His Reverie (Reverie #1)(17)

I didn’t commit the crime but they wouldn’t care. They’d hear the word jail and their daughter in the same sentence and my ass would be out the door. No one can know about us spending time together.

Nobody.

“I like it here,” she says, her soft voice breaking through my thoughts. “Thank you for bringing me.”

“You’re welcome.” I take a sip of my drink. “You don’t come to the ocean much?”

“Not really.” She shrugs.

“Why? You’re so close. Like ten minutes away.” I grew up here and I still love coming to the beach, especially in the summer when the weather is perfect and the girls in bikinis are out in force.

“I don’t know. I don’t leave the house much when we’re here. Everything I want is there, you know?”

I didn’t know. I would go stir crazy if I had to stay at that house for days and days on end with no escape. It’s weird. Almost like she’s Rapunzel or whichever princess I’m thinking of, trapped in her castle.

“You should come to the ocean more often,” I suggest.

“Maybe you should bring me here more often.” Her eyes light up with hope.

“Your parents would probably freak out.”

“They would never have to know,” she says, her voice soft and suggestive.

Shit. They would know. Parents always find out, especially diligent ones like hers. From everything I’ve seen and heard, it’s like they keep her under lock and key.

I decide to change the subject. I can’t confront this right now. “You feel better?” I see her burger is almost gone and there are only a few fries left. “You’re not upset anymore, are you?”

“No.” She slowly shakes her head, a shy smile tipping up her lips. I’m sure I disappointed her by basically denying that I’ll ever take her to the ocean again like she suggested but what can I say? “I’m good.”

“Good.” I pause. Ah, I’m going for it. I want to know more about her and sitting around here talking about the weather and how much food we just ate isn’t going to cut it. “So how long have you been coming out here for the summer?”

“Oh.” She sits up straight and flips her hair over her shoulder. “Well, since I was twelve. My parents bought the house that year.”

“And you’re…how old?” I’m trying to find out information about her without looking like an obvious ass**le.

“Almost seventeen. My birthday is in less than two weeks.”

So she’s younger than me. Almost an entire year. “So you’ll be a senior?”

“Yes. Finally.” She nods. “You?”

“Uh, I graduated early.” Got my GED in jail. One of the best things I could’ve done while I was in there. Now I don’t need to go back to that hellhole known as my high school. The minute I returned, everyone would’ve questioned what happened. It wouldn’t matter if all charges were dropped, I know most of them would believe I did it or think I was somehow involved. Krista would expect to be my girlfriend again, I’m sure.

All of that shit, I wanted to avoid. So I did.

“Wow, you must be really smart,” she breathes, her eyes wide, like I’ve impressed her.

Huh. I impress no one. If she only knew where I got my diploma. She’d be changing her tune quick. “Not really. I had to do it,” I say, my brain scrambling for a reason. “Um, I knew I would be on my own because my mom had cancer.”

“Oh, no,” she whispers, her forehead crinkling in seeming concern. “How terrible. Is she okay? Or…” Her voice trails off, as if she can’t bear to say the next question.

“Yeah, she died a few months ago.” It hurt to think about it, let alone say it. I don’t know if it’s necessarily hit me yet, that Mom is gone forever.

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine.” Her voice is so soft I can barely hear her. She seems to feel so much so quick. Her face crumples up a little, like she’s going to cry and I immediately reach out and settle my hand over where hers rests on the table.

“It’s okay. Really.” Her hand is slender and warm and I stroke my thumb over the top of it once. Slowly sweeping over her skin as if I’m testing it. More like savoring it.

“I don’t always get along with my mom but I don’t know what I would do if she…died.” She stumbles over the last word and her emotional reaction is making me feel all emotional too so rather than fall apart and cry in front of some girl I barely know, I snatch my hand back from hers and clear my throat. Silently demand the tears that threaten at thinking about Mom to get the hell back and stay away.

“I miss her, but life goes on right?” I ask, my voice sharper than I intended and the look Reverie gives me says she heard it. She winces, her eyes full of hurt and I immediately feel like an ass. “So I got my GED, got this job and I’m trying to save money.”

She goes along with my change of subject thank God. “Do you plan on going to college?”

I shrug. “Not right now. Can’t afford it. Maybe someday.” Who knows if that maybe someday will ever come though.

“That’s too bad.” She sounds let down by my answer and I hate myself for saying it. I disappointed her and I don’t get it. Why does it matter? Why do I matter? Yeah, there’s an attraction between us. I feel it. She must feel it too. For whatever stupid reason I want to pursue it, pursue her though I know this is going to end in disaster.