Chapter Twenty-Nine
Trevor kissed her in the rain as Madison drove past.
“I thought you’d bring your parents’ car,” Ellie said as he handed her a helmet.
All that effort on curling her hair had been a complete waste of time.
“No way. They’d want to know every place I went and when I’d be back.”
Ellie thought about her phone sitting in her backpack, all in an effort to ward off any questions from her mom and dad.
“Okay.” The helmet went over her head, and cold fingers fiddled with the latch in an attempt at securing the thing.
Trevor placed a pair of sunglasses over her eyes and patted her butt when he was done.
His helmet had a shield that kept the rain off his face.
Ellie would have to duck behind his head to avoid the wet assault.
“I’ll keep you warm,” he told her.
Ellie hoped her laugh didn’t sound forced.
And it was forced.
Not only was she breaking all the rules sneaking off with him, but riding on the back of his motorcycle, in the rain, was way down the list of “accepted behavior,” according to her parents.
She swung one leg over the bike and scooted back.
Trevor hopped on and brought the bike to life.
Ellie took hold of his waist over his jacket and gripped him harder when he took off.
By the time they made it to the marina, Ellie was shaking so hard, her teeth were threatening to bite off her tongue.
Her hair was soaked, her jeans glued to her body.
Trevor used a code to open the gate that led them onto the dock.
Ellie hung tight to the railing to keep from slipping until the railing ended.
“I got you.”
She smiled, liked it when Trevor did those little things. Holding her hand, putting his arm around her when people were watching.
Romantic.
The rain was coming down in sheets, and the dock was moving with the waves.
Ellie had never been on Trevor’s parents’ yacht.
When he stopped at a boat that wasn’t a lot bigger than the kind you’d use to taxi to something moored in the middle of the bay, Ellie hesitated.
Trevor didn’t notice.
He let her hand go and reached for the side of the boat and attempted to gain some balance before hoisting himself on board.
The sound of ropes slapping against the poles sticking out above the sailboats was something Ellie knew she’d remember from this night.
Trevor’s parents owned a sailboat.
Not a yacht.
Trevor reached out a hand. “C’mon.”
She didn’t like this. One slip, and she’d be in the water between the boat and the dock.
“I won’t let you fall in,” he promised, reading her mind.
Against her better judgment, Ellie placed her freezing fingers in his gloved hand and squeezed tight.
Twice she started to lift herself onto the boat, chickened out, and pulled back.
The third time worked.
Even on board, she crouched low and held on to anything she could, following Trevor to where a small opening took them inside.
The narrow passage and even smaller door made her duck to get out of the rain.
Trevor let go of her hand and moved to a panel on the wall.
Ellie shut the door behind her and wrapped her arms around herself.
“This is . . . lit,” she said, teeth chattering.
“Right?”
Trevor flipped a switch and pushed a button. Light filled the space that the fading sun outside didn’t reach.
As suggested by the outside of the boat, the inside was small. A kitchen that looked no bigger than the half bath in the hallway of her house was squeezed into one side. A dining table for two filled the other side, the table itself was overloaded with books and papers.
But it wasn’t the kitchen and table that caught Ellie’s attention.
It was the bed.
On it was a brown blanket, and an orange pillow that looked like it had been left to weather a storm outside, then brought in by accident, sat at the foot.
Trevor grabbed the two life jackets that lay on the bed and pushed them off to the side.
Or the floor.
The six inches of floor between the bed and the wall.
“Sorry, I was going to try and come earlier and clean it up, but—”
“It’s okay.” She looked around. “Is there a heater?”
Trevor scrambled to the control panel. “I don’t know if my dad got it working. It’s not usually cold.”
It sounded like something turned on after he hit another button. “There.”
Trevor rolled his shoulders back and punched his chest out.
He turned and put a hand on each of her shoulders. “We should get you out of these wet clothes.”
Her eyes looked at the bed, then him.
Swallowing hard, Ellie tugged at the edges of her coat to pull it past her cold, wet hands.
Trevor stood back and mimicked her actions.
His coat was off and added to the collection on the table before she’d pulled one arm out.
“Let me help.”
She lifted an arm and turned for him to remove the coat.
Once it joined his, she felt a shiver run up her entire body.
Trevor choked out a laugh. “I know, right? It’s cold.”
She nodded a couple of times and looked at him.
Ellie opened her mouth to ask if there was a bathroom, but Trevor’s cold lips pressed against hers.
Unlike any other time they’d kissed, this time felt hurried. Maybe he was as nervous as she was.
Either way, he pressed against her, his teeth hit her lips.
She pulled back.
“Sorry,” he said as he leaned in again.
Ellie pressed a hand to his chest. “Uhm, is there a bathroom?”
“Oh.” He took a step back. “Yeah.”
A tiny door Chloe hardly noticed was at the very bottom of the stairs leading down into the boat.
Trevor pushed the door open.
“Thanks.”
Ellie didn’t know bathrooms could be smaller than on an airplane.
But apparently, they could.
One look in the mirror horrified her.
The rain had not only ruined any possibility of a hairstyle, but it also smudged the eyeliner her mother had suggested she needed more of.
Ellie turned the knob to the sink.
Nothing happened.
“There’s no water,” she called out.
“Hold on,” Trevor yelled from the other side of the closed door.
She envisioned him back at the control panel, pushing another button.
Apparently, everything on this tiny boat required a button.
Water started to flow.
Cold water.
With a swab of toilet paper, Ellie tried to dab at the eyeliner to fix it. All she did was make it worse. With each pass, the black smeared more.
She wet a finger with soap, which worked, but it also got in her eye and had her tearing up. “Fuck.”
“Is everything okay?” Trevor asked.
“Yeah.”
She was taking forever.
After trying to run her fingers through her hair . . . to do what, she didn’t know, Ellie glanced at the toilet. She didn’t need to go, and honestly, the thought of baring her butt to the cold room was right up there with using a Porta Potty in the snow.
After one last look in the mirror, she told herself she was ready for this and opened the door.
Trevor had taken off his shoes and pulled off the hoodie he’d worn under his coat.
It looked as if he’d shaken the water from his hair as well, leaving a cute curl falling in his eyes.
He really was a good-looking guy.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
Then why was she still shaking even though the room did seem to have warmed up a degree or two?
Trevor reached for her again.
Before he tried to kiss her, Ellie asked, “Can I get some water?”
Trevor stopped. This time, a little huff escaped his lips. “Sure.”
Under the table was a plastic-wrapped bundle of bottled waters. The kind you picked up from Costco.
He tugged one free and handed it to her.
She twisted off the cap and took a small sip, then a second.
Trevor stood there watching her.
She smiled and set the water on the tiny kitchen counter behind her.
They looked at each other. “Are you nervous, baby?”
“Yeah,” she admitted. “A little.”
He put his hand on her hip and backed up until his legs hit the mattress, bringing her along with him. “It’s okay. I’ll be careful.”
What Ellie really wanted him to say was that they didn’t have to. That if she wasn’t ready, they could wait.
That’s not what happened.
Trevor kissed her again. This time, his lips weren’t as cold.
She closed her eyes and kissed him back.
She liked this. The kissing.
She tasted mint. Like he’d managed to pop a mint in while she’d been in the bathroom.
Trevor’s hand that had been on her hip slipped under her shirt. Something she’d let him do before. Only now he didn’t hesitate to cup her breast.
One minute they stood like that. The next, Trevor was pulling her down to sit next to him on the bed.
He broke their kiss long enough to adjust his position, then started kissing her again.
Ellie’s heart was beating so fast she thought for sure he could feel it thumping under his hand. The hand that was right back under her shirt, until it fell to the top of her wet jeans.
He was going to undress her.
That’s what happens, right?
You can’t exactly have sex and do it with your clothes on.
Trevor leaned her back on the bed, one hand managed to undo the button on her jeans.
Then she felt him try and wedge his fingers between the wet fabric and her skin.
Ellie froze.
She turned her head to the side. “I can’t.”
Trevor kissed her neck like he didn’t hear her.
“Stop. Trevor, stop.”
He did.
Like a switch, he left his hand where it was, left his body pressing against hers, and opened his eyes.
“Fuck,” he said as he pulled his frame away from hers.
“I’m sorry. I can’t. I’m not ready.”
The face that always smiled at her, the one that seemed to always have a look of understanding, didn’t look so understanding now. “I knew this was going to happen.”
She sat up, tugging her shirt down as she did.
“I’m sorry, Trevor.”
He moved away from the bed and leaned against the tiny kitchen counter. “When are you going to be ready? You’ve been saying this for months.”
Ellie was quick to button her pants. “I thought I was. I mean, it’s cold, and I’m soaked.”
Trevor waved a hand at the heater, which was working. “It’s a boat, not the Ritz.”
Ellie felt her throat clogging up. “This should be special. I don’t even know if we’ll see each other when we’re at college. We never talk about that.”
Trevor ran both of his hands through his hair. “What are you going on about? Who said anything about college?”
“Will I still be your girlfriend?”
“Fuck, I don’t know.”
She felt him slipping away. “Maybe by prom I’ll be ready.”
“What?” He screwed up his face. “Prom . . . You know what? No. Senior prom is supposed to have a happy ending. I just know you’ll do this again.”
This wasn’t happening. “What are you saying?”
The face that stared back at her every time she turned on her phone glared at her now.
“I’d rather go to prom by myself than spend a bunch of money on something that isn’t going to happen.”
Ellie’s jaw started to shake, and it had nothing to do with the cold.
The boat rocked, causing Trevor to lose his footing slightly.
Ellie didn’t trust herself enough to stand.
One second, and he was tossing her jacket at her. The next, he was jabbing at all the buttons he’d pressed when they’d gotten on board.
She just sat there staring.
The second the lights went out in the cabin, Ellie realized how dark it had gotten outside.
“C’mon. I’m taking you back.”
She slowly stood; tears fell down her face. This wasn’t how this night was supposed to go.
Her wet coat drove home the reality of what had just happened.
Not only did Trevor just break up with her because she wouldn’t have sex with him, but he was being a complete ass about it.
She didn’t see that coming.
A big part of her wanted to start yelling at him. But instead, she felt her insides crumbling.
Her dad was right. Trevor was after one thing.
How could she be so stupid?
Before her jacket was even zipped up, Trevor was out the door.
Wind and rain hit her face the second she was on the deck of the tiny boat.
Yacht. It isn’t a freaking yacht.
And how many other girls had he taken there?
Forgetting how slippery the deck was, Ellie nearly slid right off the side on the first step outside.
Trevor looked over her shoulder, said something she couldn’t hear in the wind, then pushed behind her to close the door.
Just as rudely, he worked his way around her again and jumped off the boat and onto the dock.
Between the boat rocking and her tears, getting off the boat was even more difficult than getting on.
Trevor rolled his eyes and reached out a hand for her.
Eventually, she stood on the dock beside him. Both of them squaring off to each other.
“For the record, I didn’t touch you once after you said to stop,” he shouted at her.
Ellie started to feel her backbone showing up. “Okay.”
“Just because you’re eighteen doesn’t stop a guy from being accused of something they didn’t do.”
“Do you want a sticker? Unlike you, I’m not going to be a little bitch.” That felt good.
“Screw you.”
He started to walk away.
Ellie’s feet stayed grounded.
Well, as grounded as they could be on a rocking dock.
Trevor stopped when he realized she wasn’t following him.
“C’mon.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to ride on your motorcycle when you’re this mad.”
“I wouldn’t be this mad if you . . .”
The tears felt like they were coming back.
She didn’t want to show them. Gulping down her pride, she thrust her hand at him.
“What?”
“Your phone. I’ll call Maddie to come get me.”
He reached for his back pocket. “Whatever.”
She took his phone from him.
The lock screen had a picture of both of them on the field after one of her games.
She wanted to cry all over again. Ellie shoved the phone back at him. “It’s locked.”
Trevor took it, cussed when the facial recognition didn’t work, and then typed in his passcode.
Grasping the cold phone with freezing fingers, Ellie tried typing in the only phone number she’d memorized.
Only she kept pressing the wrong number. “Dammit.”
“Jesus!” Trevor cussed.
“Stop yelling at me!” she shouted back.
Her teeth were chattering so hard, and she was having a hard time keeping her footing as the choppy sea slapped upside the dock.
Trevor reached for his phone.
She tried to hold on.
The next thing she knew, the phone was falling to the ground.
Trevor lunged for it.
Ellie stepped out of the way and watched as the phone slid right between the slats of the dock and into the sea.
Trevor caught himself before falling in after it. He came up sputtering. “Fucking, God damn . . . shit.”
“You shouldn’t have tried to grab it away.”
“That was brand fucking new.”
Ellie pointed at the ocean. “That wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t being such a dick.”
Trevor stormed off the dock.
The locked door clapped back into place after he went through, leaving Ellie on the other side.
Opening doors for her was over.
It was all over.
In truth, she wanted to throw up.
Trevor shoved his helmet on and looked at her. “You coming or not?”
A clap of thunder was her answer.
She’d take her chances.
Ellie shook her head.
Trevor didn’t say anything else. He turned over the bike, revved it twice, and sped away.
His back wheel skidding out as he did.