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“Here I was thinking the black eye gave me a ‘rebel without a cause’ sort of vibe.”
“You’re still very handsome.” Her cheeks color and she clears her throat.
“Yeah?” I reach for her hand and lace our fingers together.
“Bad weather.” She nibbles her lip, then points at the windshield where tiny drops of rain are starting to create a fuzzy layer. “Yep, weather.”
I make her nervous, but I’m hoping it’s a good kind of nervous, because she makes me nervous too. I want to kiss her, to taste her breath and sample her lips, doing the nibbling myself. But I know that rushing this isn’t an option.
So I change the subject. “Were you going to walk all the way back to the Bradford place?”
She shrugs. “I don’t have a car, and there’s no bus service around here.”
“Your grandma’s a Bradford but she won’t spring for you to have a car?” I cruise through the woods around campus, a few houses dotting the rolling hills in the distance.
“It’s already coming down hard.” She doesn’t meet my gaze. “Thanks for giving me a ride. I would’ve been soaked.”
“Since you don’t have a car, I’ll pick you up in the morning and bring you home after school.”
Her fingers tighten on mine. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know, but I want to.” The idea of her walking along this country road all alone sends a fucking chill up my spine. No way.
“Are you sure? I mean, I get the feeling you might not go to school every day, and I don’t want to bother you when you have other things to--”
“You will be on time every day, babydoll. I promise. I won’t forget.”
Her smile returns, and that need to kiss her surges through me again.
“Oh.” I let go of her hand and reach into the back seat. “Here. It’s the school laptop. I’ve got a better one coming for you, but this should tide you over until it gets here.”
She takes the box. “This is so nice.” Running her hand over the box, she stares at the laptop image, then turns to me. “Wait, did you say you ordered me another one?”
“Yeah.” I shrug and turn into the Bradford property. “It’ll be better for you. It has a tablet you can attach to it for drawing--that’ll help you in science classes, and I got the really nice headphones, the over the ear kind that save your hearing better than earbuds.”
Her mouth is open as she looks at me. “I don’t … I can’t … You …”
“It’s cool.” I take her hand again and drive slowly down the winding lane so I can spend as much time with her as possible. The storm rages around us, thunder rumbling and flashes of lightning sparking through the gray clouds.
“No, it’s too much. I can never repay you for--”
“You don’t have to. Don’t worry about it. This is free. I promise. I expect nothing in return.” I glance at her. “I’m serious. If you never want to speak to me again after today, that would be”–fucking unbearable, and I would make you change your mind—“okay, and I wouldn’t ask for any of it back, all right? This stuff is yours. You need it. Maybe it’ll inspire your grandma to come up with some of her Bradford cash to outfit you better.”
“Thank you.” Her big blue eyes brim with tears. “That’s so kind.”
“Very welcome.” I kiss the back of her hand again as we cruise up to the French-styled estate, the walls a pale stone and a giant fountain out front with a Poseidon statue in the center. Gaudy and overdone--perfect for Trent’s family. Two Range Rovers and a Maserati are parked alongside the house.
“By the way, how have you managed to avoid Trent this whole time? Is he like a distant cousin or something? He doesn’t seem to know you, either.” I pull up as close to the front doors as possible so she can avoid the rain.
She turns and looks at the house. “Oh.”
“Something wrong?”
“No.” She points to the right. “There’s a garage back there. It’ll be dry.”
“Okay.” I put the car back in drive as the front door opens.
Thunder rolls as Trent walks out, initially oblivious to the storm and my car. But then he stops when he sees Evangeline with me, and that’s when the shouting starts.
