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After dropping his board, Blaise hopped onto it and slid into the bowl, crouching and moving his body at angles to keep himself balanced with ease. When he came up on the other side, he grabbed the concrete edge with one hand and the board with the other, then propelled his body upward, using his momentum.
The board slipped from his hand and rolled down into the bowl. Thank the fucking Redwood gods that he caught himself from colliding headfirst into the ground, and instead, he slid down the edge.
Shaking his head, he grabbed the board and found his way back to the top. After a couple more tries, he nailed the flip he had done in the air and came up on the other side with a smile. Yes,a fucking smileon Redwood’s bad boy.
Warmth spread throughout my chest, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling too.
Blaise continued to practice more and more dangerous flips and tricks on his board in the big bowl. I crossed one leg over the other and watched like a freaking creep as he did his thing and rode.
One trick, he fucked up as he skateboarded at full speed toward me. He crashed right into me, his board flying toward the walls of the park and his body hitting the concrete to my left.
“Shit.” He hopped up quickly and dusted himself off. “Sorry, I—” When he looked up at me, he stopped and widened his eyes. “Vera,” he said breathlessly. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m …” Nerves shot through me, but I swallowed them. “I’m here for you.”
ChapterForty-One
BLAISE
“You’re here for me?” I repeated because I didn’t understand her.
Why would she come here for me? She had work this afternoon and could’ve been at home, writing her smutty little stories, cozied up on the couch and not in the freezing cold. Besides, she’d made it clear that she didn’t like me.
“I tried texting you,” she whispered. “You didn’t answer.”
“Shit,” I said, looking over at my phone that I had leaned against my longboard across the skatepark. I had turned off all my notifications the other night after Skylar messaged me because I didn’t want to be bothered. “Sorry. What’d you need?”
Her brown eyes widened, becoming almost doe-like. “Um … nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“No, I didn’t need anything.”
“Then, why’d you text me?” I asked, still confused.
I wasn’t trying to be an asshole, but she was confusing as hell. She’d freaked out the other day when I said that I liked her annoying ass, and then she’d texted me for nothing. If she’d texted me at night, she’d probably wanted to hook up or some shit. Her birth control should be working now, right?
“Your birth control working now?” I snapped, working myself up. “Is that why?”
“What? No!” she said, nervously clasping her hands together and playing with her fingers. “I mean, yes, it’s working now. It’s been a week, but I didn’t want to hook up with you, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”
“Then, why’d you text me?” I repeated.
“God, Blaise, because,” she said, rolling her eyes and averting her gaze, “why can’t I?”
“Because we’re not friends and you don’t even like me. There’s no point.”
For the love of the Redwood gods, I wished I had shut my fucking mouth. Vera had shown up at the skatepark and had been watching me for who knew how long in the freezing cold. She was the only person that I had fucking talked to in the past thirty-six hours.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have come.”
When she stood, my chest tightened.
No, she can’t leave.
I grabbed her wrist and yanked her back toward me. I couldn’t shut my fucking mouth and took my hurt out on everyone else, like my parents took it out on me.
She inhaled sharply and stared up at me worriedly. “I just wanted to see you.”
