I stop in front of the diner. “Do you need a ride home tonight?”
She laughs and climbs out of the car without a word.Okay, then.I check the time: it’s four fifty, so the DMV is closed for sure. Doris likes to slack on time, and even though her official hours are nine to five, she’s nowhere to be seen by four-ish.
I’m contemplating if I should wait for Kayla or not. She looked miserable, and it’s partially my fault, considering the unfortunate fact that I’m related to my idiot of a brother. I look around and don’t see Marina’s car. The lights switch on in the diner—okay, so she might be alone in there. How will she get to her trailer, which is on the other side of the fucking mountain?
I decide to wait for a few.
And I wait. For a whole minute.Fuck that, I decide, turning the truck off before dashing into the diner as I try to avoid the heavy, fat raindrops all around me.
The moment I step inside, I regret my rash decision instantly, but it’s too late to run. Her back is to me as she sits on one of the high tops at the bar. She’s hunched over, her face resting in her hands and her shoulders shuddering in waves of misery as she silently cries.
I want to turn around and disappear, but I can’t. No matter how forcefully I will my feet to move backward, they begin moving forward. Towardher.
“Kayla?” I ask gently, so out of my usual range.
She jumps in her seat, startled. Vigorously wiping at her tears before turning to me, I realize that she only made an even bigger mess, reddening her face to angry blotchiness.
She takes a deep breath and asks, “What are you doing here?” Her voice trembling from recent sobs.
“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.” I rock back and forth on my heels, feeling like an intruder who’s become privy to an intimate act. In a way, I am.
She sniffles loudly. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.” I take a measured step toward her.
“I said I’m fine,” she snarls.
“Okay.” I keep my voice neutral, like with an injured animal.
“You can go now.” She dismisses me with a wave of her hand. Her sleeves are rolled up, and the colorful vine peeks out from underneath one. The dark green color on her pale skin mesmerizes me.
“Okay,” I agree, but I stay rooted to the same spot, only five feet away from her. I’d move closer, but I don’t want to spook her. What would I even do if I moved closer? The question of the century.
“Go, Justin. Now.” The anger in her voice becomes more prominent.
So, I go. Toward her. I cross the distance in two steps and stop in front of her. She lifts her face to mine and meets my eyes.
“Go away, Justin,” she whispers.
“Okay,” I whisper back. There’s nothing else I can say—my brain has checked out, and what’s left of my functioning mind is trying to command my eyes to move away from her pink lips she just had the audacity to lick.
“Go.” Her voice is barely audible this time. The way she says it on a slow exhale, with this low tremble, unusual for her voice, causes tingles at the back of my head. I swallow a lump in my throat and lean forward. Immediately, the sweet, now-familiar strawberry smell reaches my nose.
“Okay,” I exhale, and my breath fans the strands of hair around her face. She licks her goddamn lips again and opens them slightly. They’re all I can think of. All I can see. I lean closer and—
A fucking car horn blasts loudly outside, and I jump back.
Fuck! I almost kissed her. What the hell was I thinking?
The sudden movement tightens my already-tight jeans further, and my poor dick weeps in pain. It got awfully hard awfully fast with just the anticipation of a kiss. Of a fucking kiss. Withher. What the fuck is wrong with my body? It wasn’t interested in anyone for a damn long time, so much so that I was about to go to the doctor to ask for a blue pill because that shit is embarrassing at my age. And here he is, ready to go in a second.
I hate her a little more for that. For how she makes me feel and for how she’s broken my body without even knowing it.
I put my usual asshole mask back on and take two steps back. Her face falls, and she starts blinking. Her mouth is still slightly ajar, and I force my eyes to stay focused on the top part of her face so I don’t get lured in by her pink tongue again, thinking about how it would feel against mine.
Fuck.
She’s stopped crying. Mission accomplished. Time to go.
