Page 135 of Collide
I shake my head. “I can walk.”
“I know you can.” He lifts me anyway. I make a squeaky sound that isn’t much of a protest as I anchor my arms around his neck. His tight hold is warm, coaxing me to lay my head on his chest and breathe in his clean scent. The truck flashes when he unlocks it, and it feels criminal to leave his warm cocoon.
“I missed you,” I whisper.
He plants a kiss in my hair. “Missed you too, baby.”
46 | AIDEN
DRIVING MY DRUNK girlfriend, her roommate, and some random dude home at two in the morning is not my usual post-game routine. Amara and her date jump out, and Summer sleeps soundly in my passenger seat.
I touch her cheek to nudge her awake, but she swats it away and burrows further into the seat. “Summer, wake up.”
She mumbles something again, most likely a threat.
“If you want to sleep in my truck, I’m all for it, but we’ll have to move to the backseat. I’ll keep you warm back there.”
Summer blinks herself awake. “Do you enjoy irritating me?”
I chuckle, retrieving a water bottle from my glove compartment. She takes it, downing the entire thing.
“Why did you wake me? My dreams are so much better than reality, full of little fairies braiding my hair.”
“I could braid your hair.”
She stares blankly. “You don’t know how to.”
“I’ll learn,” I say. Summer smiles, rests her head against the seat, and her eyes flutter shut again. I can’t shake the notion she’s hiding something. “Why are your dreams better than reality?”
She shrugs.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I want to sleep.” Summer tries opening the passenger door and groans when it doesn’t budge. “If you’re trying to kidnap me, I have two thumbs and I’m not afraid to use them.”
“Stay at my place.”
“Why? So you can hold me in your stupidly large arms and coax everything out of me? I’m not falling for your tricks, Clifford.” She points a finger at me, eyes narrowed to the point that they’re basically closed.
The name change tells me she’s more drunk than Amara let on. “You can come with me, or I’m staying with you.”
“Nope. That’s a bad, bad idea. Sober Summer is screaming at me right now.”
“Tell her not to, or she’ll wake up with one hell of a hangover.”
She groans in frustration. “Stop making sense! Just let me sulk in my dorm.”
“Sulk with me. No questions asked,” I lie. I need to know why she wants to sulk and why keeping it from me is so important to her. “Please?”
She shakes her head more vigorously. “Don’t give me those eyes.”
I hold back a smile. “What eyes, baby?”
“Those! All green and innocent looking. You can’t fool me, buddy.” She closes her eyes, trying to stay firm.
“Summer, you can barely stand, and Amara’s up there with her date. Let me take care of you.”
Her eyes fly open, and I’m sure she’s about to argue, but she pauses instead. “You want to take care of me?”
