Page 97 of Finding Storm

“To cut a long story short, when Jonny died, for a long time, no one knew why he had been out in his car that night. He was high—Jonny had a serious drug problem. A lot of people thought he’d committed suicide, driving his car into that ravine. Turns out, he was driving to the airport to come see me. He’d found out that night that I existed. Jake, Tom, and Denny—my dad’s best friends—they never knew about me or what happened that night. They found out about me eleven years ago. Found out the truth about Jonny’s last moments the day of my mom’s funeral.”

“You lost your mom?” she whispers. “I’m so sorry.”

I shrug. Because it’s all I can ever do when my mom comes up. “It’s okay. It was a long time ago.” Another pull on my cigarette. I blow out the smoke. “They never told me the truth. I found out yesterday morning. That journalist I assaulted, he told me. I went and confronted them. Said … some shit.” Some awful shit. “Walked out, got in my car, and started driving.”

“Pulled up at a gas station, put the wrong fuel in your car, and here we are.”

I rest my chin against my shoulder, staring at her. “Yep. Here we are.”

I hold her eyes. I feel the exact moment the air changes. Everything seems heightened. The scent of her perfume. The way her hair blows gently in the breeze. The flush in her cheeks, spreading down her neck, across her beautiful chest. The heat that suffuses her eyes.

Fuck, I want her. More than I’ve ever wanted anything.

A car horn beeps down the street, killing the moment.

She looks away.

And I want to go punch whoever hit their car horn.

I take a final pull on my cigarette and put it out against the wall. I stuff the butt back in the packet, next to the other butt I just had before she came out here.

“Um … that’s you disposing of your cigarette butt responsibly?”

I grin, unable not to. I get off on her giving me shit. Sick fucker that I am. “Yeah …” I say slowly.

“Dude.” She frowns, her brows puckering. “That’s not even close to disposing of it responsibly.”

“Is this the point where I’m supposed to say sorry?”

I’m still grinning because this is what she does to me. She makes me happy as fuck.

She huffs, a little puff of air escaping between her lips. “No. It’s fine. The marine life will forgive you this one time.” I don’t tell her it’s not just this one time. “And I owe you a free pass anyway because you didn’t give me shit for reading the news story about you when you should’ve.”

I give her a look. “Stevie, I told you, it’s not an issue.”

“It is an issue. I shouldn’t have done it. Also … I have another confession while we’re at it.” She bites the corner of her lip. “I was gonna go along with the lie. About your name. I wasn’t going to tell you that I knew who you were. I figured you hadn’t told me for a reason, and that was because you wanted your privacy. So, I was going to give that to you. I’m sorry Pen messed it up. Next time, I’ll gag her.”

I’m just staring at her, wondering where the hell she came from and how I had the damn good fucking luck to meet her.

She thinks that’s bad. That’s about one of the nicest things anyone could have done for me.

“Where have you been all my life?” The words are out before I can stop them.

She looks surprised. Her eyes drop down to her feet.

I’ve embarrassed her. Probably scared the shit out of her.

Fuck.

I’ve known this girl a day, and I go and say something stupidly fucking forward like that.

But in truth, it feels like I’ve known her forever.

And what I just said feels an awful lot like the truth.

I’m stumbling over words in my brain, figuring out how to take it back, knowing that I don’t want to. “Stevie, I—”

“Right here,” she says softly, her eyes lifting back to mine. “I’ve been right here.” She smiles.