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“I know you’re curious. I’ve seen you guys at tutoring, I see you looking at her. I just don’t want you to get hurt is all.”
“Warning noted.” And now I would ever take my eyes off her. I pulled out my phone and sent her a quick text.
ME: Some date, huh?
It was petty; I know.
Eliza stared at her black flip phone. She bit her lip and closed it and fled the class a few minutes before we were dismissed.
I found her in the quad, talking with someone, and I halted in my steps. Her lip was swollen, her right eye bruised and purple. She smiled slightly at the girl she talked with and then they headed their separate ways. She looked up just in time to see me and stopped in her tracks. She turned around, walking back the way she came.
“Eliza, wait,” I said, jogging up to her. She didn’t, and I continued walking with her. “What happened?” I put a hand over her shoulder and she flinched but finally stopped. I gritted my teeth.
“Look, I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Something came up, and I didn’t have my phone—”
“So you just ignored me today?” I stepped closer to her, and she took a small step back. I could feel my pulse in my ears.
She rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why you’re so angry right now. I said I was sorry.”
“Oh, I am pissed,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice even. Her face fell for a moment before she slid the impassive mask on. “But I’m not angry with you. I just want to know who the hell I need to talk to about that bruise on your face.”
She lifted her hand and ghosted her fingertips across her slightly swollen eye and lip. “I was dumb and slipped getting out of the shower.”
I pulled her hand from her face, ignoring her flinch when my hand raised up to touch the bruise. “Tripping doesn’t leave fingerprints.” I touched her smooth skin, the purple was vibrant but was mostly obscured by her eyebrow. It would turn yellow in a few days.
She pulled back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I bit my tongue until I could taste iron. “Fine.” I stepped back. “Tutoring is canceled tonight. Meet me in the parking garage. I’m cashing in that raincheck on that date tonight.”
She stared at me, her green eyes flicking from my face to my hands to my lips. “Okay.”
It was soft, almost a whisper, and the tension from my body melted away. She was nervous? Why? I wanted to step into her space, gather her in my arms, and just take her away from whatever was eating away at her. I wanted to bloody my knuckles on the face of whoever hurt her. Instead, I ran my knuckles over the bruise on her face. “See you in a few hours.” And I turned and walked away before I did something stupid.
11
ELIZA
“Not gonna lie, a sleepy seaside town of less than a thousand people is not where I would have guessed ‘the world’s best burrito’ would be located.” I took another bite. “But I have to say you were spot on.”
Trask laughed from his spot on the truck bed. He had parked up against the beach and were watching the sun start its slow and lazy descent. “Figured dinner and a show could count as a date.”
“Fair enough.”
“Do you have any limits for this date?” he asked.
I raised my eyebrows. “Be more specific.”
He smiled. “Like ‘No Trask, I refuse to eat sushi,’ or ‘I won’t watch a horror movie.’ Because I am angling for a real kiss by the end of the night and I need to know if that’s on the table.”
My eyes moved from his hands and up his arms to his eyes. “Depends on how well this date goes. As for my limits? I can’t leave the state, I don’t do drugs, but beer and margaritas are definitely on the table. I’m quite allergic to shrimp and pineapple. Also, I don’t have an EpiPen, so if I’m having an allergic reaction, drive like hell.”
He smiled at me, and my stomach did a flip. “You are a mystery.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Most people just called me too much or too quiet. Too something. But not him. I looked out at the orange horizon.
“I love the beach,” he said. “But this is not our final destination tonight.”
“Oh?” I gathered our trash and put it in the to-go bag.
