Page 17 of Dare to Fall
“For one night, I just wanted the coolest guy in school to look at me like I was somebody.”
“Coolest fucking guy, huh?” I repeat, my tone thick with disgust.
“You, you jackass. I’m talking aboutyou.”
Oh.
I stand, setting the smores sticks to the side. But before I can draw Gabby into my arms, she shoves at me with both palms.
“Youleftme, Tucker. You joined the fucking Army without telling me. I found out becauseErintold me that you and Reid signed up together with plans to ship out the day after graduation. And I stupidly came to say goodbye, but youwere already driving away. I never heard from you again. You disappeared like a fucking ghost.”
“I was tired,” I admit.
“Oh,youwere tired,” she fires back, her tone mocking.
“I was fucking tired of wanting you so damn much and you never seeing me as more than your friend.”
Gabby shuffles backward as I close in on her, until she’s pressed up against the side of Bertha.
“I was tired of watching you fawn over boys who didn’t deserve the fucking time of day from you when I was right there all along. Don’t you get it, Gabby?”
I press one hand against the RV, gripping her exposed hip like a lifeline. I lock my gaze with hers so she can’t mistake the truth of what I’m about to say. “I’ve been in love with you since I’ve known you, Gabriella. Since we were eleven years old.”
“You have?” she whispers, shock in her eyes.
“I asked you to meet me at the park—at the gazebo where we first met—not because I gave a shit about the prom pictures you so badly wanted—though I’d have taken a million with you if it would’ve made you happy. I went there because I was going to lay it all on the line. I wanted a future with you, Gabby. I wanted to travel together, just like we planned. But I was tired of beingjustyour fucking friend. I wanted more—I wanted itall.”
Chapter Nine
Gabby
Tucker’s confession hits me like a blow to chest.
All this time, I’ve been so wrong about…everything.
I don’t think, I act.
I yank Tucker’s mouth to mine, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him like he’s the oxygen I need to breathe. In many ways, Tucker has always been that to me: more essential than air. I was just too scared to admit it, and now that I have, the flood gates of need have been released.
There is no holding back.
I surrender fully to him, desperate to be as close to him as I can.
Our bodies fuse together as he presses me up against the side of Bertha. I arch into him, pressing my breasts into his hard chest. His hand slides beneath the back of the borrowed hoodie, roughly grazing the bare skin of my lower back.
“Fuck, Gabby.”
In the heated frenzy, the oversized sweatpants slip off my hips, dropping below my knees.
“Naughty, naughty girl,” Tucker says as his palm slides over an ass cheek and squeezes. “No panties?”
“Maybe you should punish me, then,” I say, biting his lower lip and tugging on it as my hand reaches between us. He’s as hard as a fucking rod of steel.Fuck, he’s big. “Yes, this will do nicely, don’t you think?”
“Gabriella,” he says, my name both a chant and a plea.
“Punish me, Tucker.” I reach my hand beneath the waistband of his trekking pants and boxers, circling it around his hard length, stroking. “I’ve been a very naughty girl, Tucker. Take off those fucking pants andpunishme with your cock.”
His eyes go dark with raw, primal desire.
