“You sound pretty confident, considering the fact that it’s been raining for the last few days. The rain here is horrible, by the way.”
“I won’t argue with that. But it’s going to snow at some point, I promise.”
“If you say so.” She’s about to get out, then changes her mind. Before I can react, she leans over the center console toward me and her lips touch my cheek, just for a moment. It’s so brief thatI almost think I imagined it when she quickly pulls back. But the touch is enough to send small, very unexpected shocks through my body. “Thanks for listening. Good night, Easton.”
I clear my throat, but my voice is still hoarse when I reply. “Sleep well, Birdy.”
This time she actually gets out, closing the door behind her quietly and carefully, not like Beck and Colin, who always slam the door so hard it feels like they’re going to tear the van apart every time.
Rayne’s shadow blends into the darkness, and I wait until she’s walked through the gate before I put the van in gear and drive out of the parking lot.
When I get home, Beck and Colin are in the living room. They’re sitting on the sofa watching some Netflix series I don’t know.
“Where were you?” Beck doesn’t even look up when I enter. He knows it’s me, anyway.
“I took Rayne home,” I say, and my best friend turns to look at me so abruptly that I hear his back crack.
“What?She washere?”
“Who’s Rayne?” Colin only looks up from his phone briefly before he goes back to texting. He’s so clearly distracted that he must be talking to Emma. They’ve been together since high school, but since Emma started college at Stanford, they only get to see each other every few weeks, and they communicate by text because Colin hates talking on the phone. He was the only one of my friends who didn’t make fun of me last year when I spent almost every free minute on my phone texting Birdy.
“Text Girl,” Beck explains, and Colin actually puts his phone down. His pierced eyebrow rises in disbelief.
“The girl who’s been ignoring you for the last six months?”
“She wasn’t ignoring me.” Sighing, I collapse onto the sofa next to Beck.
“Um, yes she was?”
I shake my head. “No, she wasn’t. She’s just been going through a lot,” I reply. I haven’t told Colin or Jax who Birdy really is. The opportunity didn’t come up in the last few days, and it didn’t feel right to tell them. I’m not sure why. Beck only knows because he was the one who recognized her at the record store.
“Text Girl is Rayne Bellamy,” my best friend says promptly, as if he’s reading my mind.
I give him a dirty look, but he just shrugs and grins.So what? They would have found out sooner or later anyway, his eyes seem to say. He’s probably right, but I would have liked to make that decision for myself.
“Rayne Bellamy? What does that have to do with—” Colin breaks off, blinking frantically. “Wait. Rayne Bellamy? As in Liam Bellamy’s daughter?”
“Exactly.” Beck sounds way too excited.
“What the hell was Liam Bellamy’s daughter doing here? And why didn’t I know she was Text Girl?”
I groan. “Because I only found out three days ago.”
“How did you find out? Come on, don’t make me drag it out of you.”
“I didn’t know you were so nosy, Colin,” I say dryly.
“I’m usually not. But you were texting Liam Bellamy’s daughter! I think that deserves some curiosity.”
“Her name is Rayne,” I say, because it bothers me that he’s only talking about her in relation to Liam. She’s more than just his daughter.
“Yes, I know. Pretty name.” Colin waves it off, and I roll my eyes. “Why was she here? How did you meet?”
“Where’s Jax?” I ask, rather than answer his questions.
“Fucking around somewhere. No clue. It doesn’t really matter right now.”
It does. Since things ended between him and Skye, Jax has hardly been home at all. They weren’t even really together—Jax kept saying it was just sex—but now I’m not so sure anymore.
