AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I turn more fully in the seat and fix him with a stern look. “You’re my brother, and I love you. If Rue makes you happy,” I lean forward, mimicking his slap on the chest. “Go find him. I want my brother back as much as you do.” I lean back and open the driver door, a grin spreading across my face. “Maybe not quite as much.”
Ryder shakes his head and bites his lip, but there’s no awkwardness here.
“Oh, and do me a favor,” I say as I hop out of the truck. “Tell Mom and Dad that I’ll come for a visit when they’re ready to acknowledge Rue again.”
We both laugh as I help him clean up the mess around the truck we both made, and it’s when I’m ten minutes down the road in my Jeep that my phone buzzes from the passenger seat.
Me: Try one last thought experiment with me?
B: How am I supposed to say no to you? Take me anywhere, A.
Chapter 24
Atlas
Me: How’s your head?
B: Rough, but better.
Me: Wanna reschedule?
B: No. I want to see you, A.
Knockout is a blur of flashing lights and dancing bodies, and I’m right on the outskirts of it, standing at the bar nursing a club soda because I don’t want to be drunk tonight. I don’t even want to be buzzed. I want to remember every moment of what happens next.
Someone comes up behind me, their shoulder brushes mine, and I know it isn’t one of the hundreds of strangers in the club by the zing that sparks and travels under my skin. They slip into the seat beside me, and I take a slow sip of my drink and watch them out of the corner of my eye.
His black hair is tied up in a messy ponytail with streaks of red that are barely visible under the low light. He’s got some kind of shimmery eyeshadow on and a thick layer of eyeliner that I kind of want to lean over and smudge. His lips are quirked up into an amused smile, chin resting in his palm as he watches me.
“Very subtle, A.”
I set my drink on the counter and try to swallow my nerves. This was my idea in the first place, so I can’t chicken out now. But he’s right there, and more than anything I want to lean over and drag him into a kiss, but that doesn’t fit the narrative we’re weaving.
“I am one hundred percent capable of checking out a hot guy, thank you very much.”
“Hmm.” His grin widens, and he reaches over to hook a finger in the rim of my glass, eyes finding mine as he slowly slides it closer and lifts it to his lips. His mouth touches the glass, and I watch his throat bob with each swallow until the drink is empty.
“Come dance with me,” I say, because suddenly getting my hands on him is my top priority.
“Oh?” he raises a brow and pushes up from his seat, leaning back against the bar top. “Shouldn’t you buy me a drink first?”
I stand and look down at my empty soda water, sprouting a grin. “I think I just did.”
He bites at the corner of his smile, running a finger along the collar of my shirt as I press closer. “Cheeky. I like it.”
“Dance with me, B,” I whisper, planting a hand on his waist and another on the back of his neck. It’s only been a few days since I’ve touched him, but it feels like an eternity when my skin finally meets his.
We hold each other like that, his finger slipping under my collar to trail along my collarbone, his other hand at the hem playing with the idea of crawling underneath. His nails are black tonight, and I’m not sure when that became something that always catches my eye. but the thought of those hands splayed across my body erupts shivers over my skin.
Between one moment and the next, B slips beneath my arms and tugs me towards the dancefloor, crowding us into the throng of bodies and coaxing my shirt over my head without a word.
“Someone’s in a hurry,” I shout over the music as he tucks the shirt into the back waistband of my jeans. And then he’s pulling that cut-off band tee—the same one he wore the last time we were here—over his head and stuffing it with mine.
Those hands are instantly on my body, scratching over my sides as he pulls me against him. They slide to my back, climb up my shoulders and dig into the muscle while he rolls his hips into mine in time with the beat overhead.
“Bumble B,” I groan into his ear when he presses his cheek to mine.
He lowers his grin to my neck, and what starts as two bodies grinding together becomes something else. His grip is unforgiving, his mouth parted and panting into my skin. Chest to chest, the urgency slows, and when I map out the stars on his shoulder, it’s like we’re the salvaged remains of a shipwreck drifting in a rapid ocean storm.
