Page 82 of After Midnight

Tonight, I want to wrap Remi in my arms and lose myself in her.

“You ready to go?” I ask her, and she nods.

We tell everyone good night, and I try not to smile too big while watching everyone hug Remi goodbye. Dex fist-bumps me before I can step out of the house, saying quietly, “She’s cool, man.”

I grin. “A lot cooler than you.”

“Ha, you wish.” Then he closes the door in my face, leaving me standing in the porch light, shaking my head.

When I step through the exterior gate, I find Remi leaning back against the Raptor, her face tipped up to the sky. As I approach, she says, “You can see more stars here.” She breathes a deep sigh. “You can’t see any stars in Vegas.”

Vegas is a city of never-ending light. It chases all the stars from the sky; I noticed that when we went skating together on that rooftop, the way the city glowed for miles all around.

“You can see more stars from my place,” I say.

Remi draws her eyes away from the sky and meets my gaze. “Let’s go, then.”

We climb into the Raptor, but before I can start the engine, Remi leans over the center console and takes my face in both her hands, crushing our mouths together in a deep kiss. My fingers snake around the back of her head, pushing into her wind-blown hair.

When she pulls away, I laugh and say, “What was that for?”

She shrugs lightly, reaching for her seat belt. “For showing me your world.”

Her answer makes my stomach flip and my heart rate pick up. And I whisper, “I . . . want you to be a part of it, Rem.”

She smiles at me in the dark. “I think I already am.”

chapter 37

Remi

IT’S AFTER MIDNIGHT, AND SEB’S place is dark when we get there. The floor is cool under my bare feet as I drop my shoes beside the door, and Seb pauses behind me to wrap an arm around my waist and press a kiss to my cheek. Then he flips a light on and says, “You want something to drink? I’ve got sparkling water, I think.”

I trail behind him, following him to the kitchen. “Yeah. Sounds good.”

He finds two glass bottles of sparkling water in his fridge, and as he twists the tops off, he asks, “So, what did you think of everyone?”

The bottle is cool against my fingers when he hands it to me. I take a sip, then say, “I liked them. A lot.”

Leaning back against his kitchen counter, he arches a brow at me. “Even Lucas?”

This draws a small laugh out of me. “Yeah, even Lucas. Though . . . it seemed like something was bothering him tonight.” I’ve only ever seen Lucas at Caliber before, but I could tell his mind was somewhere else while we were all sitting around the firepit.

Seb nods once. “I think he and his girlfriend are struggling. She hasn’t been around lately.”

I recall what Nora said in the Wag tent. “Is that Alisha?”

“Yeah.” He takes a long drink of his water, throat bobbing in a way that makes me want to cross the kitchen and drag my tongue along it. But then he says, “Can I show you something?”

“Sure.”

He leads me down the hallway to his music room and pushes the door open. Inside, the room is cool and dark. He turns on a lamp beside the low armchair, and it bathes the space in soft golden light. Then he takes a seat at the piano bench and taps the spot beside him.

I ease down next to him. “Won’t it be hard to play with me sitting here?”

He smiles. “Yeah. But I prefer it that way.” After setting his sparkling water down, he drapes his fingers across the keys and starts to play. His hands move smoothly, like water rippling across river stones. The song he plays is gentle and slow and maybe a little bit sad; it sounds so different from LGC’s music, and as I look over at Seb, I’m amazed by him for the second time today.

“Want to help?” he says.