Page 71 of Creatures of Chaos

“We’re no longer friends,” I say, more than half meaning it, but Ensley just snorts another laugh.

“You love me.”

I do, but this is too much. I’m going to kill her for this later.

“Ensley,” I grit out. “I already told you this topic wasn’t open for public discussion.”

Becks looks back and forth between Ensley and me. “You two have been talking about this?”

“Yes,” Ensley says at exactly the same time I say, “No.”

Becks rubs a hand over his face. “I cannot be having this conversation with you,” he says to his sister.

“Me either,” I say, and push back from my seat. Lunch is only half over, and I’ve hardly touched my food, but if I don’t get out of here in the next two seconds my face is going to catch fire.

“Locklyn, wait,” Ensley calls as I head to dump what’s left of my food.

Chair legs scrape against the stone floor behind me as someone gets to their feet. I hear Becks say, “Stay put. You’ve done enough.”

I scurry from the courtyard, feeling like hundreds of eyes are staring at me. A prickle of awareness makes the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and so I know Becks is following me. He catches up to me as soon as I push through the doors that lead back into the hallway. Without saying a word he grabs my hand and pulls me into the first empty room he finds, which happens to be a dimly lit storage closet.

After locking the door behind us, he turns to me with a wince on his face. “I’m sorry about my sister. She has the subtlety of a wrecking ball.”

I can’t help the snort of laugh that comes out of me. “You’d think I’d be used to it by now. We’ve only been friends for a decade.”

Becks barks out a half laugh then shakes his head. “It’s a pity you can’t choose your siblings.”

“Yeah.”

A single low wattage bulb lights the space. We’re surrounded by school supplies and cleaning products—not the most romantic of areas—but as we stare at each other the air starts to charge.

Becks trails his fingers down my bare arm, causing a chaos of sensation to break out inside me. He continues his trek down my arm until he reaches my hand; he takes it in his own and tugs me forward until I’m close enough to rest my hand on his chest and feel his heart thumping beneath my palm. It’s beating just as quickly as my own.

“I didn’t want to have that conversation with her before we’d had a chance to talk,” he says.

“Right, talk. We didn’t really get to do much of that last night.”

A grin spreads over Becks’ face. “You’re right. We didn’t get muchtalkingdone.”

“I meantafter,” I say, ducking my head, but Becks doesn’t let me look away. Stepping even closer, he uses his fingers to tip my head back, forcing me to look up at him.

“I want to be clear with you, Locklyn. You’re too important to me to be anything other than honest with.”

I nod, holding my breath for what he’s going to say next.

“I want to be with you. I have for a long time.”

Hearing those words makes my heart soar. I’ve always dreamed of hearing him say that, but never thought I actually would.

“How long?” I ask, greedy for the details he wasn’t willing to give me the night before.

“Years,” he admits, and I’m completely blown away. How is that possible? How hadn’t I seen it sooner?

“That’s a long time,” I say, not giving up that I’ve been falling for him for just as long.

“I wish I’d acted on it ages ago, but I didn’t know how you felt, and I was always worried about ruining our friendship. I tried to talk myself out of how I was feeling so many times. It would have been so much easier if I didn’t feel this way.”

Even though I can relate to what he’s saying because I have the same fears and concerns, no one wants to hear that someone tried to talk themselves out of liking you, out of wanting to be with you, that part of them wished they didn’t want you the way that they do.

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