“I don’t know, Liv.” His hand grips the top of the steering wheel until his knuckles turn white. “I don’t know,” he utters softly this time, tortured by the words.
“I’ll talk to Jackson today to see if he can spare any deputies.I wouldn’t want to put you through more torture.” I throw the door open as soon as he’s parked outside the county building and slam it shut behind me.
Part of me expects him to stay behind, but the bigger part of me isn’t surprised when I feel him trailing behind me.
I don’t have to look to know he’s there. I can sense him.
I always could.
* * *
13 years ago…
“If you keep walking ten feet behind me, everyone will think you’re following me,” I yell into the air as I walk home from the bus.
“I’m not following you,” Hayes responds, jogging to close the gap. “You left school without me.”
“No, you missed the bus. That’s not the same thing. Besides, you were too busy talking toValerie.”
His charming smile spreads across his face, and I have to look away. It’s like the sun, except if you stare it’ll scramble your good senses.
“She wants me to take her to prom.”
“Her and every other girl in school,” I mumble.
“Jealous?” He wiggles his eyebrows, and I scoff.
“No, I’m not allowed to go to prom until I’m a senior.”Not that anyone asked me to go anyway.
“Don’t worry, it isn’t as cool as everyone makes it seem.”
“You’ve never even been to a school dance.”
“That’s not true. I snuck into homecoming once.” He winksand jumps onto the dilapidated playground that has turned into our hangout spot, lounging at the top of the slide as if it’s his personal hammock.
“How do you do that? Break the rules. Don’t they mean something to you?”
“Most rules don’t mean much to me at all.”
“Why not?”
“Because they don’t matter. At the end of the day, only certain things change the course of your life. Abiding by certain things matters… Keeping people safe, doing what’s right even if it feels wrong. I don’t know, morals mean more than rules.”
“You get in fights all the time. How is that keeping people safe?”
“I don’t hit anyone who doesn’t deserve it, Liv.”
“Did they teach you that in karate?” I tease. I asked him about the sweatshirt he gave me the first day we met, and he told me that he earned a black belt by the time he was fifteen.
He stopped going shortly after that, but refused to tell me why.
“Something like that.” He looks up at the clouds as raindrops scatter down around us.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” Before I can throw my backpack over my shoulder, he slides down the slide and grabs it from me.
“Come to my house for dinner.”
“Oh. Are you sure?” He’s never invited me to his house. But to be fair, I’ve never invited him to mine either.
