Without another word or glance back, Eloise turns on her heel and storms out of the shop, letting the door slam closed loudly behind her.
Before I have the chance to talk myself out of it, I race after her, my heart thudding so loud it drowns out the sounds of Mac’s protests.I can’t let her leave. If she goes, I’ll never see her again.
“Eloise, wait!”
At my frantic call, she whips her head up, the motion causing strands of pale pink hair to fall forward over her face. She deftly swats it away with one hand while using the other to stabilize a brightly colored bike at her side. Orange, pink, and pale purples cover the metal frame, the hues arranged to resemble a sunset. Beautiful and unique, just like Eloise.
“What do you want?” she demands, startling me out of my thoughts. “If you’re going to try to apologize for him, you can save your breath. I don’t want to hear it.”
She rolls her bike forward, moving like she means to mount it and speed away. Forever.
I can’t have that.
“Wait!” I wrap my hand around the center of the handlebars, desperate to keep her here until I can change her mind. “Just… please. Don’t go. Let me make it up to you.”
She narrows her eyes in suspicion. “Why would you want to do that?”
I rub a hand over my face. “Because…”Because you intrigue me. Because I need to understand that sadness in your eyes. Because something inside me aches for you, and I don’t think it’s ever going to stop.“Because what Mac said in there is fucking disgusting. You didn’t deserve any of it, and I just… I want to make it right.”
“Butwhy?”
I struggle for reasons that don’t includeI’m fucking crazy and fairly certain I’m obsessed with you.“Look, you clearly love the instrument and want to learn. I couldn’t live with myself if I let Mac ruin that for you.Please, just let me make it up to you. I promise you’ll never, ever have to see him again.”
Her eyes soften at the desperate note in my voice. She contemplates my offer for a moment, and then says, “I’m listening…”
I note the way her gaze catches on the lip ring at the corner of my mouth, her pupils expanding. My head fills with a buzzing warmth that makes it hard to concentrate, but I push onward. “How would you feel about free lessons for the next five months? With me instead of Mac, of course.”
I conveniently leave out that I won’t be in Saltbloom at the end of those six months, and also that I have to teach lessons for free as part of my community service. I tell myself it’s because she doesn’t need to know—when in reality, it’s because I’m terrified of her reaction if she were to find out about my sordid past.
“Well? What do you say?”
“You must feelreallybad about what he said.” A small, genuine smile tips the corner of her mouth as she takes in my hopeful expression. “I really won’t have to interact with Mac again?”
“Never. I promise. Fuck, I pinky promise.”
She giggles as I shove my pinky toward her, but I just stand there with a raised brow and a deadly serious expression. “I don’t see what’s so funny. Do you deny the sacred pinky promise?”
Eloise shyly gestures toward my many piercings and tattoo-covered skin. “You just… don’t really seem like the type.”
“Well, I am. Give it here, Eloise.” I lean toward her with a devilish smirk. “Unless you’re scared?”
She scoffs, reaching her hand up and wrapping her pinky with mine. Before she pulls away, I lean forward, keeping eye contact as I press my lips to my thumb.
“What are you doing?” she whispers, her voice slightly hoarse.
“Sealing the deal.” I stare up at her unblinking, daring her to pull away while hoping she doesn’t. “Well?”
Eloise lets out an irritated huff, but I don’t miss the slight tinge of pink that heats the apples of her cheeks. Quick as a heartbeat, she leans in and presses her lips to her thumb, never looking away. Instead of pulling away like I expect her to, Eloise stays frozen, her fragile features morphing into an expression I have no idea what to make of.
From this distance, I notice a spattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheekbones, so light they might as well be invisible. Her eyes are ringed with a thin copper line, drawing out the blue and making them seem impossibly deep. I watch her pupils blow as electricity crackles between us, slowing time and stretching the moment into eternity.
All too soon, it ends. Eloise blinks and pulls away, letting her hand drop to her side and forcing her gaze to the floor. I clear my throat, all too aware of the heat rushing through my veins, filling me with an urgent sense of need.
“So…” She clears her throat, taking her bottom lip between her teeth. “We should probably decide on a day and time.”
My mind is suddenly blank. “For what?”
“The lesson?”
