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When he responds, so is his. “To get myclothes.”
I follow his gaze toward a neatly folded stack of clothes on the dryer behind me. “Not in the laundry room. InDallas.”
Tyler exhales, hard. “Your dad said he’d work with me on my music. Help set me up after graduation.” Tyler rubs a hand through his hair, smiling as if he’s got an inside joke with himself. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal. I can’t fuckaround.”
“Which is what being my friend wouldbe?”
Tyler’s eyes flash with impatience I rarelysee.
Even though he’s bigger and stronger, I want to shake him until he shows himself to me. To demand that he turn back into the Tyler I knew. The one who didn’t act evasive, didn’t keepsecrets.
“We’re not kids anymore, Annie. Everything I do here matters. It’s my chance to make something of myself. And there aren’t endless chances for people likeme.”
I’m so ready to argue with his words, it takes a moment to notice his attention drop to my mouth, lingerthere.
Tyler’s looking at mymouth.
Not as if I have food in my teeth, but as if my own two lips are the answer to a question I had no idea either of us evenasked.
I forget how tobreathe.
Then he leansin.
He fucking leans closer, and there’s no hope of breathingagain.
It’s as if he’s moving through me, his chest brushing mine, and he’s so close. He smells like cedar and sunshine, and I have a sudden shocking urge to turn my face and bury it in his throat, see if his pulse is pounding likemine.
My eyelids drift closed and when his exhale skims over my throat, my legs threaten to give out. My fingers tingle, empty and itching to reach forhim.
A trembling breath falls from mylips.
Then he’sgone.
I blink my eyes open and stare at the stack of ironed clothes in his arms. The ones that had been sitting on the dryer behindme.
Stupid.
Somehow, I find my voice. “I would never jeopardize yourfuture.”
“Not on purpose,” hecounters.
“Not atall.”
Tyler runs a hand over his neck before reaching for the door. “The other outfit looks more likeyou.”
After he leaves, his cedar scent lingers, making me want to wrap my arms around myself and replay every second of hiscloseness.
I’ve been craving time alone with him all week. But now that I’ve had it, I don’t feel resolved. I feel confused and edgy and awakened. Ready for something I don’t understand, something only heknows.
I reach for the Febreze and spray until every trace of him isgone.
5
Annie
“Sexy nurse.Sexy kitten. Ooh! Sexy dinosaur?” I point at a girl wearing a green bustier and miniskirt getting out of a car ahead of us at Carly’s Saturday night. “Iwin.”
“Not so fast. Sexy Mr.Rogers.”
