Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
I was a mess. There wasn’t another way to say it, and I was going to see Shay like this?
“I’m hideous.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” I grabbed the hooded sweatshirt in the back of his car and pulled it on. Sunglasses were on his dashboard, and I took those, too.
“Hey!”
I got out, yanked the hood up and over my face, and put the glasses on. “I’ll call you later to pick me up?”
“That, or he can drop you off.”
“Got it.”
I hunched forward, my hands in the sweatshirt’s pockets, and I didn’t look at Shay as I went right past him. He turned to follow. “Hello?”
“Can we do this upstairs?” I was reaching for the door, and I opened it as Shay got behind me. We weren’t the only ones at the intersection. Linde was in the stairway, leaving the main floor. He was pulling the door closed behind him and automatically issued a, “Oh, excuse me . . .” The word died in his throat when he looked from me, to Shay, then back, and his eyes narrowed, lingering on me.
A soft, “Clarke?” came from him. He had a bowl of oatmeal in his hands, and it almost dropped. He tightened his hold quick, cleared his throat, and stepped all the way into the stairs. The door shut with a click behind him. He looked from me to Shay again. “Uh . . .” He blinked a few times before coughing once again. “I . . . sorry. I’m at a loss. That is you, Clarke, right?”
“Yeah.” My throat got stomped on. The husky sound that came out hadn’t bothered me until that moment. I cringed. “Can we not, uh, do this here?”
Linde moved aside, and I hurried up the stairs.
Turning down the hallway, both were following me, but I didn’t want to do this with Linde. Not right then. I wanted to talk to Shay and then regroup. I’d feel more centered if that was done and out of the way first.
Stopping outside Shay’s room, I said over my shoulder, “Can I talk to Shay first? I . . . can we do this another day, Linde? I’m sorry. I . . . just—”
“No. No.” He went to a different door. “Talk. It’s good to see you up and walking.” He cracked a grin, tapping the side of his head. “The mind does weird tricks on a person. You never know.” He indicated me with the bowl. “It’s real good to see you. Miss you in class.”
I was reaching for the doorknob but paused at those words.
I looked back up. “Thank yo—” He was in his room already.
Had I been a bitch there? Was that wrong to do?
I was rooted in place, but Shay moved me and opened the door. He ran a hand down my side, curved it around my waist, and rested it on the small of my back. For a second, one second, I didn’t move. He opened the door, but neither of us moved. Feeling his heat, his strength, I closed my eyes and rested my forehead to his chest.
He remained like that, and after another second, I felt him rest his head against the top of mine, but with the barest of touches. No. Those were his lips. He grazed a soft kiss there, and feeling the tears falling, I went inside.
We didn’t move far.
Shay shut the door, and I whirled around. He didn’t even move, I just pressed myself against him, and his arms wrapped around me. My hood was still in place. Gage’s sunglasses on. He held me, and I soaked it up. He ran his hand up and down my arm and dipped his head to rest his chin on my good shoulder. He kissed my cheek before lying his own cheek next to it. He let out a deep breath, and it was as if he were breathing for both of us.
So much of the tension, anxiety, and fear left me. There was so much else still in there, but my chest was considerably lighter.
I stepped back after another few minutes and murmured hoarsely, “Thank you.”
His hand came to the glasses. He started to touch them. “Can I?”
No! Fear slammed back in me, but I forced myself to nod. Then I waited. My heart against my chest cavity.
He pulled them off. There was no change in his eyes. He took them, folded them, and put them on his dresser. Slowly, so agonizingly slowly, he reached back up and gently pushed the hood back from my head. When I felt completely bare, he gazed at me.
I couldn’t look, not at first. I focused on his chest, but when he didn’t make a motion, or a sound, I looked up.
So much warmth was there that my lungs were empty for a moment.
He murmured, “You’re still as beautiful as you were the first day in class.”