Page 83 of Cold Front
Niall met me halfway.
The kiss wasn’t long, wasn’t deep, but it was enough. Enough to make my heart stutter. Enough to make me wish we weren’t sitting in a rickety Ferris wheel car, and my boyfriend was ready to acknowledge me as his out in the open.
And enough to let me believe, even for just a second, that maybe he’d get there someday.
The ride started moving again, carrying us back down. I leaned back in the seat, letting the conversation slip away. For now.
But as the ground grew closer, unease curled at the edges of my mind, a whisper of something I wasn’t ready to hear.
And later, when everything started to fall apart, I’d think back to this night.
To the way I’d let myself believe.
To how I never saw it coming.
CHAPTER30
NIALL
Music filled the car, Eli’s voice soaring over the sound of Benson Boone’s ‘Beautiful Things’ like he was performing for an audience of thousands instead of just me. He didn’t just sing—hefeltthe song, belting it out with dramatic flourishes, like he was lost in the music.
I should’ve been focusing on the road, but I couldn’t stop glancing over at him. He looked damn good tonight. He always did, but there was something about seeing him like this—face lit up with happiness—that made it feel like a punch to the gut.
His eyes were closed, his hands moving like a conductor leading an orchestra. When the chorus hit, I found myself singing along.
Eli stopped mid-note, whipping his head toward me, his mouth falling open. “Holy shit.”
I huffed a laugh, still humming along.
“You cansing?” He sounded offended that I’d kept this from him.
“It’s not?—”
“No, no, no, that wasn’t just some half-assed mumbling. You wereactuallysinging.” Eli leaned closer, eyes wide with delight. “Damn, Niall, you’ve been holding out on me.”
I shrugged, feeling my face heat. “It’s not a big deal.”
Eli gasped. “Not a big deal?” He threw a hand over his heart. “I’ve been serenading you since we got into the car, putting mysoulinto it, and you’ve just been sitting there, hoarding those golden pipes?”
I rolled my eyes, but my lips twitched. “I wouldn’t call them golden?—”
“Iwould!” Eli smacked my arm. “Sing something else.”
“No.”
“Niall.”
“No.”
He sighed dramatically, flopping back in his seat. “This is a betrayal, just so you know.”
I chuckled, shaking my head, and when I glanced at him again, he was still grinning like I’d just made his whole night. And maybe I had.
Because that was the thing about Eli—he found joy in the smallest things. Like me singing. Like this drive. Like the fact I’d asked him out.
I hadn’t expected his reaction when I did. He’d looked at me like I’d handed him the fuckingmoon.
I hadn’t told him where we were going, only that I wanted to take him somewhere. It hadn’t mattered—Eli had a way of making himself at home anywhere. That was one of the many things I admired about him. He justwas. Unapologetic. Comfortable in his own skin.
