“Um. I can really only recall a little. Like us driving in a car...and other stuff,” she weakly says into her food before taking a bite. I don’t like how her gaze keeps flicking to Ryder. Jealousy hangs heavy over me like a thundercloud ready to burst.
Clearing his throat, Ryder tells her, “I used to race in the Fields back home. You would come watch. I found a local racetrack here – Coastal Speedway. I take my car out there most nights. Either that or I’m driving one of Fallon’s new cars. He’s the other guy that was with me today.”
“Did I know him too?”
“A little, but not very well. He went to another school in Highland. The one Elijah went to.”
“Oh.”
Everyone is silent for a few minutes while we eat our pizza.
“How long have you and Elijah been dating?” she asks Julien.
“Going on a few years now. You were actually the first person I talked to about him.”
“I was?”
“You were our biggest cheerleader. I’ll never be able to repay you for everything you did for me and E. You’re truly a great friend, Liz.”
Elijah nods his head in agreement. “Absolutely. I mean, it takes a very special girl to have three guys completely and madly in love with her.”
Liz’s soda sprays out of her mouth before she can catch it with her hand. “I’m sorry. What?”
“You have a big fucking mouth, E,” Julien grumbles at him.
Liz grabs her napkin to wipe the table and spears me with her green gaze. “I thought you said I was your girlfriend?”
“You are.” No one misses my choice of verb tense.
“It’s complicated,” Ryder tries to explain to her. “The way things were between the four us – you, Jay, me, and Jules – it’s a long story that’s best saved for another time.”
“Oh my God. My old life was like a crappy telenovela,” Liz mumbles. “Did we date too?” she asks Ryder.
“No!” I assert a little too loudly. “Just me.”
“Hmm” is her only response. She looks at her phone. “Oh, crap. I didn’t realize how late it was.”
Without another word, I take her plate and glass from her and walk to the kitchen to rinse them before placing them in the sink. I turn and lean back against her countertop, watching her. She looks phenomenal, pink-tipped hair and all. Before, she was tall and slender. Now, her legs and arms are defined with lean muscle. Her hips and ass are rounder, fuller. She has the same gorgeous green eyes, the same full, cupid-bow lips. The same smile. She’s still the same beautiful girl, with just a little more steel added to give her strength. She catches me watching her and cocks her head to the side. What does she see now when she looks at me? Am I still her prince? The boy who climbed through her window? The one who wrote her a hundred stars filled with wishes?
Ryder touches her hand, and for a second, it looks like she’s about to curl her pinky around his. “Elizabeth, would you like to come out this weekend with me to the track? I’m test driving a car for Fallon. I’ll take you for a spin. You used to like that a lot.”
Her eyes light up. Again, I have to tell my jealousy to calm the fuck down.
“That actually sounds like fun. Yes. That would be nice. Thank you.”
He takes out his phone. “What’s your number? I’ll text you.”
“Can I get in on this as well?” Julien asks, taking out his phone.
“I don’t see why not,” she hesitantly replies.
After exchanging numbers with the guys, she warily approaches me. “Do you want my number too?”
“Do you want to give it to me?”
“Do you think I should?”
“God, I’ve missed your sassy mouth.” Her mouth, her touch, her kisses, her laughter. I missed Liz so damn much.
