Exaltation (Insight #11)(77)



Raven furrowed her brow at River and mouthed ‘home.’ She nodded and pointed to her wrist. Her warning that Raven had to be on time. Parental figures were way too uptight to stretch that boundary.

“We better get out of here, before your fans figure out you’re cheating on your dance partner,” Rydell teased as he grabbed Raven’s bag.

When they stepped outside and he led her to his car, Raven had flashbacks of the last boy who’d given her a ride home, Benjamin.

She managed to tell herself to chill as Rydell opened the door for her and they drove away.

All the while she kept trying to figure out how to bring up what she saw Dagen do. She was pretty damn sure Dagen was a witch, that Rydell was too. They had that same vibe her dad did.

“So those family issues got out of control enough that you had to skip yesterday?” Raven finally asked.

“You could say that,” he said with a slight smile.

He kept himself leaned against the door. His arm perched on the window ledge, his long fingertips were scarcely skirting across his lower lip. As if he were in deep thought, or at the very least forcing distance he didn’t want to keep. Sexy as hell.

Raven couldn’t see it, but she could swear the air in the cab of the car was crackling, an electric hum of vim…of power.

She slid her eyes closed and slowly breathed out, doing her best to ease her nerves. Rydell was a wicked mystery to her. The fact he knew about the side of her life Raven never spoke of, was just now learning…the notion that her oddities would not be so odd around him was refreshing. But, knowing he was a distraction, a focus she could keep, that would steal her from dark thoughts and questions lurking in her mind…with the dead, was delivering.

“Still bad at home?”

“It’s not good, but…,” His luminescent gaze glided over her, “rays of light are coming into my life.”

Raven blushed.

Right when she decided to relax at his side, he turned off onto a back road, and her anxiety amplified once more.

“Where are we going?”

“Kade’s place is back here.” Good. More people. Raven thought. She shook off the uneasy feelings, telling herself River of all people had told her she was cool with her leaving with him. River was the queen of prickles.

When they got to Kade’s property there was not a light on or a car in sight. Rydell stopped the car, got out, and came to let Raven out.

“Do you have any clothes in that bag you brought?”

“Why would I need clothes?” Raven asked warily.

“Just trying to figure out how dirty you want to get, what I need to block,” he said with a sinful smile.

“I thought I made it clear that I came across as the wrong kind of girl to you.” Raven was trying to lighten the mood with a joke but even she could hear her nervous tone.

Not a word.

Instead, Rydell took her hand and walked her into the darkness. He pulled her under the lowlying moss on the trees, only letting go of her hand to reach for a tarp that was there. When he pulled it off Raven saw the baddest four-wheeler that she had ever laid eyes on.

“You asked me out to go mudding, right?” he said as a smile, she had never seen him give her emerged. It was boyish, fun loving, and easygoing. Raven’s kind of smile.

“In a car. Where the car would get dirty—not me.”

“If you don’t want to get dirty I’ll keep the mud off,” he promised as if that was no big feat.

He straddled the beast and powered it on. Then looked over his shoulder at her and nodded for her to climb aboard.

Now who could resist that devilish grin…I’m so screwed.

Raven dropped all her uptight thoughts and climbed on behind him. She didn’t think about her legs and arms cradling his body until she felt him sigh. Raven blushed and held him tighter. Feeling’s mutual…make me forget, Rydell.

They were off then, flying through the night. It wasn’t hard to find the mud. The monster downpour the day before had created plenty. Puddle after puddle not one splash made it on Raven. It was a wild rush. One that brought back the bliss bubble Raven adored.

Nearly an hour later, after completing perfect figure eights in an open field he stopped the four-wheeler, turned it off, and glanced back.

“You hear that?” he asked softly. It was the harmony of night, creatures singing their song living in their bliss. The night was so dark yet the moon seemed to be shining on them as if it were a spotlight.

She wanted to talk to him face to face but knew better than to walk in the tall grass at night, so at the risk of looking like someone she wasn’t she slid around him leaving him in the cradle of her legs. He tensed at first then shyly smiled.

“There are a lot of unspoken words between you and me,” Raven said as she looked into his eyes. She could swear the moonbeams were waving across them.

He kept his hands on the handlebars as he leaned a little closer. “What I like about us is that there’s more emotion than words.”

“That a fact,” Raven said as she bit her lip trying to halt a smile. His eyes moved to her lips before returning to her stare.

“How well do you know Dagen?” she asked.

He glanced to her lips once more, the prize he didn’t deserve but wanted so desperately. “I don’t think anyone knows me better,” Rydell said honestly.

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