Page 53 of Into the Woods

Again.

That word echoed between us like the clanging of a gong. We hadn’t spoken about that summer, but maybe now we would. Maybe it would give me the closure I finally needed on that part of my life so I could move on for real.

Well, after my life wasn’t in danger anymore.

Also, again.

My life was like a soap opera. Just when things couldn’t get any crazier, the long-lost evil twin surfaced. Then again, my best friend was currently living the life of her long-lost evil twin, so I guessed I could kinda check that box off?

“Becca?” Court’s hands tightened on my shoulders.

Crap, I’d totally spaced out. “What about my family? Will Eric—”

He shook his head. “I doubt he’ll come after them. Your grandparents are too high profile in this city, and your mom is, too, in her own right. You’ll tell him that you had to go finalize some things at PC. Ash will create a paper trail in case anyone looks into it,” Court finished, shoving his phone into his back pocket. His dark brows lifted. “Bags aren’t gonna pack themselves, baby girl.”

I scowled. “Don’t call me that.”

An amused smile drifted across his full lips. “You really want me to stop calling you that?”

“Yes,” I retorted, though I wasn’t entirely sure. He’d started calling me baby girl when I was, well, a baby. He’d known me that long. Then it had been Becca. Now it was still Becca, but he liked to sprinkle in the occasional sweetheart or baby to really fuck with my ovaries.

Court Woods was gorgeous. I knew that. With dark hair that always looked perfectly mussed, a body that would make a Greek god envious, full pouty lips, and a killer jawline, he looked like he’d just stepped out of a fantasy. Like G.I. Joe and Adonis had a baby.

Having him say anything in that rumbly voice of his was cause for an IPE. Instant Panty Explosion. But the reverence and adoration he usually reserved for when he called me Becca… Yeah, that messed with my head. Every wall I’d meticulously built to protect myself went crumbling into dust the second he spoke my name.

And now I’d be staying with him? As in sharing a bathroom and sleeping under the same roof?

“What am I going to tell my mom? My grandparents?” I asked, shaking my head. “No, Court, I can’t just leave.”

“Tell them that you’re going back to the States for a week or two because there was a mix-up with your credits,” he replied with a shrug. “If we need, Ash can—”

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. “Ash can work his magic and un-graduate me.” I glared at him.

He gave me a little smirk. “If you’re tossing around words like un-graduate, you might actually need to head back to PC.”

“So, why don’t I do that then? I can go back to California and hang out with Maddie until this blows over,” I argued.

“Which, again, puts you on another continent. I can’t protect you from that far away,” he reasoned.

“Why do you have to protect me?” I challenged, crossing my arms. In this dress, the small movement pushed my boobs up and out.

And Court one hundred percent noticed.

His focus dipped to my cleavage and lingered for a moment before he lifted his gaze. The stark hunger in it almost had me stepping back.

Or leaning in.

God, he messed with my head like no one else could.

“Truth?” He tilted his head, studying me.

I nodded, my mouth dry as cotton as I stared up at him.

Slowly, like he was afraid I’d spook and bolt, his hands reached for me and settled on my hips. “I’m not going to pretend you and I don’t have shit to wade through, Becca. There’s a lot of stuff you don’t know—”

“Because you never told me,” I cut in, frustrated and still hurt by all the lies and deception that littered our past.

He gave a single nod. “I know, baby. But I think it’s time we fixed that.”

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