Page 62 of Lost in the Current of You

I understood when Reece said he was scared. Because I was too. Scared to truly fall for him. Scared to lose him if it didn’t work. I’d already shared so many vulnerable moments with him by the river. I didn’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to lose the one person I could truly open up to. To lose the one person who let me see their vulnerability and taught me that it was okay.

I held him a little tighter as if he would slip from my fingers right at that moment. And it was like he seemed to know what I was thinking because he scooted closer into the space between me and the backrest before pulling me closer, holding me tighter.

We stayed like that for a while, wrapped in each other and afraid to let go.

Reece was the first to break the silence when he suggested taking me home, not wanting to worry my Dad. Reluctantly agreeing, we scrambled to the front, my cheeks heating when I saw a few people meandering through the park now, hoping they didn’t see anything that had happened just moments ago.

Reece chuckled as if seeing my thoughts plastered on my forehead. “Don’t worry. Tinted windows.”

A tiny bit of relief rolled through me as Reece pulled out of the park and started on the way to my house. I hadn’t paid enough attention in our rush to get into the car.

His hand curled around my thigh, squeezing it and leaving it there for the entire drive home.

When he pulled up in front of the house, I was reluctant to leave, wanting just a few more moments together before this spell was broken. Before all the reminders of our life crashed down on us and drove that line back in the sand.

His hand left my thigh and my stomach started to drop but then his other hand came around to cup my cheek, turning my face towards him before his lips pressed against mine in a languid pull and everything fell away.

He pulled away slowly, looking into my eyes with a hint of a smile.

“I’ll call you?” he whispered.

I nodded in a daze. “Yeah.”

His mouth quirked before his eyes flashed to my house behind and nodded towards it. “You should probably get inside before your Dad or Nate see us.”

I nodded again, not moving. “Yeah.”

He chuckled and kissed me quickly. “I’ll see you at the New Year’s party.”

I shook myself out of the daze. Right, our New Year’s party. The one Dad has every year and we all invite our friends. Reece was there last year because Nate invited him. Of course, he would be there again.

“I’ll see you then.” And then I grabbed my bag and got out of the car.

As I was a few steps away, Reece called my name through the passenger window he had wound down.

He grinned as his gaze raked up and down my body. “You look beautiful tonight, by the way.”

My face almost cracked with how wide my lips stretched, and I practically skipped up the driveway to the front door before I heard Reece drive away.

And like a chain reaction, the high came crashing down as soon as I shut the door behind me and my phone buzzed in my hand.

If only I had ignored it and gone to bed like I had initially planned. But my curiosity got the best of me, and I couldn’t stop myself from looking.

Liam:

Do you have time to talk?

My smile slipped. Now, reality was crashing down and I had to pretend my original bad night didn’t turn into the best night of my life.

24

I stared at the text for a few moments, blinking rapidly as if I was seeing something wrong. But the name remained the same, bright and bold, staring back at me.

I hesitated to reply, not knowing what to say. I had so much to say weeks prior but now, my mind had come to a complete blank, knowing no words could ever make up for how I ended things. Knowing my apology would mean nothing while I was with Reece. Knowing that I was beating him down behind his back while faking smiles to his face. It was the cruelest joke to be played after the evening I had with Reece, like the universe was laughing down at me and warning me at the same time that I was dancing too close to the fire.

But curiosity had already taken me this far, and he could already see I had seen the message, so I texted back before heading up to my room.

Yeah. I’m free.

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