Page 59 of The Road to Finding Us

He glares at me, sidestepping around me and continuing on. “Nothing, Lily. Don’t worry about it,” he says, barely audible over the sound of the rain hitting the pavement.

Well, that freaking figures. The one time I’m ready to have a grown-up conversation with Aspen, he bails. At this point, it’s basically the definition of our relationship.

Lily and Aspen: Always teetering around real-life confrontation.

Usually I’d be standing there, waving my white flag, too exhausted to push him on it.

But today? He’s having this conversation with me one way or another.

29

Aspen

Past - Age Twenty-Two

The incessant knocking on the front door doesn’t stop. I wait for Maverick or Veronica to answer the door, but then I remember Maverick saying something about them not being home until late. I sigh, too comfortable in my bed to move. I was in the middle of typing a message out to Lily, wondering what she was doing tonight. It’s been a few weeks since the night we played spin the bottle.

Or…didn’t play spin the bottle.

She’d spent the night in my room, where we explored each other with desperate need. We didn’t go all the way, but it was fucking close. And now, I’m horny all the time, always wishing she was here to help ease the tension.

The two of us sneak little moments with each other when we can, but we have to stick to flirting over text most of the time.

It’s been easier to sneak around together. Selma’s back home with her parents. Maverick and Veronica have been too busy dancing around their feelings for each other—until finally giving in—to pay much attention to me and Lily.

The pounding on the door continues, finally making me shove the blankets off and head toward the door. When I tear the door open, I’m met with a disheveled Lily.

“About damn time,” she pants, swatting a stray piece of hair out of her face. It’s then that her eyes travel from my face, roaming down to my exposed chest. Her dark eyebrows raise. “Did you decide not to put on a shirt today?”

I prop my arm up against the doorframe, smirking at her. “I wasn’t expecting company. Nobody’s home.”

She tauntingly bites her lip. “Nobody’s home?”

“Nope.”

Lily takes a step closer to me. “Are you going to invite me in, then?”

I don’t budge from my spot in the doorway. “When did the lack of an invitation ever stop you?”

“Holy shit, you’re right.” She laughs, fitting her body through the small space around me. She breezes into the living room, not sparing me a second glance.

I close and lock the door behind her then follow her to my bedroom.

When I reach it, I close the door behind us, my back resting against the door as I watch her.

She stops in front of my bed, looking around the room before turning her attention on me. “Truth or dare?” she asks, shrugging off her jacket.

Her words cause my mind to briefly wander back to the time I first felt her lips on mine. If I wasn’t hard just by her presence in my room, I sure as hell am now. “Did I say I wanted to play games?” I shift my weight between my feet, moving away from the doorknob that was digging into my back.

Lily’s hands clutch the bottom of her shirt, pulling it up and over her head in one fluid motion. The only thing underneath is a piece of fabric that apparently counts for a bra. It’s violet, maybe mesh, and completely see-through. I lick my lips, staring at Lily’s peaked nipples.

She runs her hands over the spot where my stare rests. “Truth or dare, Aspen?” Her fingers pinch her nipple, completely distracting me.

Fine, if she wants to play a game, it’s a game she’ll get. I adjust my position, making sure to flex in the process, knowing her obsession with my abs. “Truth.”

She tsks. “Not what I wanted you to choose.”

I rub my palms together, looking up from her hands and making eye contact with her. A smile pulls at my lips. “I know.”

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