Next-Door Nemesis(85)
I don’t want to laugh, but I can’t help it.
“You don’t know if you won yet.” My hoarse voice is almost unrecognizable.
“Trust me,” he says. “I won.”
“I don’t think you’re talking about the HOA anymore.”
“I’m not.” He brings his mouth closer to mine, so close that I swear I can feel it. “Yes, you’re going to California. But we never know what tomorrow is going to bring and we don’t need to.”
My breathing deepens, my chest rising and falling a little faster as I struggle to keep my eyes open. I try to imprint every second into my mind. I don’t want to forget any of this.
“We don’t?”
“We don’t.” He shakes his head and I watch as his hazel eyes turn black. “We have right now and it’s up to us to make sure every moment counts. If we do it right, tonight can last forever.”
I fight back a fresh wave of tears.
When his mouth touches mine this time, it’s different. Our full lips press together, no longer exploring, just feeling. There’s no rush, no frantic energy as our tongues tangle together while his hands hold me tight. We take our time.
It’s a slow burn gradually building with every graze of his fingertips, every brush of his lips.
When he lays me down on his bed, he doesn’t make a move. He stares down at me, his eyes lighting a fire as they drift down my body.
“Perfect,” he whispers, finally letting his hands follow the path his gaze forged into my skin.
By the time he puts his mouth on me, I nearly combust.
I can’t watch anymore. The sight of his head between my thighs is too much. I’m not ready for it. I close my eyes and push him away. I try to fight it as my stomach tightens and my back arches off the bed, but it’s no use.
Because even with my eyes closed, he’s all I can see.
Pleasure has never hurt so good. It rips through me, tearing me apart from the inside out and taking my heart along with it.
Nobody’s ever touched me the way Nathanial Adams touches me. Nobody’s ever looked at me the way he looks at me. As the final waves rock through me, I’m worried nobody else ever will.
And then, just when I thought it was impossible, the tears begin to fall again.
Chapter 29
Whoever said it’s always sunny in Southern California clearly didn’t account for the smog.
The dry heat feels oppressive and I yearn for the humidity I thought I hated. Everything I missed about Los Angeles has been less sparkly since I’ve been back. It’s been the longest month ever.
I miss my parents, I miss my friends, and I really fucking miss Nate.
Not one night has gone by without me dreaming of the last night we spent together. I wake up thinking of his eyes and fall asleep trying to conjure the feel of his touch. I’ve dialed his number so many times that I’ve lost count, yet I still haven’t called.
Peter let me move back into our apartment and is staying with a friend until I figure things out. It’s smaller than I remember and I miss the comfort of my room back home. The king mattress is too big after sleeping in my twin bed. The coffee shop around the corner I used to go to every day isn’t as good either. The plants on the patio are a sad excuse for a garden next to my dad’s and the neighbor who made me go viral is a downright disgrace compared to my MLM queen, Ashleigh.
But I’ve been trying to tell myself that’s not why I moved back here.
When I came to LA as a bright-eyed, slightly-less-jaded eighteen-year-old, I didn’t come to make friends or sit around drinking lattes all day. I came because I’m a writer, and as cheesy as it sounds, I want to share my stories with the world. I’m finally getting the opportunity to do it and I can’t let some boy from my hometown be the reason I lose focus.
My phone buzzes and just like it has since I stepped foot in the airport, my traitorous heart leaps at the chance that I might see Nate’s name on the screen and then breaks all over again when I don’t.
“Hey,” I greet my best friend, who’s still in freaking Ohio.
“You thought I was Nate again, didn’t you?” Ruby asks.
“No,” I lie. “Have you bought your ticket back to California yet or are you just moving into my bedroom?”
“I always told you to get bunk beds. If you would’ve listened when we were younger, you wouldn’t have to worry about being out of a place to sleep when you come to visit us.”
“When they discover time travel, bunk beds will be my first plan of action.” I grab the keys to the rental car Peter is also funding off the table and lock the front door behind me as I leave. “But seriously, when are you coming back?”
Heavy silence lingers over the line and I think I’ve lost her.
“Ruby?” I look at the screen to see if we’re still connected. “Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m still here. Sorry.” There’s a hesitation that sounds foreign in her perpetually overconfident voice.
I know what it means before she tells me.
“You aren’t coming back, are you?”
I unlock the car and climb in, blasting the air conditioning as Ruby’s voice transfers over to the car speakers.
“I applied for a job at a law firm in C-bus.” She confirms what I figured was true days ago. “I can’t go back there, Colls. I hated the person I was turning into there. All I did was work and yell. I forgot what it was like to have a life outside of the office.”