Chapter 27
ELLA
I want to take off running, but I don’t.
The second I see him, leaning against his old truck, parked next to my SUV in the school parking lot, I want to take off in a wild sprint, toss my arms around him, and never let go. But I don’t. These people are watching. It’s not what’s expected of me. I would have too many questions to answer.
I don’t mind answering the questions. Really, I don’t. But I like having something that’s just mine.
And Ry is mine.
As I walk across the asphalt, soaking in the early spring sun, I can feel it. The glare of every single girl who goes to this pretentious-as-hell high school watching the sexy stranger. Silently pleading that he is some secret cousin of mine, meaning he is free for the taking. Holt has visited me at school a few times, and the female classmates who saw him bugged me for days for his phone number and contact information. Now, they’re wondering who this sex pot is.
He’s smiling when I reach him. Grabbing the heavy backpack from my shoulder, he smirks. “What are you about to do, Lulu? I know that look.”
I glance around. I was right. Every single person with a vagina is staring at my man. Hell, even some of the guys are staring too.
Back off bitches, he’s mine.
Snaking my arms around his neck, I pull Ry down for a kiss. He doesn’t need more of an invitation. He thrusts into my mouth, kissing me with passion and fervor, digging his fingers into my waist. We haven’t seen each other in two days. He had a mid-semester exam Wednesday night. And last night I had to attend a country club function with my parents. They needed their token daughter.
Eventually pulling away, he starts laughing. “I knew that would happen. Girls should make you jealous all the time. A man could get used to a welcome like that.”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
He waves his hand around at our distant audience. “You just rolled your eyes at a whole high school of girls, Lulu.”
I pout. “I don’t roll my eyes.”
“Whatever you say.” Folding his arm against the small of my back, he waits for me to unlock my door and then puts my backpack in the back seat. I toss my purse onto the driver’s seat.
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?” A split second of horror streaks across my heart. “Is Harlan okay?”
“Harlan’s fine. He let me have the afternoon off. There’s something I want—”
Ry’s rudely interrupted by a member of the distant audience who decided not to stay so distant.
Hudson’s voice is prickly and filled with bitterness. “So, now I see why you canceled on the trip. You’re still seeing this guy, Ella.”
Ry peers around me, seeing Hudson for the first time. He makes a move to place himself between me and Hudson, but not before whispering his words of concern to me. “You canceled the charity trip? Why?”
I shake my head. “No, not that trip. It—”
It doesn’t matter. Hudson once again interrupts. “Our trip to Miami Beach. Spring Break is next week, and we’re supposed to be leaving for Miami tomorrow, but Ella backed out on me.”
Our trip . Hudson’s making it sound like a lover’s getaway and not the large group trip it’s supposed to be. I take a step forward, but Ry doesn’t like it. His fingers twitch out to my side, grazing my thigh, begging me not to leave the sanctuary of his shadow.
So, I don’t.
“Hudson, you know I never really wanted to go on that trip. And I didn’t just back out, I told you three weeks ago that I wouldn’t be going. You’ll still have twenty other people there to keep you company.”
Half the senior class decided to go to Miami Beach, and the other half to New York City. The trips weren’t scheduled through the school so no chaperones would be needed. Just a big pile of eighteen-year-olds headed off to party by themselves. My father had Addison book my flight to Miami Beach simply because that’s where Hudson was going. His parents paid for a huge rental house. Three weeks ago, I canceled the flight without telling my parents.
“You used to never cancel plans with your friends, Ella.”
I shouldn’t engage him. Really, I shouldn’t. But we all know I end up doing the things I shouldn’t do. Even more so now after meeting Ry. “Hudson, we’re all getting older, living our own lives. That’s no one’s fault. It’s just the way the world works. I don’t wanna go to Miami. So, I’m not. It’s as simple as that.”
“Well, you’d still be going if it weren’t for him. I wouldn’t call that simple. I thought you two were just having a fling. Aren’t you done by now?”
Uh-oh.
Ry’s fist clenches at his side and he takes two steps toward Hudson. “What the fuck did you say?”
There’s no comparison. No fair match. Hudson is my height. In fact, he usually wears lifts in his dress shoes if he knows he’s going to be dancing or posing for pictures with me. He’s cute, don’t get me wrong. And most girls in school would line up to date him, but he’s always made it pretty clear that he was holding out for me. Waiting on me to jump from the ‘friend zone’ into the ‘relationship zone’.
Never gonna happen. Never. Ever.
I’ve made that clear on more than one occasion. Especially after the drunken margarita kiss.
Ry’s growl and threatening size give Hudson pause and he takes a small step back. Fighting isn’t really something boys at my school do. How can you fight when you’re wearing jeans that cost $300 and the latest, most expensive smart watch?
Ry shouldn’t need any more confidence; he’s built like a brick shithouse. But still, he takes advantage of Hudson’s small sidestep, closing even more distance between them. “You should know Lu—” he breaks off, not wanting to share his nickname with the crap bag in front of him. “Ella isn’t the kind of girl who has flings. Insinuating that she is makes you a liar. And we don’t deal too kindly with liars where I come from.” He flicks his chin in the air. “So, tell me, Hudson. Are you a liar? Or just an asshole who can’t respect the woman’s wishes? It seems to me she made them pretty clear. And she wishes to be nowhere near you this Spring Break.”
One of his friends, Matt, tugs him on the shoulder. “C’mon, man. Let it go.”
Puffing out his chest, Hudson makes the right call and decides to walk away. “I just hate to see you missing out on fun with your friends, Ella.”
But they’re not my friends. So, I’m more than willing to take that gamble and miss out on whatever activities their pea-size brains deem ‘fun’. As they walk away, Thomas, a Grade-A-Douche, leans against Hudson and whisper-yells, “Yeah, she’s totally not worth it.”
Pure luck and heavenly grace are on my side. It’s the only explanation for why my reflexes are so fast. I reach out, grabbing Ry’s waist and holding him against me with all of my strength, using all of my muscles. I’m no match for him either. He walks several paces, treating me like I’m no more than a feather on his back. “Ry, stop. Please. Please, don’t do this. It’s what they want.”
I jump off his back and race to his front, planting my hands on his chest. That stops him.
Looking down at my hands, he takes a deep breath, trying to release the pounds and pounds of tension sitting on his shoulders. I stare up into his eyes. He seems taller today because my shoes are completely flat. It was warm enough for shorts and a long-sleeve sweater so I have flat sandals on my feet. His translucent green eyes flare, setting my heart aflutter.
“Ask me,” I demand.
Shaking his head, he snorts. “Tell me something. Something no one else knows.”
“You know you told me that you never hear me say a curse word?”
He nods.
I lean in, waiting on him to do the same, waiting to share my secret with him. “In my head, I cuss all the time. I’m like a fucking sailor.”
Catching him completely off guard, he bursts out laughing. Lifting me into one of his all-encompassing hugs, I quickly wrap my legs around his waist and he carries me back to the cars.
“Yours or mine?” he asks, standing between our two vehicles.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Yours!” I shout. He sets me in his truck. Leaning across to my SUV, he rifles through my purse, grabs my wristlet wallet with my car key and phone tucked neatly inside, slams the door, and locks it.
When he starts driving, I slide across the bench seat, planting myself right next to him. “I love surprises.”
“And I love a safe Lulu. Scoot back over and put on your seatbelt.”
We’re both deathly quiet for the rest of the ride.
Because did Ry just say that he loves me?