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“No. He wants to take some time at home. I did offer to cook him something but he said he wanted to be alone.” She pulled away with a sigh. “I don’t know when everything got so complicated.”
“It’s not complicated, not even a little bit.”
“Really? You don’t think this is weird?”
He laughed. “Come on, let me make you something to eat.”
“I don’t think food is going to help what is going on, Drake.”
Still, he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He took her hand and led her through to the kitchen where he let her go to check out the fridge. There were a lot of cheeses and cold cuts of meat.
“Do you even know your way around a kitchen?” she asked. “I seem to recall in all the time we’ve spent with each other, I’m the one that has been doing all the work.”
He blew her a raspberry and then stopped himself. He’d just blew her a fucking raspberry. When did that happen? Why was he joking around like this? He wasn’t the kind of guy to be doing these things and yet, here he was, in her home, making her some food.
“You okay?” Pru asked.
“You’re changing me.” He turned to look at her. “I don’t get it.”
“You don’t get that you’re turning into a caring person?”
“No, I’m not. This isn’t me.”
“Well, maybe I bring out the best in you.”
Drake stared at her.
“You’re kind of freaking me out here, Drake. I don’t know what you want from me.” She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. He liked looking at her like this. She always looked so in control and it never failed to turn him on.
They hadn’t even had sex yet. The highlight of his day was kissing her. That was all he needed from her, one single kiss and he was happy.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I guess this whole thing has affected me more than I thought it would.” He gripped the edge of the counter and took several deep breaths. “I didn’t mean to freak you out.”
“Drake, it’s fine. Really. I don’t mind.”
He stepped up close to her so she had no choice but to look at him. He liked being near her and often found any chance he could to get as close to her as possible.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I know today was crazy and I’m sorry about what I did with your friend. I shouldn’t have hurt him.” They were all lies. The truth was, he shouldn’t have hurt Sean, and he got it, but it didn’t mean he didn’t get at least a little bit of pleasure knowing he’d taken a swipe at that fucker. “From now on, I will find any number of reasons to walk away.”
She tilted her head to the side. “I think this is going to be the closest I ever get to an apology, isn’t it?”
“Pretty much. I’ve got nothing more to give.”
“Huh,” she said. “You don’t have to have my forgiveness. You didn’t do anything wrong with me.”
“What I said to you after the closet.”
“Drake, stop. We both know why you did that and I can’t fault you. I don’t want to talk about it. We don’t need to talk about it.” She placed a hand on his chest. “We both agreed this was going to be secret. The only way we can make it play out this way is if we do this where nothing has changed. If all of a sudden you jumped to my defense, people would get suspicious. Neither of us wants that, do we?”
Did he?
He looked into her eyes. She was so fucking beautiful. Why hadn’t he ever realized just how beautiful she was? All of this time he’d wasted bullying her.
Get a grip and answer the question.
“We don’t.” As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn’t fall for her. He already had, but this was as far as it would ever go. This wasn’t for the long term, not for them. The moment high school finished, they were going their separate ways, and he was going to have to deal with that.
“Now, how about I get you something to eat?” he said.
Chapter Sixteen
Lies are easy
Against all the odds, the first month of the final year of high school was in fact easy. Drake kept his word and she never saw him go near Sean again. Whenever he entered a room and he caught sight of them, he would often turn the other way or show someone else more interest.
If anyone even pointed in their direction, Drake would always look as if they were beneath him. Pru didn’t mind. She found the peace and quiet somewhat refreshing. Sean, though, didn’t like it. In fact, her very best friend seemed to believe that he had in some way scared Drake.
