“Like, I don’t know, a sleep disorder?”
“Cut to the chase! What are you getting at?”
“What the fuck do I know! If I’m asking you, it’s because I don’t know! I saw you, I don’t know—” He shook his head and then mumbled, “Okay, forget I said anything.”
I wasn’t fast enough to answer him, and he kicked a stone on the ground then took out his vape pen.
“I gotta go home, I’m gonna get Jasper from camp tomorrow morning.”
“Tell me something,” I said when I saw him lean his back against the car door.
“What.”
“What were you doing handcuffed to Taylor’s bed?”
James gave me a smug sneer then turned on the vape pen and let the smoke that he took in deep breaths of blow out of his white teeth.
“Yeah, I saw the picture.”
“If you only knew, Snow White.”
I wasn’t sure what to do, and hesitated a little bit before walking into the house.
“Why don’t you go in?” he asked me.
“My mom’s back. She has a breathalyzer for a nose. If she finds out I even had a sip of alcohol, she’ll never let me hear the end of it.”
“Tell her to mind her fucking business.”
“Sure, you tell her.”
James got to the front door so fast that I had to push him away.
“No! Are you crazy?”
I burst out laughing, and put both palms into his soft hoodie. He held the vape pen with one hand and pushed back the hair in front of my forehead with the other, forcing me to look him in the eye with that hypnotic gesture. Then he leaned his head. We were so close . . .
“Will seriously likes you. I don’t think he wants to break up with you.”Why do you always have to do this?
“Why are you talking about him now?”
I bit a corner of my lip, regretting what I’d just whispered.
“What should I be talking about?”
I lifted my chin a bit in front of his imposing figure. I barely came up to his shoulders.
“I don’t know. I thought—”
I felt my words crumble in my mouth. I don’t know what was happening to me, but it was hard to think straight.
“What’d you think?” Without taking his eyes off me, James waited.
“That you could trust me?”
“Up until now you’ve never shown me anything to the contrary, James.”
“No, you don’t really trust me, June.”
