Of course.
"What did he say?"
"It's not what he said."She shakes her head, wrapping her arms around herself."It's what I saw in him.There's so much hatred, Nate.I've never seen anything like it before."
"He's trying to prove himself."
"To who?"
"To someone who doesn't give a shit about him."I can’t even say it’s harsh, because it's the truth.
Nora's quiet for a moment, her fingers tracing patterns on the Mustang's paint job.She’s the only person who’s allowed to do that.I watch those fingers, remembering how they feel against my skin, and my mouth goes dry.
"How did things get so fucked up?"
Despite everything, I almost smile.
"Uhh, have you met my family?"
That gets a small laugh out of her, but it doesn't reach her eyes.The sound is hollow, brittle, and it makes something ache deep in my chest.It's not how things got fucked up—it's how they were ever anything but fucked up.
It’s just that she's caught in it too now.
The guilt sits heavy in my throat, bitter and choking.I can't stand the distance between us anymore, the careful space she's keeping.
I move closer, close enough to see the flecks of gold in her green eyes.Close enough to see the way her pulse jumps at her throat when I step into her space.
She doesn't hesitate.
Her arms come up around my neck, and when she kisses me, it's soft, delicate.
Her lips taste like mint and something sweet, and I can feel the tremor in her hands where they grip the back of my neck.She kisses me like I'm air and she's drowning, and fuck, maybe we both are.Maybe we're both going under, and this is just us clinging to each other while we sink.Like she's trying to drown out whatever she saw in Jake's face with the taste of my mouth.
But I can feel the desperation in it, the way she's holding on too tight.
I search her expression when she pulls away, looking for whatever's lurking beneath the surface.Her breathing is uneven, her cheeks flushed, and I want to kiss that worried line between her eyebrows until it disappears.
"We haven't really told anyone about..."She gestures between us, her cheeks flushing pink.
That pulls a real laugh out of me.
“Ollie’s caught me sneaking out of your room twice.Pretty sure the secret’s dead.”
Her hands fly to her face, covering her embarrassment, and something warm spreads through my chest.But then she peeks at me through her fingers, and there's this shy smile hiding there—soft and genuine and completely fucking devastating.
For a second, everything else fades away.
Because when she smiles at me like that, I can actually let myself believe that maybe the world isn't completely fucked.Maybe there's something pure left in it, something good and untainted, and it's right here in front of me with messy hair and oil smudges on her shirt from where I touched her.
She's this perfect contradiction—tough enough to handle my family's bullshit but soft enough to blush when I catch her sneaking glances at me.
Beautiful in a way that’s fucking blinding, like looking directly at the sun.
I pull her hands away from her face, holding them against my chest where my heart's beating too fast.Her fingers are small and warm, and I can feel her pulse fluttering against my thumbs where I'm stroking her wrists.
"If you don't want people to know we?—"
She cuts me off with another kiss, this one softer but no less urgent.
