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“See what?” I say innocently, only so she’ll have to say it aloud.
“You know what I’m talking about.” She sits up and tucks her legs under her. “But if you want me to say it then I will. I’m talking about S.E.X. Sex.” She raises her voice loud enough that the people around us can hear her. “You want to have sex with Ayden. You want him to put his—”
“All right. All right.” I cut her off, laughing. “I get it.”
“But do you really get it?” she asks, retrieving a tube of lip-gloss from her purse.
“Maggie, I love you to death, but I’m totally not following you.”
She applies a coat of gloss then smacks her lips together. “I’m asking you if you get how much the two of you need to get your freak on.”
“Okay, we’ve talked about that reference,” I say. “No calling it getting our freak on. It makes it sound so gross.”
“Sometimes, it is gross.” Her nose scrunches. “Like with Sage.”
“Don’t go there.” I point a finger at her. “If you tell me things, I might not be able to look him in the eye anymore. I need to be able to do that for the sake of the band.”
“Fine.” Her eyes sparkle mischievously as she sits back in the grass. “I won’t tell you all the horrible details just as long as you admit you want to have sex with Ayden.” When my lips remain sealed, she adds, “If you want, you can call it making love, but I kind of wish you wouldn’t.” She pulls a face like the idea is appalling.
“Fine, I’ll admit it, just as long as you’ll drop the subject of my sex life.”
She grins, bouncing up and down. “So you’re saying it’s true? You’re thinking about having sex with Ayden?”
I nod, trying not to smile idiotically. But the idea of being with Ayden like that makes me grin. “I think about it a lot.”
“Think about what a lot?” Ayden asks from right behind me.
Maggie smirks at me then bats her eyelashes as she looks up at Ayden. “About you and her getting your freak on.”
I glance over my shoulder at Ayden and offer him an apologetic look. “Just ignore her. She ate too much lip gloss today.”
“Hey, I don’t eat it,” she protests. “I use it to draw attention to these bad boys.” She smacks her lips.
Ayden’s never been a fan of Maggie, and he simply stares at her before focusing on me. “Why aren’t you in class?”
I shrug, picking at the grass. “We got a free period so we thought we’d come chill in the sun. What about you?” I look at the parking lot behind us where I think he just came from. “Did you just get back from somewhere?”
“Yeah, I did.” His gaze flickers in Maggie’s direction.
I get to my feet, reading his mind, because we’re in sync like that. “Hey Mags, I’m going to go talk with Ayden for a bit. Catch you later, okay?”
“Oh whatever.” She stands up, brushing the grass of her legs. “I know you two are going to go make out in the car.” She winks at me before strutting across the grass, giving her ass an extra shake as she walks by a group of football players.
“We need to talk, huh?” Ayden asks, his brow cocking.
“I could tell that you wanted to.” I gently tap the side of his head. “Remember, I can read everything going on in there.”
A soft laugh escapes his lips, but he quickly turns serious. “I do want to talk, actually.” He gives a quick scan of the campus yard. “But maybe somewhere where there aren’t so many people around.”
The air is stifling today and I’m roasting like a beast, even in my purple tank, denim shorts, and gladiator sandals. “I am in desperate need of some air conditioning.” I loop my arm through his. “How about we go sit in your car?”
He nods and we start across the grass, the sunlight flickering between the tree branches canopying above our heads. Neither of us speaks as we cross the parking lot and get into his car. I can tell something’s stressing him out, and that he’s stuck in his own little Ayden world of despair. I don’t push him to confide in me, though, figuring he’s been pushed too much already. If he wants to talk, then we’ll talk. If he wants to sit in the car with me and simply hold my hand, then that’s what I’ll do.
He turns on the engine to crank up the air, then sits back and cracks his knuckles while gazing out the window.
“I’m sorry Maggie’s a perv,” I say as I prop my feet against the dash.
He glances at me from the corner of his eye. “I’m used to Maggie and her mouth. In fact, my day would seem oddly incomplete without hearing at least one dirty remark from her.”
“Well, that’s a huge change for you. Usually, you get irritated when she opens her mouth.”
“I said I was used to her, not that I wanted to be used to her.” He’s smiling and it’s so beautiful and rare that I have to grin along with him.
“I think I might be with you on that,” I say. “Can you believe she tried to tell me everything that happened between Sage and her? And I’m talking everything. Could you imagine? I’d be scarred for life.”
“Sage would be so pissed if she did.” He rests his head back and stares at me for a heartbeat or two, his eyes smoldering so intensely I have to catch my breath.
I never thought it could be like this.
That love could be so raw and potent.
So intoxicated.
So mind erasing.
My breathing is fading.
My heart isn’t cooperating.
Anymore.
“I found out something . . . about the case,” Ayden says with a heavy sigh. “Lila actually pulled me out of class to tell me. Then she made me go talk to Dr. Gardingdale to make sure I was handling everything okay.”
I practically get whiplash going from joking about Sage and Maggie’s dirty rendezvous to talking about the case.
“What happened?” I sit up straight, my feet falling to the floor. “Did they find them? Did they find your sister?”
He reaches forward and gently places his hand on my arm. “Lyric, calm down. Nothing has happened yet. They just got a lead.”
“But that’s good news, right?” Please, please, let it be good news.
“I’m not sure.” He seems so calm, which is strange. “Maybe. The detective said he’d give me an update when he had one. It might take a few days, though.”
“Are you sure everything’s okay?” I ask him for the eleventh-hundred time since the amnesia session. “You’ve seemed sort of, I don’t know, sedated lately.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” he assures me with a forced smile. “It’s good to be calm, right?”
I nod, but I’m not buying it. I have a hunch Ayden’s cool-as-cookie-dough-ice-cream behavior is like a calm before the storm. I want to press him to talk, but worry I’ll only stress him out more.
What do I do?
To get through to you?
To get inside your head?
See your thoughts.
Feel what lies under your skin.
In your veins.
In your heart.
The bell rings and I sigh as we get out of the car to go to class.
“If you get a free period, meet me out front, okay?” Ayden asks as we part ways in the hall.
“Surely durely.” I throw him a wave over my shoulder, then make a quick pit stop at my locker to douse myself in perfume because I’m one sweat away from having a serious case of BO. As I click open my locker, a piece of paper floats out and lands on the floor by my feet. Not thinking too much of it, I bend down to pick it up and realize it’s a letter.
We found the way to Ayden’s heart. Make sure to pass along the message.
My attention whips up, and I cast a panicked glance up and down the hallway, skimming the faces of everyone. I swear I see a blur of red race out the front door, but I’m not about to chase the person down.
I grab my phone out of my pocket and run straight for Ayden.
“LYRIC, WHAT’S WRONG?” I GAPE at her as she races up to me in the
hallway, her eyes wild with panic.
Panting, she hands me a piece of paper while dialing someone’s number on her phone. “This was in my locker.” She hunches over, bracing her hands on her knees as she catches her breath.
My hands shake as I read the note. “We found the way to Ayden’s heart. Make sure to pass along the message.” More fear than I’ve ever felt pulsates through me. They left this in Lyric’s locker. My Lyric. God fucking dammit! “Fuck.” I kick the locker, then grab Lyric’s hand and guide her with me as I stride down the hallway and burst out the exit doors.
