Page 12 of Not Made to Last

I’ve already decided that I like the girl. I like that she doesn’t bow down to bullshit or worship whatever version of me she’s admitted to knowing. I like that she pushes back, that she doesn’t take shit she doesn’t deserve.

Most of all, though, I like that she’s present.

That she’s here.

With me.

“I’d bail you out,” I murmur, glancing over at her truck. It’s only a few yards away with the parking lights on. Usually, when I come here, I sit in the darkness, the moon and stars my onlysource of light. Of life. I try to peer inside her truck to make sure her kid’s okay. “Is he good in there?” I ask, stepping toward it.

Olivia follows me, saying, “The windows are open, and once he’s out, he’s out. Plus, I left the lights on so if he wakes, he can see us.”

“Are you sure, because?—”

She tugs on my arm, forcing me to stop, and I do, momentarily dazed by her touch. And not in a creepy Edward loves Bella way, but I don’t know. It’s surprising, is all.

I spin to face her, my lips instantly forming a smile when I see her standing there, hands on her hips, nose in the air, like an adorably annoying little brat. “I haven’t forgotten,” she says, and I have no fucking clue what she’s talking about.

I tilt my head, confused. “Forgotten what?”

“That you owe me a truth.”

My shoulders drop.

“Why don’t you want to go home, Rhys?”

I shrug. “There’s a party at my house tonight.”

“Oh, yeah?” she asks, distracted by her phone. She taps it a few times, and when I peek over at the screen, I see that she’s setting an alarm. Great. She can’t wait to get the hell away from me. And me? I can’t seem to get enough of her. Shoving her phone into her back pocket, she asks, “What’s the occasion?”

“There is none.”

“So… who’s hosting it?”

I move toward the basketball hoop I keep in the corner of the parking lot, and with my back turned, answer, “Me, apparently.”

“Rhys!” she gasps. “How does that even happen?”

I shrug, shifting the weights off the base of the hoop before dragging it toward the middle of the lot. The entire time I keep my eyes on the kid in the truck, make sure he doesn’t wake from all the noise I’m making. Olivia was right—he’s out.

She waits in silence as I grab a ball from the same corner and dribble lazily to position. I take a shot. Sink it. Then finally answer, glancing her direction, “I was bored at home. Lonely. Big house, just me, you know? And so, I invited a bunch of people over. They invited a ton of other people, and the next thing you know…” I run a hand over my head as I jog toward the barely bouncing ball to retrieve it. “I was all right for a bit until I remembered that I hate most people there, and I wanted out, so I left.”

“You left?” she almost scoffs, moving beneath the hoop.

She catches the next shot that goes through the net and passes the ball effortlessly back to me.

“Yep,” I tell her after catching her pass. I hold the ball to my hip, adding, “And that’s when you impaled me with that beast of a vehicle.”

Her shoulders sag. “Impalednow?”

I crack a smile. “I’m milking this shit, Cheeks.”

She rolls her eyes, and it’s only slightly cute. “Where are your parents?”

“Colorado,” I’m quick to answer. “My sister goes to college in Boulder. She’s one of those people who is crazy smart but socially awkward, so she needs them more than I do right now.” It’s only half the truth, but it’s all the information I’m willing to give. Anything more might literally send me over the edge.

Of this building.

And in under two seconds, I’d be nothing but mangled flesh and shattered bones, bleeding out onto the concrete.

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