I hum in response. His voice is deep, husky, and it brings me back to a time when we snuck off together.
The sun was high when we first slipped past the old barn off Route 23, but the canopy of trees above me and the heavy clouds coming in were making it much darker now. I glanced up every few steps to make sure I could see Remy’s back. His size and white shirt made it fairly easy to track him—until I looked up and he was no longer visible on the trail.
“Remy.” My mouth worked nearly as fast as my heart as it beat against my chest. We’d left school after lunch, just the two of us, so we could head down to the pit for a swim. I had no idea it was going to rain this afternoon, and I didn’t think he did either.
A fat drop of surprisingly cold water landed on my shoulder. “Crap,” I hissed and picked up my pace. “Remy, you better not leave me,” I shouted as more and more drops of rain fell from the sky.
I was tempted to just head back to my bike. I doubted I was going to want to swim when I was already cold from the rain, but I wasn’t going to leave Remy. How could he have gotten so far ahead of me?
A crack of thunder had me ducking my head. Wasn’t there something about not being around trees in a storm? “Remy,” I called again, hating the little bit of insecurity in my voice. The guys didn’t tease me as much about being a girl anymore, not that I ever really let them without teasing them right back, but I still felt the need to prove myself sometimes.
I stayed on the path, even though it was a little overgrown. I’d been here enough to know it would eventually lead to the swimming hole. My steps became a little slower as the ground grew slick with mud. Dad was going to be pissed I ruined another pair of sneakers, but even if I turned back now, they would already be caked with mud, so I might as well see it through.
“Remy, you are such a jerk,” I mumbled as I watched my footing over a downed log.
“What was that?” he asked softly, and I let out a bloodcurdling scream. He poked his head out from behind a tree about ten inches away from me. As soon as I stopped flapping my hands, I rushed toward him so I could kick him in the balls the way he taught me, but I ended up tripping over a tree root and falling instead.
I let out another scream, this one in sheer frustration as I picked myself up. When I looked at the knees of my pants and the palms of my hands, I winced. Hex, why didn’t it hurt until I saw the blood and scrapes?
“Oh shit,” Remy cursed and came out from behind the tree. I shoved him and left a muddy handprint on his white shirt. I hoped it got him in trouble.
“Why do you have to be such a jerk?” I yelled. I was mad at him, but even madder at myself. If I wasn’t trying to get him back for scaring me, I wouldn’t have fallen.
“I didn’t mean for you to fall. Are you okay?” He took my hand gently in his and tried to brush away some of the dirt.
“I’m fine,” I snapped. My knees hurt and I was embarrassed, but I’d live.
Remy was hunched over with my hands close to his face when he looked up at me. The black circles in his eyes were huge, covering up most of the blue. When he licked his bottom lip like he was about to say something, my aggravation shifted to something else. I wanted him to kiss me.
That thought made my stomach hurt. Remy was gorgeous. All the girls at school talked about wanting him to be their boyfriend, even in front of me. They acted like I wasn’t even there, or worse, like I was a boy too, just an ugly one that no one cared about. There had even been a few times when they pretended to be nice to me. I knew it was just because they thought I was their ticket to the guys.
The sound of heavy rain arrived well before the drops. It took a few long seconds for it to filter through the leaves of the trees to make it down to us. Neither of us moved as we got soaked.
After several long moments, a shiver racked my body as I took a deep breath. That seemed to knock Remy out of his trance. I expected him to let my hand go, but instead, he reached for me and shielded me from the rain, tucking me under his arm. “Come on,” he yelled over the heavy downpour.
Hunched under his shoulder, I hurried with him as we made our way over the last few feet of the trail to the clearing where the pit was. The usually calm water looked more like a lake with tiny peaks and waves from the rain.
Remy guided us to the far end where the rocks and hill sloped up, and then he found an alcove just big enough for both of us to squeeze into, well, mostly. His back was still getting wet as he provided a shelter for me.
“How can it be so cold?” My teeth chattered as I held myself as tightly as I could, half to keep warm and half to give him as much room as possible.
Remy looked down, and I noticed how dark his eyes were again. There was something about the way he was looking at me that made me want to fix my hair and make sure my face wasn’t a mess.
“How are your hands?” he asked, and his voice sounded deeper than usual. I flashed my gaze down to my chest where I had them cradled against me.
“Fine,” I muttered. Truth be told, I’d forgotten all about the slight sting.
“Let me have a look,” he said, and I opened my fingers. It felt weird because my hands were between us, pretty much resting on my boobs. Maybe he’d notice I’d started to get them.
There were still some streaks of dirt, but I was able to see the small cuts and scrapes a little better now after the downpour. A rush of warm air fell over my fingers, and I realized Remy just blew on my palm. Something low in my stomach clenched, and I made a strangled sound.
His head shot up, and our eyes locked. “I can kiss it better,” he teased, but his voice didn’t sound like he was joking.
“Uhm,” I managed to say just before he leaned down and kissed the tip of my fingers. The tightening in my stomach happened again, but this time, warmth came with it.
Remy didn’t stop with one kiss. His lips trailed over my palm—he didn’t even try to avoid the scrapes—until he kissed the inside of my wrist.
I felt all loose, like my knees wanted to give out, but I didn’t want him to stop what he was doing, so I forced myself to stand still. “Any up here?” he asked, never taking his lips from my skin as he continued up my arm.
