My brows pulled together. “What?”
“I can’t,” he repeated, quieter now. “And I don’t want to.”
I looked at him for a second, trying to read past that usual control he kept wrapped tight around everything.
“Then you gotta trust me,” I said. “Because I ain’t signing nothing.”
He didn’t respond.
So I pushed a little. “I ain’t told my dad, right?”
He sighed. “No. You didn’t.”
“Exactly,” I said. “I got shit to lose too.”
I leaned forward slightly, resting my arms on the counter.
“So just… relax.”
His eyes stayed on me longer than necessary. “You asking me to take a very big risk.”
“You already did by fucking on me. We both in this shit now so we both got something to lose.”
He looked down briefly, then back at me.
“Summer,” he finally agreed.
I tilted my head. “Summer.”
“No paperwork,” he added. “But when it’s done, it’s done.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
“No,” he said firmly. “We agree now.”
“We’ll see when the time comes.”
“Aurora.”
I held his gaze, then sighed in defeat. “…fine.”
He watched me for a second, like he was waiting for me to change my mind or argue or something. I didn’t.
“Good,” he said.
I picked my fork back up.
“Good.”
But neither one of us moved like this was a simple agreement. Because it wasn’t. And we both knew it. I chewed slowly, watching him over the rim of my fork.
“On one condition.”
He didn’t move, but his eyes rolled slightly. “Here we go.”
“I like full access to my dick,” I stated softly but no less direct.
He pushed off the counter, walking a few steps before spotting in front of me. “You tryna stay here?”
