if it isn’t goinggg to shut off tooonight?”
He lies back down beside me. We watch the bed vibrate us both in the mirror.
“This thing’s got some staminaaa,” he says. His voice is shaking just as much as mine.
I press my lips together, trying not to laugh while we both try to concentrate on whatever murder plot is playing out on the TV — a dentist and a patient, I think. The screen is a bit wobbly, or it’s my eyeballs shaking inside my head.
“No quickies herrre,” I say, trying to hold back another laugh. “This thing needs at leasttt ten minutes to finishhh.”
“Give it a fewww more minutesss,” his voice reverberates beside mine. “There are worse things than a vibratinggg beddd, right? Some people pay good mmmoney for this thinggg.”
“Define gggood money,” I say, turning to look up at him.
The bed finally stops.
“Thank God,” I mutter, exhaling in relief.
Thirty seconds later, Rhett shifts, and I hear the same clink, clink, followed by—
Buzzzzzz.
“Rhettt!” I yell, smacking him on the arm.
His laughter echoes through the room, or maybe just my vibrating skull, while I glare at him in the mirror, but then my smile grows just as wide as his.
“Just enjoy the riddde, Bayyyy,” he says, reaching over to squeeze my hand, but this time he leaves it there a few seconds longer than he normally would. Long enough for me to catch our reflections in the mirror. Both smiling, with Rhett’s hand lingering over the top of mine.
I take the memory while it’s there. Logging it inside my collection of moments I shouldn’t be having with my best friend’s brother.