AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Meg gusts out a long sigh, frowning at the pool water. For a horrible moment, I think she’s going to tell me that she doesn’t want to share again next year; that while I’m back at campus, I should find another roommate. Burpees are fine and all, but they don’t fix betrayal.
When she yells, it’s so sudden that I jump. “Dad! Get out here! You’ve fucked this up good!”
“He’s here?” My head whips around, twinging my neck. I figured Duke would stay away as long as possible, waiting for me to hurry up and leave. Figured Meg would have warned me, damn it. Now I’m red-faced and sweaty and caught off guard.
“Shh,” I hiss when she yells for him again. “He doesn’t want to see me!”
“Dumbass,” Meg says, hauling to her feet in a spray of pool water. Don’t know if she means me or her dad, or the world at large. “Can’t believe the straights rule most everything. Don’t know how you idiots even tie your own shoelaces.”
Duke fills the back doorway, his broad shoulders blocking out the kitchen glow inside.
“Clementine?”
His deep voice makes me shiver.
* * *
“I am going to my room,” Meg declares to the tree full of birds. “I am going to put on headphones and stay locked in there for the next two hours. I will not look out the window. Enjoy this gift, you two, because I’m never clearin’ out again. Now get your shit together.”
My best friend stomps inside, cursing under her breath. Her wet feet leave an angry trail over the paving stones.
Duke moves aside to let her through. As soon as he steps into the garden, I can see him better, the pink evening light bringing out the bronze in his hair. He’s in a gray t-shirt and soft-looking jeans.
He watches me, so solemn. Scratches his chin. I’ve always loved seeing him like this: in comfy old clothes, his guard down. Domestic.
My lungs hurt as I suck in a new breath.
“I’m sorry,” Duke says, right as I say, “I’ll head out tomorrow.”
His face drops.
He takes one step closer, and he can’t decide what to do with his hands. They smooth his t-shirt, jam into his pockets, then come out again. He’s so big, so strong, silhouetted against the first stars of the evening. “You’re leaving? Because of me?”
Well. Yeah.
“Because of us,” I tell him, because it’s kinder. And it’s true, anyway. Duke’s reaction may have hurt me, but the whole scenario isn’t his fault alone. It takes two to tango, and all that.
“Meg told me she’s okay with it.” Duke takes another step, and he’s approaching so slowly. All careful and calm, like I might spook.
“I know. She told me too.” After the hundredth squat, anyway. “That’s not why I’m going.”
“Oh.” Duke hovers on the stone path, halfway to the pool. Then, abruptly: “Fuck that.” The ground shakes as he marches to my side.
A heavy knee crashes against the tiles. Duke grips my shoulders; turns me to face him. He’s not squeezing hard, not pushing me around, but all I can think is how much bigger he is than me, looming over me like that. How he makes me feel small and fragile and precious.
Dark eyes bore into mine. He’s so intense he doesn’t blink, and I know he’s gonna declare himself. I just know it.
Oh my god. This is happening, and I’m sweatier than a sinner in church.
“Clementine,” he says. “I don’t want you to go. You hear me? I won’t stop you, but I don’t want you to go. Need you to understand that. I’ll miss you every minute you’re not here, and I’ll never stop kicking myself for scaring you away. Never.”
Gah!
It’s perfect. Music to my ears. But if Duke touches me like this, if hetastesme like this after running ten miles, I’ll die. I’m a human gym sock.
“That’s sweet,” I murmur, shrugging off one big hand, then the other. He lets me go—and he doesn’t understand yet, because his handsome face looks wrecked.
I’m not turning him down, damn it. I’m taking emergency measures.
