Chapter 24
Brooke
* * *
“Tell me something no one else knows,” I purred, pressing my face against the hard wall of Ryan’s chest.
We lay in his bed watching the stars through the skylight. I could have been in heaven. Being with him was like being in heaven.
Sally’s words from earlier played in my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about all we’d discussed. When I’d seen Ryan again, I’d even entertained the thought of being with him forever.
It was just in my mind, though. It was just a thought in my mind that I dared not dwell on or unleash. My years of worry couldn’t be eradicated in one afternoon.
“I don’t like teddy bears.” His words broke my thoughts, and I lifted my head to look at him. I laughed because I’d never heard anyone say such a thing before.
“What the hell? What do you have against teddy bears?”
“The face is weird, a distortion of an actual bear.”
I burst out laughing.
“Hey, you asked me, and I told you.” He pretended to pout.
“I never expected you to say that. I was thinking you’d tell me about your secret cigarette addiction.”
He eased himself up unto his elbows and beamed down at me. I lowered myself back down on the stack of fluffy pillows.
“I’m not addicted.”
“So why do you hide it?” I’d seen him smoking three times since I’d been here: the first day I’d arrived in town and two more times in the last few weeks.
Each time, he looked stressed. I assumed the stress was from Aria. The first time had to have been the night he’d reported her missing, and the last two times had to have been because she wasn’t here.
“I wasn’t hiding. I just don’t like smoking.”
“Ryan 101: Ryan smokes when he’s stressed out.”
“Brooke 101: Brooke is very insightful—sometimes too insightful.”
“I’m right?”
“Yeah. You don’t like smoking?”
“It’s sexy, but I don’t want anything to happen to your gorgeous lungs.” I giggled.
“Noted. I’ll find some other way to deal with my issues.” His lips slid into an easy smile. “Okay, since you just grilled me, you have to tell me something no one else knows.”
I thought for a moment, but just a moment. There was one thing that had happened over the last few months that no one else knew.
“I was really happy to leave LA and come here. It felt like an escape.”
“I thought you loved living in LA.” He searched my eyes.
“I do. It’s…okay. My job’s there, and I love that. It’s perhaps the only thing I miss, but coming here was like an escape from life.”
“What did you want to escape?” His eyes flickered with intrest.
I bit the inside of my lip. I hadn’t meant to talk about Craig with him,ever,but I guessed there was no real harm. After all, he’d spoken about Olivia, and I saw how hard that was for him.
