Page 106 of Collided

His phone starts ringing and breaks the moment.

I glance at the screen that shows the contact name ‘Dad.’

Heath lets his phone ring. The call ends and then rings again, but he switches off his phone and jumps up to his feet. “Let’s get out of here.”

Fifteen minutes later we’re in a department store parking lot with a list of things he wants to buy for his diet plan. Apparently, it costs a lot to have a body like his.

And he has a body. A great body. Mouthwatering body.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” he reminds me for the third time.

“No, it’s all right.”

After that little moment in the gym, I’m certain we’re inching toward a line that isn’t supposed to be crossed. We’ve just started being friends and I’m already on the verge of ruining it by catching feelings for him.

Heath gets a trolley. Together we enter the store and move toward the section that has these massive bottles of protein powder. Seriously, they’re quite big.

He dumps four of them in the trolley with ease.

I watch him with an open mouth. They must weigh a ton.

“What?” he asks with a serious face.

“Do you need this many?” I eye him and the bottles.

“Two of them are for Sebastian.”

I smile at his reply.

Next, we move to other sections. I push his cart and reach for the products he tells me to. This oddly feels like what friends would be doing. So, I don’t think too much about how he stands next to me whenever there’s a guy nearby or how he only tells me to get things that don’t make me stretch my arm to the moon and flash others.

He’s being considerate.

We’re in the fruit and vegetables section when a voice raises goosebumps on my body.

“Why the fuck are apples so expensive? Do you get them from the black market or something?”

I see Dad’s side profile. Instantly fear grips me.

“What do—” Heath leans over me. I jerk away from him.

He pauses.

“What is it?” he asks as his eyebrows scrunch together and he studies me.

I don’t answer him. Instead, I search for my father.

I spot him a few feet away with his back turned toward us.

I need to go before he sees me.

If he saw Heath with me he’d kill me.

Not thinking clearly, I dash out of there. Going around Heath’s car I sit on the ground with my back leaned against the trunk.

My head fills with his words.

What are you doing here with a boy?

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