They stayed like that for long minutes, foreheads touching, bodies locked together. The stars wheeled overhead as the weight of their pact infiltrated her marrow. Mars hung over the towering wall of the quarry, peering down like a knowing red eye.
When the immensity of the moment finally ebbed, Aubrey untangled herself. Their neighbors kept getting louder, so they bundled into the car with the wadded-up blanket, this time with Nick driving. He swung the car around and flipped on the headlights.
Aubrey lunged for the knob. “No, everyone keeps their lights off here. That’s the rule.”
Too late. The beam swept over their neighbors, illuminating bronze hair and taut male buttocks. The boy threw a hand up while his companion recoiled, a flash of alabaster and blond.
Aubrey twisted the knob, dousing the quarry with darkness again.
“Oops,” Nick said, clearly not sorry at all. But he waited until the tires bit into the graveled service road before flipping on the lights again.
A quarter mile later, Aubrey let go of a snicker. “Was that Gallant Nobel?”
“Looked like it.”
“Who was he with? I could’ve sworn he was dating Gina Abramo when school got out. But her hair’s black.”
Nick shrugged. “Who cares?”
Aubrey turned to the window, exhaling a silver canvas onto the glass and inking a heart with her forefinger. “I’m just curious.”
“You know what I’m curious about?”
She added an “A+N” inside the heart. “What?”
“What your parents are going to think of you deferring for a year. Especially when they find out it’s because of me.”
The warmth gallivanting around inside her faltered. Her father wouldn’t like it. He’d hate it, in fact. He’d pushed her harder than anyone, and he knew what New York meant to her. But hopefully, once she explained... “They’ll come around. But it’s definitely time for you to meet them.”
Nick looked over. “Soon,” he said solemnly. “Soon.”
20.
Nick woke with a pounding headache and a cheery-as-fuck sunbeam assaulting his eyes.
He groaned and sat up, sending a pillow tumbling to the floor. What time was it? Hell, whatdaywas it?
He clutched his head and forced himself to think. Right. Saturday. Float-building day. Which meant he would see Aubrey in a few hours. And he couldn’t be any less prepared. Or any more hungover.
Last night, with Paige sleeping over at Maria’s again, he’d gone out barhopping with Jackson. Which hardly made sense, considering his best friend didn’t drink and Nick didn’t care for it, either. But Jackson had taken one look at him after sparring, said, “Man, this woman has you strung out,” and declared Nick in need of a “recovery” night.
Some fucking recovery.
Now he shut his eyes against the brightness and tried to squeeze the ache from his head with brute force. But the fists pressed to his temples couldn’t expunge the throb. Or the images emblazoned on his mind. For days, he’d thought of nothing but Aubrey and Gallant. Talking. Laughing. Kissing. Probably even having—
A wave of nausea threatened. Nick flung the blanket aside, then stumbled to the bathroom and downed four tablets of ibuprofen dry. Jesus, he hadn’t been this hungover in years.
In desperation, he sucked water straight from the faucet. Tansy was already up, as evidenced by the scent of bacon weighting the air. His stomach simultaneously revolted and whimpered in anticipation.
In the kitchen, Tansy sat at the breakfast table already. “Morning, Sleeping Beauty.”
He grunted and went to the stove. Cream-cheese-scrambled eggs and bacon awaited. Essentially a heart attack on a plate, but it would do miracles for his stomach.
He dropped into the chair opposite her. “Thanks for cooking.”
She chewed, her expression mild. “Thanks for paying Paige’s internship fee.”
“Yeah. No problem.”
