Page 50 of The Heartbreak Blitz

Nowadays, I cycle through old staples. Or I order out and have it delivered. The decision-making is all mine, but I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or if it’s another example of Dad pulling away from his life.

I polish off a piece of toast with my orange juice and then head upstairs to brush my teeth before taking Dad’s plate into the kitchen and rinsing it off. On the TV, the news is showing footage from a fire in the next town over. “Sandwiches are in the fridge,” I remind him while I grab my bag. “Practice is tonight, so I’ll order you a pizza?”

He grunts in response, so I take that as a yes.

“Bye, Dad,” I tell him, lingering behind his chair. In so many ways, he doesn’t look like the Dad that I remember. Except from the back. His light-brown hair is getting shaggy again. I’ll have to cut it soon. “Love you. See you later.”

I walk toward the door, and I see him turn to face me from the corner of my eye, but I keep walking. He never says it back. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I heard those words from him, but for whatever reason, today it doesn’t sting as much.

I start off for school, grimacing at the front yard again. It’s been a week—two?—since the neighbors asked me to mow, and I still haven’t done it yet. I need to add that to my to-do list because it looks worse now.

I put it right out of my head and keep the smile on my face as I walk to campus. Every day, the air is getting brisker. This morning, my breath makes clouds in front of my face. But once the sun has been out longer, it won’t be as cold.

Turning down the next block, I almost stumble when I spot a vehicle ahead that comes to a stop and reverses before heading in my direction. It’s not her vehicle, that’s for sure. Unless she got a new one… My stomach starts to churn. She hasn’t tried to make contact in years, and I wouldn’t know what to say if she did.

Part of me wants to run back to my house because that’s the last place she would show up, but instead, I straighten my shoulders and keep walking, chin in the air.

The car slows, and I start walking faster. The window rolls down. “Sunshine, what the hell are you doing? Didn’t you see me waving at you?”

“Cade?” I freeze in place, peering over at the car. It’s sleek and black, not new but trendy with a low profile.

The driver’s side door opens, and Cade unfurls himself from the seat like he’s running out of the tunnel before a football game—all swagger with a cocky smile.

My knees go weak when he saunters toward me. “Who else would be following my baby around?” He grabs my hand and maneuvers me with my backside to the car, my feet on the cusp of the curb as he leans in close. “I needed to see you.”

Like a jack-in-the-box, my heart jumps in my chest violently. “But you don’t know where I live.”

“I saw you leave one day, so I knew you were out this way. I just didn’t know exactly where.”

“It could be anywhere,” I stammer. Getting the full force of Cade’s charm is overwhelming on a good day, but when he has his perfect body pressed against mine, my mind blitzes out.

He shrugs. “I guess I’m just good. Or lucky. I’ll take either.”

My brain fries as he lowers his gaze to my lips. He’s going to kiss me. I can feel it in my bones. What scares me most is the way I want him to. Like I need it more than my next breath.

“I needed to do something,” he says softly, then moves forward, his lips covering mine. Slow at first, like he’s letting me get used to the idea, then all bets are off when I start to kiss him back. He groans low in his throat, then nips at my lips before sliding his tongue against mine in a dance of desire.

As embarrassing as it is, I’ve never been kissed like this. The way it makes my heart ache and my core clench is like the perfect opposites. Cade reaches down to grab my ass, and I moan into his mouth. Every time I think he’s going to end it, he returns for another taste, his hand coming up to grip the hair at the nape of my neck. I follow along for the ride, using the crash course he’s giving me to kiss him back. A swoop of my tongue, a shared press of lips while we wrangle our breaths before we do it all over again.

It’s the longest kiss in history. I used to feel bad, thinking I was so far behind than everyone else my age, but this kiss makes up for it. Cade’s gentle but insistent touch. The way his arms grip me. It’s an experience felt with my whole body, from the curling of my toes to the frantic flutters of my heart.

“Goddamn, Sunshine,” he groans against my lips. “I didn’t know what I was missing.”

I swallow, waiting until I can form words. “I think that’s my line.” His breath still fans over my lips, and despite the cold, my cheeks are on fire. “You kiss like you give oral. It’s an adventure.”

He drops his forehead to mine. “What are you trying to do to me? I’m already addicted. I’ll take you to my room right now and we’ll explore every part of each other.”

“Every?”

“I want to know every inch of your body, Charley Heywood. I want to decipher every sigh, every moan. Our perfect language, just for us.”

“I knew it. You really are a Romeo.”

“I swear, I keep time now by the last time you texted. The last time I heard your voice. The last time I saw you.” He leans down to press his lips against mine, encouraging me to open for him. I do, and we lose track of time again, savoring one another.

Finally, he pulls away. “I think my favorite way to tell time now is this. When my lips were last on yours.” The corner of his mouth turns up. “Mmm, it’s been an eternity.”

He shifts forward, and I meet him in the middle, swiping my tongue across his seam until he opens for me. Reaching up, I graze his cheekbones with the pad of my fingers, then trace down his chiseled jawline. “You make me want to forget everything I should be doing today.”

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