Page 60 of Forget Me Not

Reid doesn’t beat around the bush and I’d be lying if I said those seven little words didn’t make my heart beat just a little harder against my ribcage. He said he was a monster, but every day I spend with him, I’m finding he’s chasing mine away, step by step.

Something like that can get addicting.

And that’s dangerous.

That nightmare was no coincidence.

“So, what’s going on with Reid?” Katelyn asks, trying to sound nonchalant after a stretch of silence. “Sophie still salivating over him?’

“When is Sophie not salivating over something that’s mine?”

“Oh,” Katelyn pauses. “So, he’s yours?”

“No,” I grumble, my cheeks heating to a cool five-thousand degrees. “I’m just . . . you know?”

It’s so strange . . . I know he’s leaving in September, but somehow that draws me to him more. Like a moth to a flame, I can’t keep myself away. Maybe it’s because, for once, it doesn’t feel like there are any lifelong consequences to this. We can kiss and sneak off to the old Whitaker house all we want. At the end of the day, this isn’t forever, and I’ll never see him again after the summer’s over.

Part of me wishes I could be different. That he could be different. Maybe we could just be two people who meet and fall in love and grow old together. There would be no promise from the past holding me back. No guilt every time I kiss him and I wouldn’t have to wonder what could have been.

But we aren’t different people. We’re us and some day, we’re going to have to say goodbye.

I just can’t let myself get too wrapped up in him and forget everything from the past. The ring, same as my nightmare, serve as a gentle reminder to the promise I made so many years ago and one I intend to keep.

“Did you kiss him?” Katelyn asks, side-eyeing me from across the room.

I almost lie, but I know she knows the truth. Plus, it would be fun just to gush like a high schooler for a minute.

“Fine.” I sigh in defeat. “I did.”

Katelyn grins. “And?”

“And it was amazing,” I groan, dropping my paint brush back in the container.

It’s true. Kissing Reid was like something out of a dirty romance novel. Once I kissed him, it’s like I needed to do it so desperately that I couldn’t think straight. I just wanted his taste, his scent, his hands—with all their sexy veins—all over me.

I haven’t stopped thinking about that night after the bar. When he made me come without even touching me. I’m still not sure what happened there, but I’ve had more than one dream about it and I’m starting to grow concerned.

“He’s hot,” Katelyn shrugs, like it’s the truest fact in the world. “You need to sleep with him.”

“Katelyn!” I blush, looking around us like the entirety of Port Nova is crammed in Ms. Tammy’s house. “No. That’s out of the question.”

“Why?”

“Because,” I stammer, my stomach clenching nervously. “He’s leaving at the end of the summer.”

“So?”

“Sooo . . . Why would I want to start something with him if I’ll never see him again?”

“We’re not talking about a relationship here, Nova. We’re talking about pure, unadulterated sex with the second hottest man on the island.”

“Wait, you think Crusty is the hottest man on the island?” When she eyes me, blushing harder than I am, I hold up my hands in defense. “Okay, to each their own.”

“No,” she snaps. “You aren’t steering me away that easily. Nova,” she says, fixing me with a look. “Why can’t you just have some fun with Reid? I mean, if you hate each other at the end of the summer, then so be it. You’re going your separate ways, anyway.”

I bite my lip and the metallic taste of blood fills my mouth. My nerves are at an all-time high, especially after my nightmare this afternoon.

Sucking in a deep breath, I force the words out of my mouth. Sort of . . .

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