Page 65 of Escaping Our Reality

The second I see him, leaning against his old truck, parked next to my SUV in the school parking lot, I want to take off in a wild sprint, toss my arms around him, and never let go. But I don’t. These people are watching. It’s not what’s expected of me. I would have too many questions to answer.

I don’t mind answering the questions. Really, I don’t. But I like having something that’s just mine.

And Ry is mine.

As I walk across the asphalt, soaking in the early spring sun, I can feel it. The glare of every single girl who goes to this pretentious-as-hell high school watching the sexy stranger. Silently pleading that he is some secret cousin of mine, meaning he is free for the taking. Holt has visited me at school a few times, and the female classmates who saw him bugged me for days for his phone number and contact information. Now, they’re wondering who this sex pot is.

He’s smiling when I reach him. Grabbing the heavy backpack from my shoulder, he smirks. “What are you about to do, Lulu? I know that look.”

I glance around. I was right. Every single person with a vagina is staring at my man. Hell, even some of the guys are staring too.

Back off bitches, he’s mine.

Snaking my arms around his neck, I pull Ry down for a kiss. He doesn’t need more of an invitation. He thrusts into mymouth, kissing me with passion and fervor, digging his fingers into my waist. We haven’t seen each other in two days. He had a mid-semester exam Wednesday night. And last night I had to attend a country club function with my parents. They needed their token daughter.

Eventually pulling away, he starts laughing. “I knew that would happen. Girls should make you jealous all the time. A man could get used to a welcome like that.”

“What in the world are you talking about?”

He waves his hand around at our distant audience. “You just rolled your eyes at a whole high school of girls, Lulu.”

I pout. “I don’t roll my eyes.”

“Whatever you say.” Folding his arm against the small of my back, he waits for me to unlock my door and then puts my backpack in the back seat. I toss my purse onto the driver’s seat.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?” A split second of horror streaks across my heart. “Is Harlan okay?”

“Harlan’s fine. He let me have the afternoon off. There’s something I want—”

Ry’s rudely interrupted by a member of the distant audience who decided not to stay so distant.

Hudson’s voice is prickly and filled with bitterness. “So, now I see why you canceled on the trip. You’re still seeing this guy, Ella.”

Ry peers around me, seeing Hudson for the first time. He makes a move to place himself between me and Hudson, but not before whispering his words of concern to me. “You canceled the charity trip? Why?”

I shake my head. “No, not that trip. It—”

It doesn’t matter. Hudson once again interrupts. “Our trip to Miami Beach. Spring Break is next week, and we’re supposed to be leaving for Miami tomorrow, but Ella backed out on me.”

Our trip. Hudson’s making it sound like a lover’s getaway and not the large group trip it’s supposed to be. I take a step forward, but Ry doesn’t like it. His fingers twitch out to my side, grazing my thigh, begging me not to leave the sanctuary of his shadow.

So, I don’t.

“Hudson, you know I never really wanted to go on that trip. And I didn’tjustback out, I told you three weeks ago that I wouldn’t be going. You’ll still have twenty other people there to keep you company.”

Half the senior class decided to go to Miami Beach, and the other half to New York City. The trips weren’t scheduled through the school so no chaperones would be needed. Just a big pile of eighteen-year-olds headed off to party by themselves. My father had Addison book my flight to Miami Beach simply because that’s where Hudson was going. His parents paid for a huge rental house. Three weeks ago, I canceled the flight without telling my parents.

“You used to never cancel plans with your friends, Ella.”

I shouldn’t engage him. Really, I shouldn’t. But we all know I end up doing the things I shouldn’t do. Even more so now after meeting Ry. “Hudson, we’re all getting older, living our own lives. That’s no one’s fault. It’s just the way the world works. I don’t wanna go to Miami. So, I’m not. It’s as simple as that.”

“Well, you’d still be going if it weren’t for him. I wouldn’t call that simple. I thought you two were just having a fling. Aren’t you done by now?”

Uh-oh.

Ry’s fist clenches at his side and he takes two steps toward Hudson. “What the fuck did you say?”

There’s no comparison. No fair match. Hudson is my height. In fact, he usually wears lifts in his dress shoes if he knows he’s going to be dancing or posing for pictures with me. He’scute, don’t get me wrong. And most girls in school would line up to date him, but he’s always made it pretty clear that he was holding out for me. Waiting on me to jump from the ‘friend zone’ into the ‘relationship zone’.

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