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I laugh since it’s such an oddly specific joke, but it’s so Jason. Except he doesn’t join in, and I remember what he said at his house about how one day I’ll realize he’s not joking when he makes those comments, and I sober up.
“Wait, are you serious?”
Now he laughs, and it only piques my interest more.
“Jason!”
“It’s a long story. Aiden was prepared to do what you did for Gia, but it never came to that.”
I shift in my seat to give him my whole attention.
“What? I need details, Jason! You have to tell me!”
More casually than he has any right to, he changes the subject. “Oh, look, this is the road where we met.”
It’s a dark gravel back road surrounded by trees in the middle of nowhere. Just like that night, the rain is coming down harshly, and it’s filling the car with the pine-and-fresh-earth smell I love.
“You mean where you almost ran me over,” I correct, but Jason doesn’t concede.
“I think you mean where you were lying in the rain in the middle of the road for fun.”
“I told you the rain was refreshing!” I exclaim, but I can’t wipe the smile off my face. If it wasn’t for that night, I wouldn’t be sitting here now with my boyfriend, completely and totally in love.
Jason signals and pulls over to the side of the road, though there’s no one around.
“What are you doing?”
He unbuckles his seat belt and throws his shoes and socks in the backseat. “We’re going to dance in the rain.”
I smirk at him as he removes his sweater, leaving him in just a formfitting T-shirt. “I think you like dancing in the rain more than I do at this point.”
He means it when he declares, “Only when it’s with you.”
Butterflies that erupt only for him dance in my stomach as he opens his door. “Come on.”
He’s halfway out of the car when I call, “Wait! Aren’t you going to address the wholeyou got away with killinga guything?”
His smirk is mischievous. “If you come out, I’ll tell you.” And then he’s gone, and I’m left scrambling to remove my shoes and socks and follow him out.
I’m instantly drenched, my hair sticks to my face, and my feet get muddy, but as Jason spins me around and skips through puddles with me, smiling in that carefree way of his, I’ve never felt freer. Everyone may know about LA and be talking about me, and I don’t know what the future holds or if I’ll get any scholarships or even get into college, but as Jason picks me up and I spread my arms wide in the rain, I do know one thing: I’m exactly where I belong.
Acknowledgments
Finishing a series is always bittersweet, but telling Aiden and Amelia’s story through the With Me series, and now Jason and Siena’s story, has been so incredibly amazing. Thank you, reader, for being the reason these stories have come to life. Thank you to everyone who’s shared, promoted, reviewed, loved, messaged me on social media about, and read this story. It really does mean the absolute world to me, and I’m so grateful I can live my dream.
Thank you to everyone on the Wattpad Books team, including marketing, production, social media, distribution, and everyone in between. Thank you to Deanna McFadden for making this possible.
To Fiona Simpson, thank you for being the absolute best editor I could’ve asked for, for helping shape this story, for sitting in on hour-long video calls, and for everything else you do for me.
Thank you to Austin for being the best talent manager and for putting up with my millions of back-to-back emails.
Thank you to my parents, Bruno and Carmela, for being the best parents ever and always cheering me on, and thank you to the rest of my family and friends for always supporting me and my stories.
Thank you to my fiancé, Mario, for being the most supportive person in the history of supportive people. And thank you to the rest of his family for being right there with him in the supportive department—you guys are the best.
To my friends SJ, Lauren, Ken, and Jordan—you’re awesome. Thank you for being there for me through the years. And to my friends Rodney, Deb, Mason, Ava, Van, Cayleigh, Leigh, Jane, and Ami, thank you for sprinting with me even until the late hours of the night. I could not have gotten this book done if not for you keeping me company and cheering me on.
And as always, I’m thanking Leo. You’re a good boy.
