Page 36 of Escaping Our Reality

“We had a little system. Janine wouldn’t teach us both something at the same time. She’d teach Carrie and then Carrie would have to teach me. She wanted us to always rely on one another. Lord knows, we can’t rely on our parents for anything. Except money.

“Carrie taught me how to read, how to ride a bike, how to do a cartwheel. She showed me how to vacuum and do laundry and iron. She helped me with my homework and taught me how to cook. How to plants flowers and mow the grass.”

I glance up at him and I’m surprised when I catch him staring at me, so intently. I shift my body, sitting up, and swinging my legs around to his lap so I can look at his face while I talk. Look into his pale green eyes. I can tell that he likes it when I look into his eyes. He repositions the blanket over us and holds my legs against his body, rubbing my shins as I talk. The touch of his skin burns through the fabric of my black leggings.

“Push mowing,” I explain. “Not doing the riding lawn mower. My first time, I ran over a piece of metal. It flung out and hit her in the arm. She had to have ten stitches. I’m lucky it didn’t poke her eye out or stab her in the head.” I smile. “Janine took us out for pizza and ice cream after that.”

I sigh. There are too many important memories to pluck from the air and pinpoint. Each and every one is special in its own place and time.

“She made friends so easily when we were growing up. She’s so outgoing. Like almost annoyingly outgoing. And she always had a boyfriend. She’d refused to date anyone who wouldn’t let me tag along. She knew I didn’t really have friends. Why did I need friends when I had her?

“She met Caleb during her freshman year of college, and he became part of my and Carrie’s everyday family. They are just meant for each other, you know? But he found out about the drug use and just couldn’t handle it. He tried to stop her. He broke up with her when he found out she was pushing. She wouldn’t talk to me about the breakup. She’s never done that before. She talks to me about everything. I should’ve pressed more. I should’ve gotten to the bottom of it.”

“You can’t play the ‘should’ve game’, Lulu. It’s a roulette wheel.”

“I know. I wasn’t even here when she went missing. I was on a cruise with my Uncle Ray, Aunt Teresa, and cousin, Holt. I wasn’t supposed to go. Uncle Ray had bought it as asurprise Christmas present, but my older cousin, Raylee, was awarded a really prestigious summer internship at a company in Washington, DC. She’s a year older than Carrie and is a senior at Florida State University. She couldn’t pass up that opportunity. So, they had one extra ticket. I’m closer in age to Holt, so they thought he and I would have more fun together. He’s a junior in high school this year.”

I suck my bottom lip through my teeth. “She went missing Fourth of July weekend. She just turned twenty at the end of June. I was in the middle of the Caribbean when my sister disappeared. We didn’t make it home until two days after the police report was filed. My sister was most likely fighting for her life and I was snorkeling on a coral reef. How do I live with that, Ry?”

He plants both hands on the side of my face. How can one’s heart stop beating and race at the exact same time? I don’t know, but that’s what Ry does to mine. His hands lower from my face and run down my shoulders and arms until his fingers fold around my wrists. Lifting my hands, he wraps my arms around the back of his neck.

He doesn’t have to tell me twice.

I pull him into my arms and snake my fingers through his hair, rubbing against the fuzzy new growth that’s grown on his neck since his last haircut.

His gaze drifts to my mouth. The heat from his stare has me opening my lips and running my tongue across them, simply trying to cool down. It’s a job that he obviously wants to do. His tongue flickers out and dances across my upper lip. Teasing me, he slides his tongue into my parted mouth, but retreats the second my own rises to meet his.

My panted breath creates an audible rhythm between our bodies. I’m growing impatient, and I force his neck down, begging for his face to come closer to mine. He pulls back, tskingme with a click of his tongue. Instead of kissing me, he just watches me. Mere centimeters from my face, he watches me. His pupils dilate with desire, driving me absolutely mad.

Just when I think I’m about to explode, he leans forward and sucks my bottom lip between his teeth. The second I moan into the night air, he consumes me.

I can’t imagine there is another human on the face of this planet who kisses like Ryland Joseph Crutchfield. He kisses me like his whole purpose for living is to make me happy. To make me feel wanted. To make me feel desirable.

He kisses slow. He kisses fast. He kisses sloppy. He kisses neatly. His kisses aren’t just an event occurring at this one precise moment. They’re a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional, quantum leap across time and space. A full-fledged saga.

His kisses are a saga.

His tongue tangles with mine, pooling heat and fire in every fiber of my being. Each time I’m about to suffocate with my own need to pull him closer, he shifts his face, covering my jaw, neck, and earlobe with the same lavished attention. But he always comes back.

Always comes back to my mouth. To my lips. To my tongue.

I pray he always comes back.

To me.

Chapter 16

CRUTCH

One week.

I’ve known Luella Margaret Hill for exactly one week today. I’ve kissed Luella Margaret Hill three times. And I’ve wanted to kiss Luella Margaret Hill three-thousand times.

I didn’t see her on Wednesday or Thursday, and I was moping around like a love-sick puppy. Neutered and pitiful, I couldn’t even think straight.

She called me at the garage to say she had a student council meeting on Wednesday night and dinner with Detective Marcum and his wife on Thursday night. She asked if I wanted her to come to the homestead Friday night—tonight. I nearly jumped through the damn phone I was so excited.

But there are so many things wrong with this picture. It’s like looking at a portrait of the Mona Lisa, only she’s wearing a tube top and smoking from a bong.

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