Page 72 of Trust Me

Chapter 20

Oliver

“You don’t have to go,” Dean said.

Lifting my head off the bed—his bed—I cocked my head. “Why do you say that?”

“You’re tired.” He reached toward my face, but before he could touch me, he dropped his hand. My fingers twitched with the urge to make him finish the gesture.

After staying up all night with him, I should’ve taken his idea to heart. We’d watched hours of the show, yet I wanted more. His reactions to each episode were like little hits of dopamine that I couldn’t get enough of. Seeing him go from a begrudging participant to a fiend begging for the next one was something I enjoyed far too much for my own good. Or his.

More intoxicating was the way he’d awkwardly told me I could sleep in his bed after it started to rain. There wasn’t even any thunder, but I’d taken him up on it.

Today, he’d gone into work for a couple of hours to help open the bar, and by some black magic he must’ve cast, I’d fallen back to sleep until he got back. The sun had been up when we went to bed, so despite sleeping late into the afternoon, I was exhausted.

“Are you gonna stay too?” I asked.

“Nah, I told the guys I’d be there. It’d be a dick move to back out.”

Slapping both of my thighs, I stood. “I’ll get ready, then.”

“Oli—”

I punched him in the arm as I passed, making him hiss. “I love your nurturing side, babe, but I’m older than you. Listen to your elders.”

He grumbled about being likened to a child, but funnily enough, he said nothing about the pet name. It made me want to do it again, but if I did, it might feel like less of a joke.

After I finished showering, I threw on my olive-green hoodie. The way he’d looked at it before made it my new favorite, and that was reinforced when I left the bathroom. His eyes seemed to drink me in for a second before he grabbed his phone off of the table and headed for the door.

“Does this look okay.?” I asked, rushing to catch up.

The unanswered question hung in the space between us, nagging at me.

“Dean?”

He opened the passenger door and glanced at me over the car. “Sure, you look fine.”

After he sat, I got behind the wheel, stifling a yawn so he wouldn’t bring up me staying behind. It wasn’t happening. No way, no how. I knew it was ridiculous, but the fact remained that I wanted to be where he was, and that was that.

“Do we need to set any rules?” I asked as I pulled onto the main road.

He laughed. “Rules?”

“Yeah. Like, I’m clearly the designated driver. I won’t be drinking, but should I be watching out for anything? Cutting you off? Making sure you don’t get into a fist fight?”

“I don’t fight. As for the other stuff, no, I’m good. If you wanna go home and I don’t, I’ve got a room to stay in there, so no worries.”

“Why would I want to go home without you?”

He shrugged but kept his eyes out the side window. “Maybe you find a girl to take home. Or I do. Since we’re in a small space, it’s probably better if only one of us is there for the occasion.”

The idea made me purse my lips. My fingers tightened on the wheel, but when I heard the material creak, I loosened my grip.

Suddenly, he touched my forearm, making my breath catch.

“Did that come off as rude?” he asked. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like an inconvenience if you find someone.”

As he pulled his hand back, I took mine off the wheel and grabbed his wrist. My thumb stroked his skin, gliding over his pulse point. It might’ve been my imagination, but I thought I felt his heart beating at the same pace mine was.