Chapter 8
EIGHT
HARLEY
A grin tilts my lips as I lead Savannah down to the beach. There are still people milling around, sitting and chatting amongst one another, but it’s a hell of a lot quieter than it was on the pier.
I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out sooner, but I should have.
Of course, that was why she was a little off last time, just like she was at the party.
It wasn’t because of me, but because she doesn’t like being around so many people or large crowds.
This is just another thing I have to file away about her, though there’s so much more I want and need to know about this girl.
I squeeze her hand in mine and then let go. Pulling the hoodie over my head, I lay it on the sand before lying down next to it.
I figure she won’t want sand getting in her hair and I’m trying to be gentlemanly.
Whatever that looks like.
Savannah’s baffled expression makes my lips quirk, but I’m silent as she debates with herself. She finally lies down next to me, focusing her attention on the sky.
But I can’t take my eyes off her.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous.
It’s dark out, but there’s enough light from the pier and people’s campfires nearby that I can see her clearly.
There’s just something about Savannah Marks that draws me in.
Whether it’s from how she’s naturally beautiful without all of the makeup, or the way she’s so unapologetically herself around me, or the way a fire lights in her eyes every time I tease her, I don’t know.
I just know that the more time I spend with her, the more I want to learn about her.
She’s a mystery wrapped up in a pretty package.
And I’ve always loved presents.
“I’m surprised you haven’t tried to drag me to a party or something yet,” she murmurs after a bout of silence, and I grin up at the stars.
It’s one thing I hate about living in the city—not being able to see the stars.
It’s something I’m looking forward to doing when I move to Blackwater for college.
“You think you know me, huh?” I ask and roll onto my side, propping myself up on my elbow.
She does the same, and I lose myself for a moment in her eyes. Snapping back to the present, Savannah has a raised brow, waiting for me to continue.
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sure, I like hanging out at parties when I’m with the guys, but it’s not exactly my favorite thing to do. Just like you have your mask in public, I have mine.
“I’m the fun-loving, carefree one out of me and my friends, but I’m not always like that.
I like the quiet as much as anyone, and hanging around in a crowded house while people drink and lose their minds isn’t something I want to do with you.
I want to be able to talk to you without others around, and without expectations.
“Sometimes when I’m around people who come from our world, they expect me to just be on all the time, you know? But I don’t feel that need while I’m around you.”
Once I finish speaking, she’s quiet for so long I become nervous. Was that too much? Too serious? Does she want me to take her to a party and that’s why she asked?
“I like that,” she says softly and the tension wooshes out of me.
Fuck, this girl is really getting under my skin.
“You do?”
She lies back again, staring up at the sky.
“I think it’s easy to forget we’re all just playing a game.
Sometimes, what you show the rest of the world is so believable, people start to believe it.
Hell, sometimes even I believe what I show people.
It’s hard when there are so many expectations placed on you that you feel the need to comply, and sometimes the weight of that feels like it will bury you. ”
“Your dad is hard on you?”
A shadow passes in her eyes, there and gone in a blink, and I wonder if I really saw it at all, or if my eyes were deceiving me.
“You could say that,” she whispers, and the conversation is finished.
We both look up at the sky, enjoying the peaceful moment between just the two of us.