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She responds with a wink, a peach and an eggplant.
Real helpful, Mia.
I barely get the message off before Diego and I are suddenly outside on the club. Smokers mill on the sidewalk. None of them bother to notice us, but Diego pulls us around the corner anyway before he calls for a rideshare.
That’s the moment I finally believe him. A car is on the way. A car that’s going to take us to my house.
After all this running, I’ve finally caught him.
Chapter Sixteen
Diego
I DON’T KNOW what I’m thinking. I don’t know what I’m doing. But when the rideshare pulls up I get into it and let Avery give the driver their address.
The lurch of the car pulling away from the club is a sobering slap. The whiskey I drank tonight is long out of my system, leaving me horribly clear-headed as Avery and I sit in the backseat not speaking. After a few awkward seconds, Avery takes my hand.
It’s weird how comforting that is.
It’s just us in this car. And the driver, but he hasn’t said a word and seems content to ignore us for the duration of the drive. We exist in this temporary liminal space between the club and our real lives, and in that bubble of peace I find myself … calm.
And also curious.
I can’t help looking at Avery beside me. The lights flashing by on the highway offer me a better view of them than the lights in the club ever did. Their hair is sleek in its long ponytail. Their slim legs are encased in leggings, their skirt covering their lap. They’re so vibrantly unlike anyone from my gay bar back home, all those men in jeans and cowboy boots and plaid. Back home, wearing a hoodie instead of a denim jacket made me downright flamboyant compared to those men.
A jolt of doubt streaks through me. What if Avery does things differently than those guys back home? What if everything I think I know about sex is wrong? Is it different because they’re non-binary?
Avery squeezes my hand. “What’s wrong?”
They can always tell so quickly when my mind slides toward panicky anxiety.
“Nothing, I just…” I shoot a look toward the driver, still happily ignoring us. “You’ll tell me if anything … isn’t working?”
Avery quirks one eyebrow, smiling with only half of their mouth. “I’ll tell you all about what’s working, but I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Their eyes rake up and down me, and the heat of that gaze burns away some of my doubt. They certainly seem to have no concerns about my past experiences.
I swear the drive back to Montridge takes forever. Atleast it affords me an opportunity to text Leo and let him know I left with someone. He texts back a thumbs up. I guess I’ll find out later if he’s mad at me for bouncing. It’s increasingly difficult to care about my new roommate as the car putters down Avery’s street and pulls up to the same curb I broke down beside a month ago.
Avery thanks the driver and tugs me out of the car almost before it stops moving. They drag me toward their house, quickly unlocking the front door and letting me inside.
“Should I take my shoes o—”
I don’t finish before Avery kisses me so hard I slam against their door. They steal my breath before breaking away.
“I don’t care about the fucking shoes,” they say.
They don’t wait another moment, taking me by the wrist and pulling me up the stairs to the second story. I slept up here that night when I broke down, but we pass the little guest room where I stayed that time, opting instead for the large bedroom at the end of the hall.
Avery’s bedroom.
I don’t know why this shocks me. Maybe because it’s real. I actually said yes. I’m here. This is going to happen.
I should feel way more guilty than I do.
Instead, I’m watching the way Avery’s hips move, reveling in their strong grip on my wrist as they pull me insistently toward the large bed in the center of the room.
We fall onto it, and Avery wastes no time crawling on top of me. I’ve touched them before, but I’ve never felt their whole body this way. They lay atop me kissing me, and I can’t help letting my hands wander to their hips, to that skirt they looked so damn good in tonight. They groan when I muss it trying to tug it aside, boldly pushing their ass into my hands. I raise one knee, trying to relieve the pressure building in my jeans, but that only places Avery between my legs, their body pressed along mine.
