Page 162 of Relentless

I’ve no idea how long I’m going to be alone, but I figure I may as well make the most of it. Mav might have humored me a time or two with my childhood movies, but I doubt the others will.

Hitting play on my number one guilty pleasure, I grab one of the dark gray cushions and hug it to my chest.

It doesn’t matter how many times I watch this Aladdin, I might as well be seven again, sitting inside a blanket fort Kristie and I made, with a massive bowl of popcorn between us.

“What on Earth…?” Mav gasps from the other side of my blanket.

Embarrassment floods me and I drop my face into my hands.

He told me he was going to be late tonight. If I thought for even a second that he’d come back and catch me then I never would have set this up.

It’s mortifying.

Beyond mortifying.

I’m still hiding when the flashing from the TV is blocked by his big body.

“Alana?” he breathes, his voice softer than it was when he first found me.

“Can you just go out again and pretend this never happened? Give me ten minutes and I’ll have everything back to normal.”

“Doll,” he warns, shuffling closer.

Tears burn my eyes as my mortification burns hotter. I’m seventeen. Almost an adult. I shouldn’t be doing this. It’s childish and embarrassing and—

“What the hell are you doing?” I gasp when he moves closer still, the heat of his big body burning down the length of mine.

I risk a glance over and watch as he plunges his fingers into the bowl sitting before me and stuffs a massive handful of popcorn into his mouth.

“I’ve never seen this one. How far in is it?” he asks around his mouthful.

“You’re kidding?” I sniffle, trying to discreetly wipe the tears away that are clinging to my lashes, threatening to spill over.

“No. Rewind it, we’ll watch it from the beginning.”

I gape at him in total disbelief.

“B-but… it’s a girl’s movie. A little girl’s movie.”

“Says who? The chick is hot for a cartoon,” he confesses, nodding to the screen.

I stare at his profile, not believing what I’m hearing.

Over the past year, Mav has blown me away time and time again with his kindness and generosity. I hate that he spends money on me. No one ever has before and it makes me all kinds of uncomfortable every time he does it. But his time… I’m obsessed with monopolizing that. Every time he looks at me, talks to me, gives me any kind of attention, all I do is desire more. I’m like a junkie craving my next hit. And given the chance, I’d OD on him any freaking day.

“You gonna start it again, or what?” he asks, finally turning to look at me.

His breath catches when he finds the tears that are refusing to disappear.

“Doll,” he says, reaching out to catch one when it finally falls. “What’s wrong?”

I look up at the blanket that’s covering us before gesturing to the pillows we’re now both lying on like little kids.

“We’re in a blanket fort, Mav. You’re an adult and I’m—” A mess of a human being.

“So fucking what? We can all pretend to be a kid again every now and then.”

“You did not make blanket forts when you were a kid.”

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