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And it was that last one that had my heart reaching toward his like some lovesick cartoon character, the outline of it looking more like a Valentine’s Day decoration stretching out of my dress than the actual beating organ that was threatening to burst.
Someone came out of the gym and let the door slam against the side of the building. We jumped and turned toward the sound. It was a couple who looked like bodybuilders or something, and they laughed and gave us apologetic waves.
“Sorry ’bout that,” the man called before draping his arm over the woman in her too-tiny-to-be-considered-a-dress ensemble.
Everett lifted a hand. “Night, Derek.”
I frowned and squinted into the night. I wasn’t sure which Derek he could’ve been referring to, because the only one I remembered from high school looked nothing like that man. But I shrugged it off as they disappeared through a row of parked cars and turned back to Everett.
He scratched the side of his neck and let out a short laugh. “I don’t even know where to start with all this.”
I pursed my lips, but since I felt the same dang way, I didn’t reply.
“That friendship comment you made back at the shop. I thought it was weird when you said he was a good friend.”
Pulling my lips into a tight line, I clasped my hands in front of me like a kid being reprimanded for telling a lie.
He chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound. “Part of me wants to be mad you didn’t tell me.”
“Just part?”
“Yeah. I ain’t sure I woulda wanted to know.”
I hung my head. “Right. It wouldn’t’ve changed anything.”
With a sigh, he walked over to his truck and dropped the tailgate, gesturing to it in a silent question. I nodded and stepped over, but before I could even begin trying to figure out how I was gonna get up there without embarrassing myself in this short dress, I felt his strong hands clasp my waist. I let out a little burst of air as he lifted me easily and set me onto the cold hard ridges of the tailgate.
“Thanks,” I breathed, my pulse kicking into high gear as I stared into his eyes, now level with mine as he stood in front of me.
Was this the part where he’d kiss me? Now that he knew Riley wasn’t really my boyfriend, would he finally press his lips to mine? Another headline flew through my mind: “Cheater, cheater! Laney Cole Caught Locking Lips with Another Man.” But the paparazzi were corralled safely out of sight, so what they couldn’t see they couldn’t print, right?
“Anytime,” he finally replied. Then he dropped his hands from my waist and jammed them into his pockets, turning so he faced the school with his butt leaning against the tailgate. “So, does Riley know about … us?”
“He knows about our history,” I said carefully, not sure what he might mean by us. “I felt like it’d be cruel not to tell him up front. He’s known since the start that we’d never go from fake to real.”
I stared at his profile, wishing he’d look at me instead of straight ahead at the gym. “You know what? I think I might need a minute to let this sit.”
Blinking slow as a slug runnin’ from a raven, I nodded. “Right. Yeah.”
Without needing to be asked, he took my waist again and lowered me from the tailgate, and my boots hit the pavement with a light thud. Then he released me and stepped back, returning his hands to his pockets.
“I guess I’ll go back inside, then,” I said quietly, looking at the door of the gym like it was the gates of you know where.
“Probably for the best.”
With one more nod, because I had no words, I turned and headed for the reunion. But then I only made it about five feet away before his warm, gravelly voice floated over me. “Wait. I gotta know one thing.”
I turned, my boots scratching roughly on the pavement with the movement. “Yeah?”
“Tell me why, Laney.” There was a hint of annoyance in his expression, or maybe it was impatience, but I could tell that since the jig was up, he was done with lies and half-truths and evasions. And I didn’t blame him. “Why would you tell a guy like that there was no chance for the two of you to make a run for it? Because the way I see it, bein’ with him makes a whole lot more sense than bein’ with anybody else.”
I ran my tongue over my lips and then rubbed them together, wishing my mouth hadn’t suddenly gone so dry. If there’d been a water cooler within arm’s reach, I’d have been lugging the five-gallon bottle off the top and trying to guzzle the whole dang thing.
“Because,” I started, shivering slightly at the way his gaze had gotten caught on my lips before focusing on my eyes again, “I don’t want a guy like that. And I’m not concerned with it makin’ sense for me to be with him or with anybody else. I’ve only ever wanted you.”
15
EVERETT
