I decided I would tell him everything that night. I had to. And then it all went sideways. Blake died. Huff pushed me away. It’s been chaos ever since, and I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to tell him. The last thing I wanted was to spill my guts and have that memory marred by the ugliness of everything going on lately. Now I realize how stupid that was. I should have told him days ago.
I push myself up on my tiptoes and kiss his soft mouth again. He pulls me against his hard frame, and I feel myself melting into him. His touch sends spikes of tingles and heat right through my stomach, triggering a flurry of butterflies. The feeling is addictive, just like in my dreams.
I pull away and lick my lips, tasting him on my tongue. “I’m really glad you love me, because I’d be in serious trouble if you didn’t.”
He raises a brow.
“Never mind.” I don’t want to tell him that what I feel goes way beyond love. He’s part of me. My heart can’t work right without him in my life.
A loud knock on the door startles us both. “River! We’re being evacuated!”
It’s Meg. One of my sisters. I go to the door and open it.
Her eyes zero in on Huff. “Oh. I didn’t know you were here.”
“Yeah. He, uh, just got here,” I say.
She’s probably wondering how he got inside. The storm is really bad, and the streets are flooding.
“Um,” she shakes her head, “they’re telling everyone in this neighborhood to head for higher ground immediately in case the levy down the road busts. We’re all moving to the basketball stadium. We’re supposed to bring drinking water, a blanket, and some food.”
Ugh. This is a nightmare. One minute, there’s a severe storm heading west of us. The next minute, the thing takes a hard turn and comes straight for our area. It was only the difference of a hundred miles, but how did they mess up that forecast so badly?
Worst of all, they say it’s picking up speed from sixty- to eighty-mile winds. The high winds aren’t wonderful because trees are going down, but this rain is bananas. I’m really worried. My parents are texting me every two seconds, totally freaking out. Plus we have eighteen girls sick in the hospital, and God only knows where Keni is.
Psycho bitch. I knew something was off about her the moment she wanted Blake. He and I went out a few times about a year ago after he transferred in. But wow. Grade A jerk. He actually threatened a busboy at a burger place he took me to, because the poor kid left a glob of ketchup on the table. Blake got it on his sleeve. It was his damned mess, but he told the kid he was going to wait for him after closing and beat him so hard he’d piss blood.
Uh…so not boyfriend material, father material, anything-requiring-a-sliver-of-humanity material.
After that, I told him we wouldn’t be going out anymore. I made the mistake of confiding in Keni and told her he was really toxic—possessive, temper issues, and a general asshole to everyone around him. I almost felt sorry for him after Keni said she’d heard from one of the other girls that Blake was in pain all the time from a leg injury. Then I found out he’d slept with ten other girls in the house already. In a month! And they’d all come to the same conclusion, too: Loser.
It was why no one said anything to me when he asked me out. They were all too ashamed to admit they’d fallen for his little stud-muffin act. But Keni knew. Every damned dirty detail! Because that was when I called a house meeting and the rest of us girls vowed never to withhold such information again, no matter how humiliating.
Keni ignored everything we warned her about. In fact, it seemed to excite her when she learned Blake was such a nasty person.
But that wasn’t the biggest red flag. After ignoring all the warnings about Blake, Keni came in my room and told me that Blake had cried in front of her. She was disgusted by his “vile weakness.”
Girl, let me tell you; there are so many other things to be revolted about when it comes to Blake. Crying isn’t one of them.
“Okay,” I say to Meg. “I’ll get my things together. We’ll be down in a minute.” I look at Huff and his light brown hair with golden streaks. It used to be much lighter when he was little. Damn. He’s turned into a very handsome man. I love that he has no idea how hot he is. Or strong. I can’t think of anything sexier than a guy like that. The total package and totally oblivious to it.