Page 92 of Wicked & Wildflower

“And now you’re sitting outside on the front porch?”

“I didn’t know what to do!” I exclaim. “I had to get the fuck out of there.”

“You could’ve gone upstairs.” He’s laughing at me again.

“I panicked. I don’t even have my car keys. I think I threw them.”

I stretch my legs out on the front steps of the house, leaning back on one arm as the other holds my phone against my ear. My first thought when I ran out of the house was to get in my car and go find Everett. I was hoping to see him tonight anyway, but once I was outside, I realized my keys were no longer in my hand. So, I sat down on the porch and called him instead.

There is no reason I should have to suffer through this alone.

Once Everett finally catches his breath, he asks, “Where did you throw your keys?”

“At Leo, I think.”

He begins laughing again.

“I’m hanging up.”

“No, no! Don’t hang up, baby. I’m sorry.”

I snort at him just as my phone dings. I see I have a text message from my sister letting me know I’m clear to come back inside the house. “Darby told me to come inside, but I’m scared.”

He chuckles. “You’ll be fine. At the very least, you’ve got to go get your keys so you can pick up Lou later.”

“I don’t, actually. She’s staying over at her friend’s house all night.” A girl from school named Sofi. I’ve never been a huge fan of sleepovers, but the kids have been begging me for months. Sofi’s parents are kinder to me than most others at Lou’s school, and after letting her spend a handful of afternoons over at their house, I finally gave in.

“All night?” Everett asks.

“Yep,” I hum, gathering up the courage to say what comes next—the whole reason I wanted to call him in the first place, really. “So, I was thinking—”

“Hey, Wildflower, I actually just pulled up to the bar. I’m meeting up with Ryan and Emilio to get a drink tonight. Can I call you later?”

Disappointment slams into my gut. My heart falls, and my stomach plummets to my feet. I swallow, attempting to sound unaffected. “Oh. Yeah. Sure. Have fun.”

“I’ll call you in a bit,” he says again.

“Cool.” I hang up.

Sea breeze, normally comforting and warm, blows across my arms, feeling prickly and cold. A sick feeling settles inside my stomach as I stand and head back inside. I softly open the front door, hoping my sister and Leo have retreated back to their bedroom and I can quietly sneak up to mine. Instead, I find them both standing in front of the staircase giving me awkward smiles.

Leo extends his hand toward me, my keychain hanging from his finger. “I believe these are yours. You hit me in the back of the head with them.”

“Sorry,” I murmur. “When you see a grown-ass man on top of your baby sister, the protective instincts kind of kick in.”

The corner of his mouth tilts up. “The choking was consensual, Dahlia.”

“I didn’t see that.” I shudder at the image it provides. “But thanks for letting me know.”

My sister snickers, though her cheeks are bright with a blush. “I’m sorry. We assumed you’d be going to meet up with Everett after you dropped Lou off, and I guess we thought we’d have the house to ourselves for longer.”

“Well,” I step around them, maintaining a wide berth, “I’m not meeting up with Everett. Sorry about ruining whatever else you two had planned.”I really need to get back to apartment hunting. “I’m going to bed.”

I don’t miss the frown they both give me, but I don’t give them the chance to push as I begin bounding up the stairs. Once I’m inside my room with the door shut behind me, I sigh against it. I hadn’t told Everett about Lou’s sleepover plans earlier because I wasn’t sure I was going to follow through with allowing her to do it, and I didn’t want to disappoint him.

I suppose I don’t have any real reason to be upset with him; he had no idea I’d end up child-free for the evening. But it has been three weeks now since we’ve had any sort of hook-up, over six months since either of us have had sex—not since the night we met in that bar. I guess I expected him to drop everything for me, and there is no reason for me to hold him to that expectation. It just stings when I know I would’ve done it for him.

Not just because of the sex, but because I’ve been dreaming about what it’d feel like to fall asleep in his arms since the day I met him, especially since we began our nightly video calls back in November. I fall asleep to his face nearly every night, and I’ve wanted nothing more than to know what it’d feel like to drift off on his chest, heartbeat steady against my ear.

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