Page 19 of His Brave Girl

“Always.” I wipe my face, and smile. “You’re my best friend, Ruby. And when I get married, I’ll want you to be my maid of honor.”

Her smile is radiant, and the pain I’ve been harboring begins to unlock its tight grip. I may not have made the right choices in my past, but I won’t make that mistake again.

“Hey! Do you want to spend the night at my house tonight? My dad’s out of town. We can stop by the store and buy junk food, and then have a movie marathon.”

Her face beams with excitement, and another shred of the pain retreats. “I’ve never had a sleepover before. Yes! I’d love to.”

I start my car and pull out of the spot, finally feeling like my life is on the right track. Though, I still have a long way to go on this road of redemption.

CHAPTER 15

Kyler

“Dude, what the fuck happened?”

Chase shakes his head, looking out of sorts. “Where is she?”

“She took off with my girl. Now, tell me why the hell she was crying.”

“We were playing spin the bottle, and she landed on me. Next thing I know, she’s kissing the hell out of me. Fuck, Kye.” He shakes his head. “It was so fucking hot. But things went a little too far, and the others started making fun of the poor girl and laughing at her. She ran out before I could get my head out of my ass and do something. I need to go apologize to her.”

I look around the room, livid when I see Cassie’s sidekicks sniggering in the corner. I’m guessing they were the ones who picked on the poor girl. I pin my stare on them, gritting my teeth. When they notice me glaring, their smiles drop. That’s right. They’re done. They won’t be allowed to sit with us anymore. They won’t be invited to anymore parties. And they won’t be getting dates to the prom. We’ll see how they feel, standing off inthe corner, being isolated by their peers, while us guys show up with the ones they called losers.

“I’ll text, Presley. See if it’s okay to stop by her place. But first, you need to get these obnoxious fuckers out of your house.”

He looks at me and nods. “The party is over! Get the fuck out!” His voice blares throughout the room. Everyone stops, looking in our direction, and I tip my chin. They better leave now, or else they’ll be dealing with me come Monday.

Presley answersthe door and narrows right in on Chase.

“You don’t even have to say it, Pres. Where is she? Can I talk to her?”

Presley opens the door wider, and sitting on the couch is a red-eyed Ruby, who doesn’t look happy to see him. He walks right in, going straight to her, and I reach for my girl, pulling her outside.

“Come on, babe. Let’s give them some privacy.”

She looks nervously over her shoulder, but then decides it’s safe to leave her friend. I lead her to the backyard and out to her old treehouse. We used to spend night after night up there reading comics. Hours of laughter under the stars. Some of the best memories of my life were made up in that tree.

“You want to go up?” I ask.

She smiles and starts up the old wooden ladder. I follow up after her, trying not to stumble as I stare at her perfect backside. When I climb inside our old hangout, it’s a much tighter fit than it used to be. We both aren’t scrawny little rugrats anymore. Presley has definitely filled out in all the right places, making my pants a tight fit too.

“I just came out here the other day and cleaned the place up. It was full of cobwebs.” She scoots to the back and unrolls the yoga mat for us to sit on. The place hasn’t changed. The stack of comics is still sitting in the corner. The binoculars we used to spy on the neighbors with are still sitting on the window ledge. And the heart with “BFF” painted in the center is still on the wall.

I trace my finger over it, smiling as the memory of the day she told me I was going to be her best friend forever floods back in. She told me all the ground rules of our friendship.“And that means no trying to kiss me, mister.”

She comes up behind me, resting her chin on my shoulder, and the warmth spreads through me. “Am I allowed to kiss you now?” I tease. I shift around to face her and pull her right into my lap.

“I have a confession to make.” She runs her fingers through my hair, and the sparks ignite under her touch. “I had a crush on you, too.”

“You did?” I smile. “Then how come you never tried to kiss me?”

“Because I thought I’d get cooties if I kissed you.”

I chuckle at her ridiculousness. She was always afraid of cooties.

“You don’t seem afraid now.”

She leans in and brushes her lips across mine. Every touch from her always feels like it’s smoldering. “I’m a brave girl now, Kye. And I’m not afraid of anything when it comes to you.”

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