“Zayn,” I gasp.
“I need the answer, Pops.” His fingers part me before one digit pushes inside me. He groans as if he’s in pain.
“Glad you know now? Did it help your little issue?” I ask, looking over my shoulder at his pained expression.
“I should bend you over right here and fuck that smart mouth right out of you.”
Fuck, how is it he’s even hotter when he talks to me like that?
“You could. Or you could wait until we’re locked back in your room with no chance of interruptions.”
“Let’s go.” He takes my bag from my hand before lacing his fingers through mine and all but drags me from the room.
I shout a bye to my mom, but I don’t hear her say anything in return. I hate that I feel guilty about leaving my brothers and sister with them, but I can’t help it. I should feel confident that their mother is going to look after them like she should, but I don’t.
Zayn throws my bag in his trunk before holding the passenger door open for me.
“Ah, he can be a gentleman.”
“What’s that saying? Gentleman in the street, freak between the sheets.”
“Oh my God, you’re insufferable.”
“You love it.” He leans in and steals a quick kiss before closing the door on me and jogging around to the driver’s side.
“What do you want for dinner?”
“Uh…” I hesitate, thrown off by his sudden subject change. I really thought he was going to race home and feast on me.
He glances over after backing out of my driveway and I can only assume he can read my thoughts because he says, “Oh, don’t worry, that will happen after.”
“Oookay. So… Chinese?”
“Chinese it is.”
We swing by a takeout place and pick up dinner before Zayn continues driving in the opposite direction to his house.
“Head Point?” I ask when he pulls up into the deserted cliff edge parking lot. “Isn’t this where kids come to hook up?”
“You haven’t been here before?” he asks, pulling a box of noodles from the bag and passing them over to me.
“Do I need to remind you that I live a very different life than the football god and the cheer sluts he usually spends time with?”
“I love that you’re not them. It’s refreshing.”
“So how many of them have you spent time with up here?”
“The team? I don’t swing that way, baby.” He winks, flashing me a wicked smile.
“Nice try. You know that’s not what I meant.”
“A couple,” he mutters before stuffing a load of noodles into his mouth.
“Well, I guess that’s better than the entire squad.”
“Hey,” he mumbles around his dinner. “I’m not that bad.”
“Oh really?”
“Hell yeah,” he says after swallowing. “Savage used to be way worse than me.”
“And look at him now,” I say with a laugh.
“Yep, pussy whipped motherfucker.”
“Is it so bad?” I ask, finally starting to dig in.
“Nah, they all make it look pretty fucking awesome, if I’m honest. I’ve never seen any of them happier.”
“That’s nice. Jake deserves it after everything.”
“They all do. None of them have had it easy.”
“Being a kid is tough, huh?”
“You can say that again.”
“Says the boy in the huge house with all the money and one of the kings of Rosewood High?” I tease, knowing that he has his own issues beneath how his life might look.
“Or the boy who’s been in love with his sister’s best friend for like, forever, and not able to do anything about it?”
I damn near choke on my noodles as his words register.
“I mean, you know what I mean. I wanted a repeat of that kiss for a long time,” he says in a rush, trying to cover up his previous words.
“Right. And here I was thinking you hated me.”
“Never, Pops. I just hated how much of a fucking tease you were. Always at the house wearing short skirts, flashing about everything I couldn’t have.”
“Now I know you’re lying. You never looked at me twice.”
“That’s what you thought.”
Zayn relaxes back, clearly happy that I don’t say anything about his accidental admission, not that I think he really meant it. He turns on the radio and the soft sound of some singer I’ve never heard of fills the small space around us.
“This is nice,” I say, looking out over the horizon where the sun is starting to descend, turning the ocean a gorgeous orange color.
“It’s not just for making out up here, you know.”
“Oh really. I’m disappointed. I was hoping to tick off make-out session with a Rosewood Bear at Head Point off my bucket list.”
“Oh? Well, now when you put it like that, I’m sure something could be arranged.”
22
Zayn
“I like seeing you like this,” I say, watching Poppy where she’s resting back in the passenger seat with her feet up on the dash and a small smile playing on her face.
“What’s this exactly?” she asks, turning to me, a line forming between her brows.
“Relaxed.”
She sighs, looking back out to the ocean. “It doesn’t happen all that often and I already feel guilty about it.”
“Stop,” I say, reaching over the center console and lacing her fingers with mine. “It’s okay to forget it all for a few minutes.”
“But what if Mom doesn’t feed them? What if they stay up too late?”
Reaching over, I lift her from her seat and settle her so she’s straddling my lap.
“I love how much you care, but they’ll be okay. Your mom has cooked, they have food. And if they go to bed too late, does it really matter? They’ll be a bit tired tomorrow and probably have an early night to make up for it.
“They’re good kids, Pops. You’re an amazing sister. It’s okay to have a night off.”
“But—”
I press my lips to hers to cut off her words.
She smiles at me but lifts her hand and tugs my arm down.
“Harley is going to hate me when she finds out I’ve been going behind her back.”
“So tell her.”
“And Jake?”
“Yeah, we can tell him too.”
“You’re serious enough about this to tell Jake and risk the consequences?”
“What’s he really going to do? Try to give me a black eye and a couple of broken ribs? I’ve handled worse, I’m sure I’ll cope.”
Her lips twist as she thinks.
“Talk to me, Pops. Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”
“Can we… can we deal with Preston first?” She wants to say more but slams her lips shut, stopping her from saying it.
“Of course, if that’s what you want. What else?”
“I’m just worried…”
“Worried about…”
“That once all this is over and he’s no longer a threat, that you won’t want me. That this is all just a game.”