Page 158 of Ominous: Part 1
He licks along my inner thigh, his nose brushing up the hem of my skirt.
I dig my nails into the bark of the tree, my spine arched against it as my belly jumps.
“I like it,” he says, ignoring me. He slides his hands down my thighs, over my knees, his fingers grazing the top of my silver socks. “I like these, too.” He lifts his head, his eyes on mine, his lips parted as his chest heaves, like just being here, at my feet, turns him on, too. “I likeyou.”
“Then why did you—”
He turns his head, biting my other thigh, hard enough a whimper bubbles up my throat, but I bite my lip and swallow it down. I see teeth marks this time when he releases me, saliva glistening in the sun, against my skin. “Because I am an idiot.”
Yes.
“It won’t happen again.”
I don’t believe you.
He pushes his hands down, crumpling my socks in his wake, the air cool on my exposed flesh. His fingertips massage my calves, a weakness in my knees trembling with his touch. “Eden.”
I hold my breath.
“I can’t get enough of you. I can’t stop thinking about you, dreaming about you. I have nightmares where you run away from me, and you never look back.”
Stop.
“None of these shitty things I do… they don’t mean anything to me.”
“But they do to me.” I inject ice in my words even as I feel as if I’m on fire.
He kisses the inside of my knee, then pulls back, sitting on his heel as he slowly glides one sock back up, his fingers drifting over my skin, then the other. He places his hands on his thighs as he looks up at me when he’s done.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
In the distance, I hear a car’s tires crunching over gravel. He doesn’t look over his shoulder, but I know he hears it too, because he sighs, like he didn’t want this to end here, even though he’s already righted my clothes. Maybe he heard the car before me. It’s not impossible. When he’s on his knees below me, it’s hard to pay attention to anything else.
“Forgive me. Don’t hold this against me.”
I think about his phone. I see it, just over his shoulder, face down.Are you only lonely, Eli?The realization I might be the single person on this planet to understand him is staggering. It obliterates thoughts of Luna and him from my mind. It… scares me.
I straighten from the tree as we hear voices from the parking lot, and I see a stroller being unfolded from the back of an SUV.
Slowly, I offer him my hand.
He doesn’t take long to grab it, jerking me forward until he can flip my palm and nuzzle his face against it. The hairs along the back of my arms stand on end, then he’s getting to his feet, yanking me into him, wrapping his arms around my body as I grab his own, peering up into his face.
He tilts his head and kisses me, but I don’t kiss him back.
“I’m sorry,” he says again, pulling away, nudging his nose to mine.
“I know.” He’s as sorry as he could be, I think.
He smiles a little, kissing me again, and this is the softest our lips have ever touched one another, even though I don’t reciprocate, testing my willpower, flexing my restraint.
He groans, but he doesn’t say a word about it. Instead, he asks, “You’re going to stop ignoring me now at school?”
“It was two days.” I squeeze the hard muscles of his arms, my eyes locked on his, my thoughts a million miles away.
“It was torture.” He smiles, but I don’t return it.
I want to say something. Demand he won’t do this anymore.
