Page 17 of Ruin

“Yes. I mean, no. Kind of. It’s stupid. I’m stupid.”

“No, you’re not. Look, people like that are just shitty because they’re insecure themselves, and they need to try to bring everyone else down to make them feel better about themselves.”

“Are you speaking from experience?”

“No. I’m just smart.” He grins, and I smile. “Look, don’t let some mean girls put you off from doing something you want to do.”

I stare up at him. Not many guys make me feel small and girlish, but he does.

“You’re right,” I tell him.

“I know. I usually am.” Another half-smile. “And, anyway, you won’t be alone this time. I’ll be with you.”

My eyes narrow a touch. “You’re not going to try to murder me on the Ferris wheel, are you?”

Another burst of laughter from him.

“It wasn’t on my agenda for tonight, no.” His eyes are shining and flickering like blue flames.

“And you’re not gonna try to cop a feel?”

“Nope. I’ll be the perfect gentleman.” He lifts his hands up, palms facing me.

“Okay then, let’s do it.” I nod. “Ride the Ferris wheel, that is.”

“You got it, Dove.”

“Dove?” I blink up at him.

“Yeah. Doves represent peace because they look beautiful and appear gentle and fragile. But they’re actually feisty as hell. They have more fight in them than people realize. Just like you.”

Beautiful. He said doves are beautiful. Does that mean he thinks I’m beautiful?

Calm your jets there, Cam. Just because he said that does not mean he thinks you’re beautiful.

I give him a look of amusement. “Wow. You got all that from a five-minute conversation?”

“Nope.” He shakes his head, a smile in his eyes. “I got all that from the way you hit the bag.”

He sets off walking. I fall into step beside him.

“So, how come you know so much about doves?”

He slides me a look. “I don’t. I just saw it on a nature show once.”

I let out a laugh, and he grins.

We walk to the Ferris wheel in comfortable silence, and I muse to myself at how things are so different from when I was walking away from this ride not so long ago.

We join the line, which is much shorter than before. And there are no mean girls in sight.

Zeus insists on paying for me, which is really sweet.

We walk up to the car. The fairground attendant holds the door open for us.

Zeus gets in first. Then, he holds his hand out to me to help me in.

I hesitate for a second, and then I slip my hand into his. I know this is going to sound cheesy and cliché, but I swear, the moment my skin touches his, it’s like everything changes.