“Goddamn it,” I mutter, the acorn rough against my palm as I take a turn.
I call again.
This time, Oakley picks up, sounding wary. “Lawson?”
“You think it didn’t mean anything to me?” I spit out.
His voice echoes throughout my truck’s cab. “What are you—”
“You thought I could be so careless as to cast aside your feelings, as if how you feel isn’t the most important fucking thing to me?”
“Jesus, are you pissed off?”
“Yes, I’m goddamn pissed off. Because apparently you thought I don’t feel a damn thing for you.”
He sucks in a harsh breath. “Do you?”
“Yes, I do.”
There’s a long beat of silence. “Like…”
“Yes, like that. Exactly like that.”
Oakley puffs out a breath rife with both relief and exasperation. “Why the heck didn’t you say something, Law?”
“’Cause I just figured it out! What you meant when you said you’d get hurt. The fact that I want to kiss you, Oak. I can’t stop thinking about it. About your lips on mine.”
“Jesus, Lawson.”
“The fact that, yes, I have feelings,” I go on, my anger still burning hot. “I have a whole fucking lot of them, Oakley Beaumont. I don’t want to dateother people. I already know who and what it is I want. And I’m guessing, based on the way you left, you feel the same.”
“I… I didn’t think…”
“No, you didn’t. You were reacting. ’Cause you were hurt. And I get that. I do. But you don’t get to leave me, Oak. I thought we already covered that.”
He huffs out a breath, the sound mildly amused. “You think you just get to boss me around, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. Because you made me a promise. Remember? You said we’d always be together.”
I roll my thumb over the acorn again, willow branches swaying in my mind’s eye. Bright painted eyes and pixie dust floating on the breeze. My friend’s voice telling mealways, that very promise in the token he gave to me.
My voice is hoarse when I speak. “Which means you’re mine, Oak. You always have been. You’remyperson. And now…”
I don’t finish my sentence, knowing that’s something we need to decide together.
Oakley’s own voice is hushed, barely audible over the sound of my truck on the road. “I’m at my parents’.”
I ease out a breath. “Figured. I’m nearly there.”
“Lawson, I…”
“Tell me when I get there. And then I need you to kiss me, all right, Oak? ’Cause—”
My words cut off when there’s a screech of wheels in front of me. I don’t have time to say a single thing more, barely have time to react, before my world is upended, Oakley’s cry nothing but a distant ringing quickly snuffed out.
Chapter 24
Oakley
