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I stood then. Where there was lightning there was thunder, and that wasn’t good.
“Ares, what’s your deal, bro?”
Dorian was asking because I still had eyes on the sky. I did like I could change it, the downpour. It all came down in a whoosh, but where Dorian started to retreat and head to one of the tents for shelter, I stood firm. It hit in a soft roll then, the thunder. It was like a caged animal ready to strike. Meanwhile, my heart shot up in my fucking throat.
“Ares, bro. What are you doing? Get in the fucking tent!”
I wasn’t, dragging him out of it instead. He started to protest but I shook him to look at me. “Where’s that party?”
“What—”
“Where’s the fucking party, D? Is it far?” I had no transportation, no means to get out of here but to go on foot.
Get to her…
I had to. I had to get to Red. She was afraid of fucking storms, and Thatcher and Wells had the goddamn car.
I got in Dorian’s face. “Did Bru tell you? Sloane?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Drop me the pin.”
He did, seeing I was serious, his light-gray Pembroke Football hoodie dark now. He was getting drenched in the rain. We both were. He tapped his phone. “You want to go or something? You acted like you didn’t fucking care not two seconds ago.”
He was right about that, but he was also right that I’d been acting, and according to him, poorly.
My phone buzzed with the pin, and I scanned it.
“Fuck, I’m not getting any reception out here now. Maybe it’s the storm?” Dorian was raising his phone to the sky, using his hand to shield it from the rain. “I just sent you that pin, but now, I can’t get a text out to Wells and Thatch. If I can get a hold of them, they can come back and take us to that party—hey. What are you doing?”
He saw what I was doing, reaching in the tent. I grabbed my hoodie, and once I had it on and my hood up, I pivoted. I headed directly into the storm, jogging, and he called after me.
“You’re not seriously going to run all the way there, are you?” he asked, his voice amplified. The rain was coming down in sheets at this point, currents. “Wolf, it’s five fucking miles!”
I didn’t care, not caring, and I only picked up the pace when the sky flashed with light and that thunder turned into a growl. I didn’t know if the storm had made it to Red yet, but it would, and my gut told me that. I hadn’t been listening to my gut lately.
If I had, I never would have allowed myself to fall in love.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Fawn
“Any reason why you’re choosing to be a creep by hanging out over here drinking instead of dancing with the rest of us?”
Bru glanced up after I called him out, that drink in his hand, a beer bottle. We’d gotten to this party almost an hour ago, but he hadn’t danced, not once. He laughed. “I’m being a creep?”
I mean, he had been in this dark corner the whole night. He kept a constant eye on Sloane, Bow, and me, but he hadn’t done much dancing. Actually, he hadn’t done any dancing at all. I frowned. “What’s up?”
I worried about him. He’d been spacing out before we left the house, and there had been all that stuff with us. I wasn’t entirely sure what drove me to kiss him, but after, it felt like a weight of awkwardness had been lifted. He’d told me he’d wondered about things in our past, and that kiss had felt like goodbye to all that in a way. It wasn’t a sad goodbye, but the opposite. It was like a clearance toward a path forward. I felt like I got my friend back, and I think that’d been where all the awkwardness from before came from. I did know where the two of us were at regarding our friendship, but Bru was still figuring it out. That was something I think I knew deep down. We had a history, and he had a what-if when it came to us.
I think the only reason I hadn’t was because I had moved on. Had it been stupid to fall in love with someone who only wanted to use me? Yes, but it had happened. It was even more stupid to think I could separate sex from emotion, and a small part of me had been glad Wolf fucked up that whole plan. I was aware of what would happen eventually if we continued down the path we’d been on. I’d get attached to him. I wouldn’t want to let him go, and I…
I squeezed Bru’s shoulder, pushing that all away, forcing myself. “It wasn’t that kiss, was it? Did I make things awkward?” I thought we’d closed that chapter, but maybe he was still working things out.
Bru smiled at me, a small one, before lifting his hand in Sloane and Bow’s direction. With her height, Sloane was pointing out that she and Bow were going to the bar. The holiday party was put on by a local frat at one of the nearby cabins. I’d heard they had rented out the place, and even though it was on the smaller side, it housed a lot of people. It was also loud as fuck, and I could barely hear my own voice when I spoke to Bru.
Sloane and Bow made their way to the bar, and after seeing that, Bru redirected his attention to me. He really was a good guy and looked out for his family, his friends. His head tilted. “No, I’m glad you did that. I think it’s great we’re just friends, and I’m glad that’s cleared up.”
