Page 54 of Rules

“I can’t do it… not knowing…” She shakes her head once again, a strand of her hair slipping out of her ponytail and brushing against her cheek.

“Brook…”

“I can be your friend, Max. I can be there when you need me. You can come here and study if you want. I’ll even help you if you need me to, but I can’t give you more. I just can’t.”

My hand hitches forward, the need to touch her so strong I have to physically stop myself from reaching out. The ache in my chest is overwhelming. It’s like she’s squeezing my lungs with those small hands of hers, not letting the air pass through.

Brook offers me a small smile, like that will help take away from the harshness of her words.

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but no words come out.

She nods—in understanding? in acceptance? fuck if I know—and starts to turn away, but my hand darts out, stopping her instantly. Her eyes grow wide, like just the thought of me touching her brings her physical pain.

My hand hovers over hers. Not touching. Never touching. Just there.

“Just friends,” I rasp. “If that’s the only thing you can offer, so be it.”

Chapter Eighteen

BROOK

“Will you ever show me what you’re working on?”

“Huh?” I lift my head, startled. I’ve been so lost in what I was doing that it took me a while to register his words.

Pushing a strand of hair I only now realized was in my face, I meet those gray eyes staring at me. A shiver runs through my body like it does every time he’s looking at me, but I ignore it. One side of his lips tilts upward in that knowing half-smile of his, but I pretend like I don’t know what it’s for.

“Your art,” Max repeats. “Will you ever let me see it?”

“You ask that question at least once a day.” I roll my eyes at him. “The answer is always the same.”

After our confrontation weeks ago in this very room, I thought Max would steer clear of me, but like always, he did something completely different than what I expected. The friendship I oh-so-casually offered him, not thinking he’d collect on it? He most definitely has.

The day after our confrontation, when I saw him standing in the doorway, I almost wet my pants in surprise. With wide eyes, I watched him enter the art room, closing the door behind him and getting down to his usual spot. He took out his books and started working on whatever the hell he needed to work on. I stared at him, searching for the right words to say, but when they didn’t come and he stayed silent, I picked up my jaw off the floor and went on with my business. Or tried to at least, because my eyes? They had a will of their own. And every so often they’d sneak a peek his way.

That first day, we didn’t say a word. Or the second. Or the third.

But every day like clockwork, he’d come to the art room and spend first period studying while I was painting.

November turned to December, and the tense silence finally grew into a comfortable one. But then one day the worry marks started to appear on his face, and the silence was finally broken. We had a test in Spanish and he was struggling with the material, so I left my easel and sat down to help him.

“Maybe one of these days you’ll change your mind.” Max shrugs, breaking me out of the memories and bringing me back to the present.

He gets to his feet, hands going in the air as he stretches his body. The hem of his black shirt rises up, revealing his strong stomach and the V leading to his jeans. My eyes zero to the patch of revealed skin, my mouth going dry.

“Or maybe I’ll just have to make you show them to me.”

With my eyes still glued to his stomach, I almost don’t see him stalking closer. It only hits me when he’s so close I can sense his clean, soapy smell with just a dash of cologne filling my personal space.

“W-what do you think you’re doing?” I stutter, my eyes finally lifting from his lower body to his face. Max chuckles lightly.

Dammit, could you be more obvious in your staring, Brook?!

“See something you like, Firecracker?”

I swallow hard. The nickname rolls off his tongue so easily, you’d never guess he hasn’t used it in so long I almost forgot it exists.

Schooling my features, I make sure to give him an even stare. “Fishing for compliments?”

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