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I’d already known this.I had heard the rumors, and a few of the cheerleaders had made sure I overheard them talking.The one time I had brought it up to Wells, he had denied it, but the truth had been there in his eyes.He was a terrible liar.
“I know.People talk,” I told him.
Wilder’s eyes widened.He had clearly not been prepared for that response.I imagined he had thought I would burst into tears and fall apart.Not my thing.I wasn’t one to cry and feel sorry for myself.I’d found out early in life that it was a waste of time.No one was going to care, and I would have a headache afterward.
“You could have any guy in that fucking high school.Why are you with him if you know he is cheating on you?”
Wilder’s annoyed tone almost made me smile.How did he not know this already?
A smile curled my lips as my eyes locked on his dark brown ones.“Because if I am with Wells, then I get to see you.”
The silence that followed would have been uncomfortable if the tortured expression on Wilder’s face hadn’t given him away.He wasn’t mad, nor did he look like he wanted to escape.He wanted me.He could lie about it, but his eyes were telling me all I needed to know.I wasn’t the only one who felt something.
“Oakley”—his voice was hoarse as he said my name—“you’re too young.”
“Maybe for now.But my birthday is only five months away, and then I’ll be eighteen.”
He closed his eyes, and the muscles in his neck flexed.“That might be legal, but in eight months, I’ll be twenty-five.Still too young for me.”
I slid over closer to him, and his eyes snapped open.The nervous gleam I saw made me want to laugh.I affected him.He might be making up reasons to stay away from me, but he didn’t really want that.Placing a hand on his chest, I stared up at him.His heart was racing under my palm.
“If my age bothers you, then we could be friends for now.Until the day comes when you think I’m old enough.”
He studied me.His eyes dropped to my hand against him.“Friends, huh?”He swallowed hard.“If we were friends, then you would break up with Wells.Stop letting him cheat on you?”
I nodded.“Happily.”
His eyes lifted back to mine.“You’d call me when you needed a ride and not sit here in the dark or walk home?”
I nodded again, feeling giddy at the idea of Wilder picking me up and getting a chance to be with him more often.
“This is a bad idea,” he muttered.“But I can’t seem to say the wordno.Not to you.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.I had never been this happy.I wanted to jump out and spin in circles, shout to the moon, which was making its appearance, that Wilder Jones was going to be mine one day.I was sure of it.
“I think it’s the best idea you’ve ever had,” I told him, causing a low chuckle to vibrate deep in his chest.
This was only the beginning.Our beginning.
Ten
Wilder
Present Day
Pulling into the privacy gates of our subdivision, I was so ready to get home and see Sarah.She’d seemed beyond happy every time I talked to her.Hell, she’d been fucking giddy.It was me who was missing her, not the other way around.I was sure she’d be fine if I stayed gone another week.That didn’t sit well.
When I reached our house, it was dark, but spotlights lit up the front of it, allowing me to see the additions that had happened since I’d been gone.I sat in the drive, not pulling up past Oakley’s car to enter the garage.Instead, I took in the lit jack-o’-lanterns, among the other twenty or so pumpkins on the front steps and by the front door.Corn stalks were tied on the posts with orange ribbons, and there were fake spiderwebs on my front doors.A large, lit-up ghost stood to the left of the doors while a black tree with bare branches, covered in orange lights, was on the right.
Sarah had mentioned they’d done some decorating, but she had left out the extent of it.Our front porch now looked as good, if not better, than our neighbors’.I hadn’t asked Oakley to do this, and I sure as fuck wasn’t paying her back.If she’d wanted to decorate, then she should have discussed it with me.Not gone off and taken it into her own hands.This was my house.She had no say over how I did things here.
By the time I parked in the garage and grabbed my suitcase to head inside, I was well past annoyed.Jerking the door open, I went into the house, and the smell of vanilla, cinnamon, and pumpkin filled the air.I paused and took in the garland of fall leaves coming down the banister.The fall candles and ceramic pumpkins on the foyer table.
Laughter and music came from the kitchen.Belladonna came running down the hallway, apparently the only one aware I had returned.When she saw it was me, she paused and tilted her head to study me, as if she wasn’t sure my being here was a good thing.
“Sorry, pup.I own the house,” I informed her.
She turned and walked back to where she had come from, clearly not impressed.
