AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Or maybe that was just how he acted when he was in pursuit mode. Maybe if he ever got what he wanted from me—whatever that was—he’d toss me aside as soon as he got a glimpse of the hassle my conditions posed.
There was a crunch of branches outside and then a loud, scraping thud by my window. I sat up and saw Tristan grinning outside in the darkness. “Open up,” he mouthed.22TristanIt took some convincing, but I eventually got Wheels to agree to let me sneak her out. As soon as she agreed to come along, we both realized the obvious snag in our plan.
“When does your mom leave?” I asked.
“She doesn’t have a shift tomorrow. She should be sleeping by now, but there’s no way I can use the chair lift without her hearing.”
“Easy.” I said. “You let me carry you to the roof. Lay down, and then roll off. I’ll catch you and we’ll be golden.”
Wheels stared at me. “Wait. You’re serious?”
“This is the shortest two-story house I’ve ever seen. It’s going to be fine. I jump down, then I catch you. Easy.”
“What about my chair?”
“I’ll carry you to my house and then you can use an office chair to scoot around during the party.”
Kennedy crossed her arms. “Why am I even considering this?”
“Because you’re starting to realize it’s more fun to do stupid shit than trying to avoid it?”
“Or maybe you’re a bad influence on me.”
“Are we doing this or not, Wheels?”
“Under one condition. You call me Kennedy for the rest of the night, since I’ll be without Wheels. And you have to promise you won’t drop me.”
“I’m an All-American athlete, Kennedy,” I said. “If I drop you, I’ll turn in my Letterman jacket.”
She rolled her eyes. “And for the record. I still don’t forgive you. I’m just agreeing to this because you said Logan will be there.”
I knew she was just trying to screw with me, but I felt a stab of anger all the same. “Don’t fuck with me.”
If my tone frightened her, she didn’t let it show. “Okay. Maybe I just enjoy watching the great Tristan Blackwood’s clumsy attempts at apologizing.”
“I can live with that one,” I said. I reached in the window for her.
“Wait,” she said, gesturing to the hilariously outdated nightgown type thing she was wearing. “I can’t go in this.”
“Fine. I’ll help you change if you’re going to insist.”
Kennedy snapped the window shut on me and held up a warning finger.
Grudgingly, I waited while she spent what felt like an unbelievable amount of time going from her closet to the bathroom and back with clothes. It all took even longer because of the way she had to lean against the wall and anything she could use for balance in the process.
After a small eternity, she came back to the window wearing a loose-fitting yellow shirt tucked into a pair of faded jeans. She hadn’t bothered to do anything fancy with her hair. It was just parted slightly to one side and tucked behind her ear, falling otherwise down in a straight, simple style that I liked.
She let me pull her out of the window and hold her tight to my body as I made my precarious way down the slope of her roof. I sat her down on the edge with her legs dangling over the side. I didn’t let go until I got her to confirm she wasn’t dizzy anymore.
“Okay, remember. Don’t jump or fall off until I tell you to.”
“Don’t fall off the roof until you give me permission to. Got it,” Kennedy said dryly.
I carefully eased myself down, hanging for a second and then letting myself drop the last couple feet. I bent my knees with the fall, absorbing most of the impact. “Alright, I got you. Just—”
I had been expecting to need to coax her down, but Kennedy threw her arms up and smiled like a lunatic as she slowly turned over in the air. By the time she got to me, she was halfway toward being upside down. I had been expecting to catch her the other way, and the last-second adjustment sent us both toppling to the ground. Kennedy was on top of me when we landed.
Her legs were spread around me and I could feel the warmth of her through our clothes. “On second thought,” I said, reaching up and tucking her hair back behind her ear. “We could skip the party.”
“Tristan,” she said warningly.
I didn’t take my hand away from her face. “I’m going to get you right back here. You realize that, don’t you? I don’t care how many times you push me away and run and make excuses. This is where we end up. Well,” I said, grinning wickedly. “I actually wouldn’t mind being on top, but you get the idea.”
She grunted, giving me a little shove and rolling herself off me to the grass. She sat up, clearly feeling dizzy if the way her eyes were unfocused, and blinking was any indication.
