Page 82 of Let the Light Shine Through

My eyes roam her from head to toe, stopping on the ass I was just squeezing the hell out of before mumbling out, “Something like that,” and grabbing the helmet Rowdy loaned me, ready to shove it over my head, and eyes, and memories. Fuck. Why’d it have to be this mountain?

Bryce laughs under his breath. “Damn, man. What’d you do to get on her bad side?”

Hands faltering, I look up to see what he’s talking about, but Gia’s still deep in discussion, oblivious to us, or just to me, I don’t know. She’s fucking full of mixed signals.

“Gia usually only fucks with guys she doesn’t like. Makes for easier catch and release, you know?”

The little shit has the nerve to wink at me. Yes, I know what catch and release is. I’ve been a fisherman since I lost my fucking virginity, but I don’t need this punk explaining it to me like I’m the virgin here, pining after some notorious player.

“So, she must really hate you to let you stick around,” he says, making the helmet in my hold suddenly feel like putty.

“Who says we fucked around?”

Cat’s got his tongue now because he’s not saying anything.

“And she doesn’t hate me,” I say, wondering if that’s actually true. That didn’t feel like hate this morning. Not hate at all. A healthy dose of confusion finished off with a sprinkling of blue balls for garnish, yeah. But hate? No. “We’re cool.”

Are we cool though? We used to be. We tried to be. I tried to be.

I don’t know what we are. Maybe Gia’s right. Maybe I should test the waters with someone else, see if I can get over this…infatuation. Hmm, no. I don’t like that description any more than I like using the word cool to describe what I feel for Gia. I can’t even define it myself, let alone to anyone else, but it’s deep. Deeper than this conversation requires.

Gia saunters over, planting a loud kiss on Bryce’s nose while pulling the ugly beanie over his head a little lower.

She asks him, “How are you feeling, Bry-bear?” and his eyes find mine before dropping briefly.

“Why are you still calling me that?” he groans, exactly how I imagine an embarrassed little brother would.

“I can’t help it. You’ll always be my Bry-bear.”

“Well, you can stop now.”

Gia wraps him into a giant hug, telling him, “I’m just so happy you’re here.”

Jealousy wraps me up too, so snug it feels like an anaconda constricting my body for easier consumption.

“Are you up for riding with me?” I hear her whisper, and after another peek at me, he tells her, “I am but only because you’re scared I’ll show you up if I drive.”

Gia’s head is thrown back with a silent laugh. “Nobody drives my Raptor but me.”

“I thought I heard a story about Rowdy driving it before.”

“She told you that?”

Everything around us seems to slow down as the two fall into an odd trance, staring at one another. It’s like they’re somewhere else entirely, gone from the here and now and stuck in some other time, one from long ago.

Rowdy, who’s been busy helping gas up all the quads, stops what he’s doing to watch too, his gaze softening at the pair.

Gia shakes her head to say, “That was my old Scrambler and it was once. Rowdy had to help get me out of a hidden marsh I plowed into after sailing over a blind hill. But I may have left that part out at the time.” Her eyes sparkle with past mischief, then, staring between his, she says, “She said Macaw, but I think you’re a Cockatiel.”

His almost nonexistent eyebrows drift closer. “Why?”

“All hiss, no bite.”

Bryce laughs, gently pushing Gia off. “I bite. I can show you, if you want.”

His tone leans toward the suggestive side, but in an inexperienced way. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is an actual virgin.

Gia finally sets her sights on me but holds her wrist out to Bryce, saying, “Go ahead. I’m not afraid of a little blood.”