Page 50 of As Long As You Kiss Me

“Is everything okay?” Jackson asked gently.

She didn’t answer right away. They reached the truck and put the ladder inside. “I’m pretty freaked out about Mason catching us.”

“What do you think he’ll do?”

She climbed into the truck and turned to look at Jackson. “I don’t know. It’s hard to predict what he’s planning next. All I know is it won’t be good. Especially after he was humiliated like that.”

Jackson hadn’t thought of that. He’d just gotten carried away with the fun of pranking him. It had been a long time since he’d stepped into his prankster role, and he’d enjoyed it. But he never intended for it to backfire on Sully. That was the last thing he wanted. He rounded the car to the driver’s side and got inside.

Sully turned to him with a fearful expression. “This all would have been worth it if he hadn’t caught us.”

Jackson had to say something to make this better. He wouldn’t sleep at night, knowing he’d made things harder for her. “He doesn’t know we were planting that spider and mouse.”

“But I’m sure he’ll figure out there’s a noise maker in his tree.” Sully sounded defeated.

Jackson turned the ignition on the truck and put on his seatbelt before pulling out.

“Maybe not. It won’t make noise again until we go back to turn it back on.”

Sully turned to face the window. “I’m not sure I want to go back there.”

“I can go back there and turn on the noisemaker if you want,” Jackson offered.

“No. We should just leave it alone. We’ve done enough. If we get caught again, he’ll retaliate, or even call the police on us.”

“The police aren’t going to do anything,” Jackson said. “There’s no law saying we can’t put a noisemaker in a tree.”

“But we went in his house. Isn’t that trespassing?” Sully pointed out.

“I don’t think it’s trespassing if you’re going to someone’s front door. I don’t think the stairwell counts as the inside of his house. Anyone who would have to deliver food or packages to him would have to go up those stairs to knock on his door.”

“I guess you’re right.” She still sounded dismal.

Somehow, he had to make this right. Because he was falling for this girl, and he wanted to do all he could to keep her safe.

He was supposed to keep his heart guarded, but that didn’t seem to be working. He was too busy watching over her. And he’d had an amazing time joking with her, kissing her, being near her. He longed to spend more time with her, hearing her laugh. Letting her tease him.

That meant one thing. He couldn’t keep hiding something so huge from her. Because he didn’t want this thing to be fake anymore. It had gotten real for him.

He needed to tell Sully the truth about Tyson’s death. If he was getting in this deep, his only option left was to open up to her about what he’d been hiding all along.

And that terrified him.

---