Page 8 of His Heart

I wanted to say, Promise? But I kept silent.

She went upstairs, stumbling up the first couple of steps. I waited until she was out of sight, then slipped out the door as quietly as I could manage.

Fresh air. The breeze against my face. The evening air felt so cleansing, like it washed away some of the filth I lived in. My cheek stung, heat blooming across my skin, but I didn’t think it would leave a mark. And at least I was out for a while.

I went quickly up the driveway and rounded the corner. Liam leaned against the fence post a few feet away.

“There you are, Bee,” he said. “I thought maybe you changed your mind.”

“No, just… had to deal with my mom.”

He gave me a crooked grin. “No big deal. I have an idea. Let’s go.”

He took my hand and the feel of his fingers twining with mine made my heart jump. We went toward his house and up his driveway, stopping at his pickup truck. My eyes darted to the lights in the upstairs windows of my house as he opened the passenger door for me. I’d get in trouble if I got caught leaving with him.

Screw it. I’d just have to hope I didn’t get caught.

We drove through town, stopping at a burger place to get cheeseburgers and fries to go. Then Liam drove us down a long two-lane road, winding through the desert hills.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked. “I feel like we’re either going out to some secret party spot, or you’re going to murder me and hide the body.”

He laughed. “Neither. There’s just a cool place out here I want to show you. No parties or murders involved.”

Liam turned off the road, his truck kicking up dust. The land went up in a sharp incline before leveling off at the top. He stopped, parking in an open area.

“Come on.” He got out and grabbed the bag of food.

I followed him to the back of the truck. We both climbed in and sat with our backs against the wheel wells. He dug into the bag and handed me a cheeseburger.

“Thanks.”

“Sure,” he said. “Did you look up yet?”

Raising my face to the sky, I gasped. Outside the city and absent the glow of lights, the sky was an enormous swath of black peppered with stars. I’d never seen so many stars in my life.

“Wow,” I said. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah,” he said. “This is probably dumb, but I like to come out here at night. It’s so quiet and you can’t beat the view.”

“This is amazing.” I unwrapped my burger. “So, is this where you bring all your girlfriends?”

“Nah,” he said. “I’ve never brought anyone up here before.”

I met his eyes. “Really?”

“Really,” he said. “Look, I know everyone lumps me in with all the jocks because I do sports. And some of those guys, yeah, they’re all about banging whoever they can. But, I don’t know, that’s just not my thing.”

“I didn’t think so,” I said. “You don’t seem like you’re anything like those guys.”

“Not really,” he said. “A lot of them are my friends, and they’re cool. But I’m just interested in different things.”

“Like what?”

He shrugged. “Books. I like to read and they think that’s weird. And I want to travel. There are all these amazing places in the world and I’m supposed to be content with shooting hoops and eating pizza?”

“Yeah,” I said with a laugh. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” He took a bite of his burger.

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