Page 24

“You’re right. Sorry.” He gives me a playful but warm smile that quenches my fiery aggravation. “Change into a swimsuit and something comfortable.”

“It’s midnight!” I squeak.

“Correct.”

“But swimming is dangerous in the dark,” I tell him, my unease rising. “I don’t know what the temperature was like last year, but it’s supposed to get cold tonight, so—”

My words dissolve when I realize he’s laughing again.

“Last nerve,” I say flatly, and he cups his mouth, trembling with mirth. “You’ve found it. Congratulations. Goodbye.”

“I’m sorry…You’re just really cute…” He coughs through his fit and backtracks to the window, closing his eyes like the sight of me will trigger another giggle-fest. “The sooner you get changed, the sooner our date will be over.”

It’s a fair point, and the best one he could’ve made. So I scramble for a swimsuit and, after personally placing his hands over his eyes, I change into it.

“There isn’t a single part of you I haven’t licked, so I’m not sure why this matters,” he says, which literally, actually triggers my gag reflex.

“Don’t be disgusting!” I choke out, wrenching sweatpants over my thighs.

“You have a lot to relearn about yourself, sunshine.”

I decide I’m better off ignoring that. “Then…I’m ready,” I say after a moment, shuffling toward him feeling sufficiently awkward. “Let’s go downstairs and—”

“And turn off your alarm so your family will know you left at 12:13 a.m.?” he asks, smirking. “Your flighty parents might not notice, but do you think Logan will let you live it down if he finds out you snuck away with me? No—we go out the window.”

My heartbeat quickens as I peer into the darkness of my front yard. He’s right. I’d rather avoid any confrontation with Logan. And though my parents haven’t said much about Aaron, other than frowning or clicking their tongues whenever they hear his name, I’d rather they didn’t know that I’m following the same steps that apparently led to my abandonment of them. “I’m not sturdy like you,” I say weakly, inching away from the frame. “If I fall, I’ll break my whole body—”

“You won’t fall.” Aaron lurches out onto the branch extending past my room, which sways under his movement. The gap between my window and the tree isn’t big, but it’s just wide enough that I can’t scoot onto the branch with my short limbs.

“I can’t,” I start to say, but then Aaron’s open palm is hovering in front of me. His other is latched to a branch over his head, holding it to balance himself as he leans over the gap toward me.

“I won’t let you fall, Riley,” he whispers. “I promise.”

I have no reason to trust him, but my hand is settling into his before I can decide otherwise. Swallowing nervously, I climb into the window frame, taking the edge in one hand and letting him pull me forward with the other. The ground seems so far away, the grass tips spiky and threatening.

“Look at me,” Aaron says softly.

I do. Silver moonlight twirls in his eyes like flames.

I guess the distance doesn’t matter, since he promised.

“Right foot first,” he encourages, and I extend my leg, planting it on the tree next to him. He gently hoists me out of the window and fully onto the branch.

“This is so unnecessary,” I say, sounding as shaken as I feel.

“You’re doing great.” Aaron speaks so earnestly that I believe him. Slowly, never releasing my hand, he helps me ease myself down, branch by branch, until I’m close enough to the ground that a fall won’t break my whole skeletal frame.

Aaron sneaks a kiss to my hand before letting it go so I can hug the trunk. He maneuvers down the rest of the tree like liquid, showing me just how often he did this in the past. Then he’s on the ground, extending his arms, and saying, “Jump.”

“No!” I cry out. “What if I hit my head again and forget the rest of my life or something?”

I know I’m being dramatic at this point. A drop from this height won’t do much more damage than making my frail ankles throb in protest. But the thought of jumping into his arms like some princess in a tower is causing my heart to shriek with embarrassment.

Aaron is smiling in this way that tells me he knows exactly what I’m thinking, but he indulges my protest anyway. “I’ve never dropped you, Riley. And I never will. Ever.”

Does that mean we did this regularly? The thought of enduring this torture for dates I didn’t even want to go on makes me want to throw a tantrum. I merely sit on the branch, suck in a breath, and drop. My weight collides with Aaron, and he catches me around the waist with ease. Instinctively, my arms fly around his neck to anchor myself.

“Oh,” he says in surprise. He’s close enough that I can smell musk and…is that axle grease? Maybe he was under a car today. Whatever bodywash he uses isn’t enough to fully scrape the metallic scent away. “You’re heavier than you used to be. I guess that means the meal plans were working.”