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Ezra steps closer to me, stealing my space once again. I don’t mind giving it to him, though. Although I’m not sure why.
“Did you enjoy your prom?”
Our eyes lock when he asks the question, my damn pulse pounding harder than it should. I have to swallow the knot of nervousness in my throat.
“For the first time, I can actually say yes to that question.”
He grins, a dimple indenting his cheek I hadn’t noticed before.
“Good.”
All I can see are the bruises again. I have the urge to count them. To dedicate them to memory and then find out exactly how they got there.
Instead of saying anything about it, I sigh and ask something else.
“Why are you doing all this?”
“For fun.”
He pops the cap of his beer off using the side of a table near me and tips the bottle to his lips. For some reason, it fascinates me.
If I’m not careful I’ll end up addicted to Ezra, which means it will only hurt more when I have to walk away.
“We only have six weeks left of school,” I say, not really sure why.
Another sly grin before he finishes off the beer he’s holding with a few powerful swallows.
Setting the empty bottle down on a side table with exaggerated care, he glances up at me, the shadows of the room disguising the discoloration on his skin I know is there.
“The way I see it, that means you have six weeks to come out of your shell and be as crazy as the rest of us.”
“I’m not in a shell.”
Except, that’s not true at all, is it?
I’ve been sheltered.
At least when it comes to guys and all that entails.
I often feel like I’m standing in a sea of faces, all these lives flowing around me with their own directions, while I’m stuck in place waiting for a marriage that was demanded of me before I had the chance to take my first full breath.
That fact is made even clearer when Ezra steps closer to me, and my heart thumps like a trapped rabbit, my pulse so jagged I can feel it everywhere.
My skin feels electrified, a buzzing that’s both a warning and a plea.
But for what?
Him?
Or what he represents?
This isn’t just about the boy, it’s about me.
About my choices.
About the freedom I want to make those choices.
And while those thoughts spark and burn inside my mind, he dips his head to take up all my vision, to be the only thing I see.
