But since he came around, she only wanted to be wherever he was.
He helped her clamber through his bedroom window before tumbling through himself. She stood in the center of the tiny room while he sneaked out. When he came back, he held two towels in his hand. They were hardly necessary—the only dampness lingered in the denim of her shorts—but she didn’t say anything while he rummaged through his dresser. Somethingwarm dropped in her belly at the heated haze in his eyes as he handed her a T-shirt and shorts. She swallowed thickly, cheeks burning hot, then turned her back to him. Hoping he would take the hint, she closed the curtains and pulled her shirt off. A strangled sound came from behind her, then footsteps shuffled along the thin carpet. She smiled to herself as she pulled on the clothes he’d given her, pulling the curtains open once more when she was finished. She draped her damp garments over the windowsill. Finished, Rett crawled into his bed.
She didn’t know if he was okay with her sleeping over.Please don’t make me go home.
To her surprise, he laid down behind her and plastered himself against her back. She chewed on her lower lip for a moment before whispering, “I’m glad you came to Oak Creek.”
“I am, too,” he whispered back. His lips brushed against her hair. “Where else could I have met someone so beautiful?”
Rett fell asleep to the steady cadence of his breathing and the song of nightlife in the dark outside.
She woke to the door slamming open. Tiffany’s voice, her ‘Mama says—’ cut off before she screeched for Georgie and Charles. Rett jerked away from Calum and was through the window before his aunt reached the door.
eight
Calum
CALUM WATCHED A TAN hand yank the clothing from the windowsill, then Rett’s footsteps disappeared in the dry grass. Groaning, he rolled over onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow. He’d slept wonderfully with Rett curled against him like she had. Better than he had since he could remember, even though it was too hot to sleep so pressed together. Her presence had sent a yearning through him, and he swore to himself to hold on to the way she made him feel, while he could. It wouldn’t be long before the memories were all he had.
The night before had been unexpected in the best way. Rett’s plan to swim in only their underwear in someone else’s pool had taken him by surprise. He never expected to see her so near to naked, and she’d not had any shame in stripping down in frontof him. Then the kiss… An amazing thing, tasting pot and cherry on her lips. His fingers itched to press against her warm skin again. His lips burned to press to hers once more.
She’d called him beautiful, he remembered. It was an unfamiliar compliment. Not even his mother called him ‘beautiful’. Handsome, sure, but she was biased. She had to think her children were handsome or beautiful; it was practically an unwritten law for parenthood. But Rett had no obligation, and still, she said he was beautiful. Somehow, without a doubt, Calum knew she meant it.
He would never know if she thought the same of herself. If he asked, she might lie. If she said no, it would break his heart. She was gorgeous. Not just physically, but everything she was, inside and out—her heart, her shining personality, the curves and wire-rimmed glasses and even the small gap between her two front teeth. He could fall in love with her simply for how amazing she was.
“You’re gonna be in trouble,” Tiffany singsonged from the doorway, and Calum groaned again. Footsteps came to a stop outside his door. “Mama, Calum had a girl in his bed.”
“I know,” came Georgie’s reply.
“What?”
Tiffany sounded as gobsmacked as Calum felt. His heart stopped. His stomach lurched, and his body ached with the sudden tension. Georgie knew Rett spent the night? He turned his head, moving the pillow just enough to meet his aunt’s eye. Her face was a mask of nothing, and her eyes held none of the usual light. A loose strand of hair fell over her forehead. Finally, after Calum’s heart climbed into his throat and made a new home there, she opened her mouth.
“You do anything?”
“No, ma’am.”We kissed. So many times. It was perfect.
“Good. Rett don’t deserve to have her life turned ’round by a mistake like that.”
Calum’s face burned hot. He barely stifled his protests. Sleeping with him wouldn’t have been that much of a mistake, would it? He would have made sure he was safe about it. His mom taught him everything there was to know about sex, and precautions and consent were her two biggest lessons. Even if Calum had yet to sleep with someone, he knew it could ruin a life to not use protection. Or to take it so far too early.
It was too soon to be thinking about sex with Rett. They’d only kissed for the first—and hundredth—time just hours ago.
Georgie gave him another appraising look before telling him to get out of bed, it was time for school. Tiffany scowled at him before flouncing away. Calum knew she was upset he hadn’t gotten in trouble, though Georgie’s comment was worse than any lecture she could have given him. He also knew that it was a matter of time before the rumors started. His cousin would tell everyone she could.
He wasn’t wrong. He wished he had been, as he watched people skirt around Rett like she carried a contagion. Even Kellie Marie kept her distance. Calum knew then that everyone saw him as an outsider, a troubling influence. They still thought the worst of him despite his being in town for a month. They were now putting Rett in the same category because she dared be seen bolting from his bedroom window at six-fifteen in the morning.
To his surprise, Rett stretched up to kiss him outside of English class. Whispers erupted around them, but she only smiled at him before disappearing through the door. Calum ducked his head under the weight of all the stares, gripping the strap of his backpack more tightly, and moved the opposite way. The students parted to let him through.
She slept over, something he never imagined would happen, but it was a mistake. He should have made her go home. Walkedher to her door like a good boy and left her with nothing more than the view of his back as he walked away.
It would hurt, but he had to walk away. Georgie said it best: Rett didn’t deserve to have her life turned upside down because of him.
Rett’s face fell when he switched seats with Pete Donahue during Health class. Calum refused to look at her again, but he could feel her staring at him. His skin crawled with the scrutiny, and his eyes stung as he tried not to think about her.
She was all he could think about.
Kellie Marie was back to talking to Rett by the end of the day.
