Page 52 of When the Stars Fall
“You’re so stubborn, Rebel. So fucking infuriating. How could you be so stupid?”
How dare he? Not like he’d been a saint throughout this whole ten-month stand-off. “You want to talk about stupid? Let’s talk about Ashleigh, Megan, and Kylie. And you... my God, you are the most annoying guy. You have such a hero complex that you feel like you need to rescue me from everything.”
“Oh yeah, much better to let you fall to your death. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I just panicked for a minute, but I would have been fine. I know I can do it.”
“Don’t even think about climbing onto that roof without me.”
“I don’t need you.”
“I don’t need you either.”
“I didn’t even miss you.”
“You never crossed my mind.”
Brody sighed and shook his head. “Oh, here we go. Feels like old times.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Jude said, and the three of us laughed. I wasn’t even sure what we were laughing about but it felt good. It felt like the world was right again.
* * *
After we ate,I rode home with Jude who took us on the scenic route, opting for the quiet back roads instead of the highway, our windows rolled down and the late afternoon sun beating down on the windshield. We weren’t even heading for home. We were on my favorite winding road that took us over hills and valleys, with a view of the meadows and creeks and yucca-covered cliffs, the sky so big, a cloudless blue. And I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this happy. Just being with him again, driving nowhere, the Black Keys’ “Tighten Up” playing from his stereo. It was everything.
I had no idea how I’d lived without this for so long. Without him. Because he’d always been my person. And without him, my life had been so much emptier.
“Did you mean what you said in the letter?” he asked, confirming what I’d suspected. He’d opened the gift and he’d read the letter and had waited until now to ask me about it.
“You weren’t supposed to read it.”
“Then why did you write it? Why did you bring it to my room if you didn’t want me to have it?”
“I did want you to have it but then I changed my mind.” I paused, letting the words sink in, just as if we needed a reminder of what had happened that night. I didn’t think he was so drunk that he’d forgotten it. “When I went back to look for it, it was gone. And you were pretending to be asleep.”
He chuckled. “As soon as you left my room that night, I hid it.”
“You’re a jerk,” I said, but my words had no bite. I didn’t really mean it. Although sometimes he was a jerk and sometimes he was a downright asshole. But nobody is perfect.
“Where’d you go last night?” he asked.
“A party.”
“A party. Did you let anyone kiss you?”
He probably knew exactly where I’d been last night and had gotten a full report. Or maybe Austin told Brody. They were good friends and Brody worked on Austin’s family’s ranch. Let’s chalk it up to mistake number nine hundred and ninety-nine. I’d lost count of all the mistakes I’d made over the past ten months. “Maybe.”
His left hand tightened on the wheel, and his right hand landed on the top of my thigh. “And how was it?”
I looked down at his right hand then at the one on the wheel. There were cuts on his knuckles, the skin red and raw. “What happened to your hands?”
He squeezed my thigh. “Stop avoiding the question.”
“I don’t kiss and tell.” I laughed. I’d just given him a taste of his own medicine. He growled and squeezed my thigh again.
“You’re rock hard, baby,” he said, giving it another squeeze as if to test it out.
“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to say to you?”
