Page 36 of Belong With Me

At my front door, I turn to face him. Noah can’t see us from here.

Despite my good mood, I sober when I think of the night’s events. “I’m really sorry about tonight, Jason.

And all the tickets. I’ll pay for them and help you get your car back.” We can’t see Officer Liu’s house from here since it’s on the other side of the garage, but I still send it a glare.

Jason waves me off, dropping my hand to place both of his on my hips. “Don’t worry about that and stop apologizing. We’ll figure it out.”

He pulls me close to him, and I’m instantly warmed.

I have to tilt my head back to look at him, and I feel the steady beat of his heart against my own chest, reminding me of earlier.

“Thank you for calming me down in the car. You’re always the thing that makes me feel alive yet keeps me grounded. I’m not sure what I’d do without you.”

Jason’s lips brush softly against my cheekbone, causing shivers to run through me. “Funny,” he says, his deep voice right in my ear, “I think the same thing about you.”

Then he kisses me, deep and passionate and possessive.

Butterflies erupt in my stomach as he pulls me impossibly closer to him, and my mind blanks of anything other than him and how he makes me feel.

The kiss is over too soon, and Jason tenderly tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear.

“I’ll call you when I get home,” he says, and part of me wants to stop him from leaving. “Try not to worry.

We’ll sort everything out.”

I nod as he pulls away from me, seemingly just as reluctant as I am.

“Fine,” I say, wrapping my arms around myself because I immediately miss his warmth. “I’m keeping this sweater, though.”

A smile tugs at Jason’s lips. “Of course you are.”

Twelve

“Is it just me or does Brandon seem more obsessed with you than usual?” Nyah asks between bites of her pizza, discreetly nodding to where Brandon sits with his football friends.

He’s already glaring at me, taking aggressive bites of his sandwich without breaking eye contact, chunks of bread and lunch meat flying. This is the first time I’ve seen him since he broke into my house last Wednesday.

He hasn’t been in school most of this week, apparently off at some football camp or university tour or something.

But he’s here today, Friday, and he’s focused on me.

“‘Obsessed’ is putting it lightly,” I tell her, giving Brandon my back even though I can still feel the lasers coming from his eyes.

He tried talking to me this morning, but I was packed up and out the door before the bell even finished ringing.

But here in the cafeteria, I’m fair game. If I wanted to avoid him for real, I should eat outside, but then I’d lose time with Nyah.

I’m not sure why he hasn’t come up to me yet—maybe Nyah acts as a psycho repellent—but if the way he’s looking at me is any indication, I’m not confident it’ll last.

I don’t know what he wants, and I don’t care. After everything he’s done and the way no one believes me, I want nothing to do with him unless it’s figuring out what he’s done with Lily and seeing him hauled off. If that reallywashim who broke into my house and ransacked my room and not just me assuming things because I hate him, he has his phone back now. I have nothing on him anymore, and now I’ll never figure out what happened to Lily.

“Brandon better be looking over here like he wants to take a bite out of Siena and not you, Nyah,” Tyler says as he joins us, dropping into the seat beside her. “Because we all know I’d lose a fight with him in three seconds flat.

Hell, he’d flick my forehead and I’d go through the wall.”

Nyah steals a French fry from his plate. “So, it’s better that he’s contemplating throwing Siena over his shoulder and stalking away with her instead of me?”

He gives her aduhlook. “Weren’t you listening? Jason could take him. I’d try to defend you, babe, but Brandon’s got like a hundred pounds and a few inches on me. He’d stomp me into the asphalt before I got a swing in.”

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