“Okay?” I confirm, not believing she said yes.
“Yeah. Sounds like fun.”
I already know it’s going to be downright electric. So electric, she won’t need her fucking turbine to charge any battery. I feel a warmth rush over me, knowing that she’s trusting me. She’s counting on me to keep her and her brother close, keep their secrets hidden and look after them. And I will. I also know that she’ll never go anywhere without her brother, so if I want her in my bed, then he needs to come and sleep over too. Thank God Sawyer’s house is big. Kids down at one end, adults up the other.
As she clears her throat in question, I realize I got lost in my head for a minute.
“Pies are fresh out of the oven.” She looks at me expectantly, biting her bottom lip, making me want to stand and suck it from her mouth.
“You’re a woman after my own heart, Tinker Bell.” I might as well just open my chest, take out the beating organ, and pass it right to her at this point. Sawyer’s right; I’ve never been this smitten for anyone. I’m clearly losing my mind here in this small town.
“Coming right up.” She walks away with a little more pep in her step, and I smile to myself.
I want her. She wants me. If only life were that simple.
25
Nikki
“What will we do?” James asks from the back seat of Sutton’s truck, sounding confused yet excited.
“Hang out, eat pizza, watch movies. Oh, and I got a hell of a lot of chocolate,” Sutton tells him, looking at me quickly with a cheeky grin. “You know, since it’s the number one food choice.” He winks, and I smile as we drive to our cottage to get changed and freshened up before heading to his place.
To be honest, I was so happy to finally see Sutton today that I accepted his invitation without thinking too hard about it. I probably need to check myself.
It’s hard around him, though. I tried to keep my distance. I tried not to feel connected, get close, talk too much. But he feels like a safe space. He has as much to lose as I do in regard to our privacy, and the fact that I have a permanent smile on my face whenever he’s around, like I’ve never had before, makes me feel good. For the first time in months, I’m throwing caution to the wind and just going with it.
“Do I need to pack anything? What do we take?” James wants to go, but having never really hung out with friends before, it’s all new to him. Poor kid was locked up tight in his room after school, night after night. His weekends were all spent at home too, either in his room or, on the odd occasion when our wicked stepmother wasn’t home, he was downstairs, talking to Chef Luc in the kitchen. Because of this, James can now make the best Croque Monsieur I’ve ever eaten.
“Just bring yourself. I have everything we need.” Sutton parks his truck, and James is out before he even turns it off.
“I’m changing!” he yells, running inside, making us chuckle.
“Man, if I knew he’d be this excited, I would’ve arranged a playdate earlier,” Sutton says playfully.
“First time jitters, I think.” I grab my bag, opening my door, and Sutton runs around to help me out.
“What do you mean, first time?” He’s frowning, looking down at me, where he just planted my feet. His hands don’t leave my waist. They haven’t left me all afternoon, actually. The minute we walked out of the diner, his hand grabbed mine. In the truck on the drive here, he still held it, resting my hand in his lap.
“He’s never hung out with friends like this before.”
“Never? Never gone to play catch or watch a movie or sleep over?” He looks stricken. It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
“Never. I guess he wants to make a good first impression.”
Sutton watches me quietly before his hand lifts to cup my jaw. “Are you two running from someone who locked him up?”
I inhale sharply as his thumb brushes across my cheek to soothe me. It seems I don’t need to say anything; he already knows. He’s more observant than most.
“Something like that,” I whisper, and the line between his eyebrows deepens as he nods.
“They lock you up as well, Tinker Bell?” His jaw tics with his question, his body tense. My chest heats at the intensity. He looks ready to go to war for me.
“Not exactly…” I blow out a breath, thinking about it all. I have secrets, ones I’m not ready to share just yet.
“You’re a good sister,” he says softly. My eyes get a little glassy, because I'm trying really hard to be exactly that. “He’s lucky to have you.”
A lone tear falls at his words, the pressure, the buildup, the acknowledgment all striking hard.
