“More like a vampire,” I joke. “Living her best eternal life.”
Wren smiles, and I wish I could see her do that more often. She’s been so somber, so sad the last few days. Ever since her parents unloaded on her that they’re getting a divorce.
I think of my own parents and the fucked-up relationship they’re in. Dad’s a dick who flaunts his affairs and I’m pretty sure Mom does too. This is why I never want to be in a relationship. They’re messy. Unnecessary. Eventually, I’ll probably have to get married and carry on the family lineage or what the fuck ever, but maybe I won’t have to. Maybe my brothers will take care of that for me.
My oldest brother Grant is involved with someone, and it seems pretty serious, pretty fast. Finn is a total player, so he’s not settling down anytime soon. Charlotte just got married to someone she barely knows, but that dude is cool.
I’m barely eighteen. Definitely not interested in anything like that.
But I am interested in getting Wren alone again. Wouldn’t mind trying to kiss her again too, though I’m not sure if she’d be down. She’s wound so tight lately. I want her to act like she did last Saturday, when she was open and smiling, full of joy as she shared her love of art with me. Our conversation flowed, to the point of her admitting some major stuff I still can’t believe she shared with me. Fingering herself in her bedroom all night and watching porn—not very Wren-like behavior at all.
Just remembering her softly-spoken confessions makes my dick twitch.
We eventually find an empty round table in the very back of the library and I go to it, settling into a chair and pulling out the one next to me for Wren. She sits down, setting her backpack on the table, her movements slow. Measured.
“Did you really bring me back here to work on the project?” She shrugs out of her coat, settling it over the back of her chair. Watching me with those big green eyes, her lips slightly pursed in a sexy pout.
Wait a minute.
“Yeah,” I tell her, taking my coat off, leaving it slumped behind me. “You told me you just wanted to keep it friends-only between us.”
“Right.” She tears her gaze away from mine, staring at the shelf closest to us, a sigh leaving her. “I’m so tired of feeling sad.”
“You need to take your mind off of it.” When she turns to look at me, I continue, “Your parents. Your family. You need a distraction. You said that yourself earlier, in class.”
“I’m not going to smoke a joint with you or eat an edible,” she says, her tone snotty.
Fuck, that snotty tone of hers is kind of hot.
“I wasn’t going to suggest it. Besides, I don’t have anything on me. That’s against school rules, remember?” I raise my brows, recalling how she caught us passing that blunt during lunch. Something we do occasionally and always on the sly.
I told Ez and Malcolm we need to stop smoking on campus out in the open and they agreed. None of us want to get kicked out, not this late in our high school lives.
“Right. Don’t want to break the rules,” she murmurs.
“You never do,” I point out, and she doesn’t answer. Guess there’s no need for it, since we know it’s true. “Want to break some right now?”
“What are you talking about?” she asks warily.
“Come with me.” I stand, holding my hand out to her.
She studies it for a moment before lifting her gaze to mine. “What are you up to, Crew?”
“Come with me, Wren, and I’ll show you.”
“What about our stuff?”
“We can leave it. No one’s going to come back here and mess with it.”
She hesitates for a moment before she settles her hand in mine and I curl my fingers around it, pulling her out of the chair. There’s no one around and the only person I’d worry about catching us is old Miss Taylor, but she’s overseeing everyone at her desk at the library entrance, so she won’t notice.
My steps hurried, I lead Wren deeper into the stacks, until we’re surrounded by nothing but row after row of books, the aisle becoming narrower. The stacks becoming taller, the lights dimmer. Until we’re standing in front of a nondescript wooden door, a shiny new digital lock sitting above the handle. I let go of her hand and enter the code, the green light flashing, and I turn the handle, opening the door with ease.
I glance back at her to see her mouth drop open in surprise. “Where does that lead?”
“Come with me and you’ll find out.”