Not a fuckin’ chance.
“Only if you hang out with me tomorrow.”
“You must be stoned. Levi Westwood doesn’t hang out with someone like little ol’ me. Whatever will your friends think?”
“Fuck them.” For a year, I’ve envisioned making herlookat me—really look andseeme. So I push a finger under her chin and do just that. Her sky-blue eyes threaten a storm if I don’t release her, but it’s a damn good thing I love the rain. “And fuck my last name. I’ve wanted to be your friend since the beginning.”
“Right.” The word is drawn-out as she sidesteps me, shaking herself free of my hold with her Summer-certified glares. “I believe you, Levi. Let’s be friends. We’ll hang out never and your conscious will be cleared.”
My arm jerks to the side, blocking her advance. “I’ll bother you every day until you agree to hang out with me for real. Wouldn’t it be better to end the torment now?”
Her near smirk makes my stomach twitch again, confirming she is where I’m meant to be. “Do that, and I’ll get a restraining order. Tell me why I should trust this random change of heart is real.”
“Because it’s not random. You haven’t noticed the others stopped harassing you? I made them.” Her pink lips part as she ducks her head again, but I’m so fuckingsickof her hiding from me. Before I can stop myself, I cup her face and draw her gaze up. “Summer, this pain you’re hiding, pushing people away so no one can get close enough—it’s finished. Let me be your friend. It’s all I want. I promise this isn’t some cruel game. What can I do to prove that?”
Trust. It’s what her expression begs for. The walls—her internalized barriers—shake from a few short words. This girl is seeking connection and barely realizes it. “Don’t tell anyone about what you saw today.”
My hand slides from her face to her wrists, lightly stroking over the gashes. I catalogue every dip of her skin, planning to perform a repeat for whoever did this to her. “Will you tell me in the future?”
“No. We’ll try the friends thing, Westwood, but you’re on a trial period.”
She’ll tell me one day, and then I’ll be able to defend her. Until then, I release her and back up, even opening the door as a sign of good faith. “How about I pick you up for school tomorrow morning?”
“Only if it’s down the road from my house. I'm probably insane for agreeing to this…”
It started with a drive, then hanging out at lunches, eventually in between classes. My friends were kind enough, but she was more comfortable around me, always the duo no one understood.
My obsession grew to unhealthy depths. She slowly began trusting me with glimpses of her life, past and present. My protectiveness was well known to all except her. Some douche in twelfth grade pointedly ignored my many threats, took her out one night when Dad dragged me away for some work function. When she called me crying, in pain from the way he stole her virginity, I tucked her into my bed with all the pain medications imaginable and a hot drink, then went and destroyed him.
He’s alive, only because Dad was with me when she called. He stopped me from taking it further, but the brain damage keeping him hospital-bound means he’ll never remember her.
My psychiatrist upped my medications after that.
Summer was told it was a freak accident. The look in her eyes suggested she guessed it was me, but since she never asked, I never confirmed.
When she finally disclosed her past, her father moved up to number one on my hit list.
For years, she’s been mine.
And she’ll soon learn what beingminetruly means.
EIGHT
SUMMER
My phone ringsas I trail Levi to the car, where he’s gliding my suitcase over the rough sidewalk. It’s an unknown number, so I hesitate to answer at first, despising telemarketers, but then I opt to so I know to block it or not.
“Hello?”
Click.
Levi glances over his shoulder. “Wrong number?”
“Guess so.”
I block it anyway, just in case.
The resort staff steps aside after unlocking the cabana door. He drops the keys into Levi’s hand and waves, leaving us alone to head back to main building.