Never Standing Still (The Never Duet #1)(41)
“I have a feeling a lot of people will be giving them guff when they get back,” I said, trying to comfort her as best I could.
“Yes, well, I suppose as long as they’re happy and plan on giving me a grandbaby soon, I can’t complain. They’re obviously very happy, and I love Ella, so I’m beyond ecstatic.” She took in a deep breath and then smiled at Riot. “It’s very nice to meet you. Any friend of Kalli’s is more than welcome here.” He smiled back at her and nodded in greeting. “Are you kids here for dinner?”
“Yeah,” I said, rocking back on my heels, trying to pretend everything between Riot and me wasn’t f*cked up.
“Great, follow me. I’ll get you a good booth.”
We sat and Tilly left us to go back to her job. With cold beers sitting in front of us and dinner ordered, we were left to combat another awkward silence. Right when I’d built up enough nerve to try and talk to him, my phone rang. When I pulled it out of my bag I saw it was Nancy.
“I’m sorry, it’s Nancy, I have to take it.”
He nodded, then put his beer bottle to his mouth, taking a long pull, and I tried not to stare at his Adam’s apple as it dipped low when he swallowed. I mentally berated myself for being turned on by something so strange, but God, it was sexy.
“Hey, Nancy, how’s it going?”
“Just fantastic, honey. We just wanted to call before we settle in for the night. Would you like to talk to Marcus?”
“Sure,” I said, smiling immediately, listening to Nancy tell him that I was on the phone, then rustling.
“Kal?” He sounded tired.
“Hey, bud. Did you have fun today?”
“Yeah, this is an awesome place. There’s even a huge water slide! I must’ve went down it, like, a thousand times.”
“That sounds awesome. What are you doing right now?”
“I’m in my pajamas, getting ready to watch some TV in my tree fort bed.”
“Your bed is a tree fort?”
“Yeah, it’s huge and made of big tree trunks and I’m on the top! I’m not even scared to be up high.”
“Wow. That sounds cool. Tell Nancy to take a picture with her phone so I can see it when I get home.”
“Okay. Hey, is Riot with you?”
“Yeah,” I answer, a little confused as to why he was asking.
“Can I talk to him?”
“Um, let me see if he’s available.” I held my hand over the phone and whispered to Riot, “Marcus wants to talk to you. Do you want me to tell him you’re busy?”
Riot’s face pulled back as if he were offended, then he just held his hand out. I placed the phone in his hand, kind of feeling like a scolded child.
“Marcus?” Riot asked into the phone. “Hey, buddy. I heard you’re at a water park for the weekend. That’s awesome.” He paused and I could hear the excited murmuring of my brother on the other end of the line. Riot’s gaze was on the table, but I couldn’t help but look at him, watch him as he listened to my brother talk about his day. “Do you get to go swimming in the big pool again tomorrow?” he asked, then listened again. “Well, tomorrow you should see how long you can hold your breath. Does Mr. Bob have a watch?” Pause. “Yeah? Cool. Have Mr. Bob time you. I bet you can’t hold your breath underwater for twenty seconds,” he said, daring my brother. Then he laughed, still looking down at the table, his beautiful smile reaching all the way to his brown eyes.
My breath caught watching him and my heart ached. Somehow, over the last two months of being apart, I hadn’t realized how much I’d grown to care about him. It was safer when he was far away, when he was just an idea or a voice. But when he became tangible, when his hands moved over my skin, the fear seeped back in. It was easier, two months ago, to be with him, because I hadn’t cared that much about him. He was just a guy to whom I’d been attracted. But now, with so many weeks of texts, calls, emails, and late night conversations between us, I couldn’t deny that I so much more than liked him. I was falling for him.
“Okay, buddy. Be good for Nance and Mr. Bob, all right? You’ll have to tell me tomorrow how long you could hold your breath for, all right?” He smiled, then said, “Bye, bud.” Then he ended the call and handed me the phone back. I looked at it, a little offended that my brother hadn’t wanted to say goodnight to me, but not concerned enough about it to call him back.
“Thanks for talking to him. I’m sure you made his night.”
“I’m not a jerk, Kalli. I care about Marcus; why wouldn’t I want to talk to him?” He let out an irritated breath and ran the back of his hand under his chin, the sounds of his stubble scraping along his skin sent tingles directly to my core, sent shivers through me and I wanted to hear that stubble rough and scraping against my skin. “Just because you’ve decided to push me away, it doesn’t automatically erase everything that’s happened between us. I still care about you and about Marcus.”
“I don’t think you’re a jerk. I’ve never thought that about you. Please don’t be angry; this is hard on me too. You don’t think I’m confused?”
“I don’t know what you are because you won’t talk to me, Kalli. You open up more to me when I’m two states away than when I’m right in front of you. Why is that? Why are you closing up and pushing me out?”