Page 69 of Rebellious

“Okay,” she had said, her eyes focused on the black ink. “Friends. I can do that.”

Then she turned, her eyes hurt, grabbing Parker by the arm. “Give me a ride home?”

Of course he didn’t decline, and I spent the next thirty seconds staying calm.Okay, fine, I chased her and Parker to the car and snatched her out, dragging her into mine.

“That was the first time you took back a rule,” Aspen says, bringing me back with a splash of water to my chest.

“It was made in haste,” I concede.

I remember standing outside my car, pouring my sports drink onto her arm and scrubbing as hard as I could. I never wanted to see that rule again.

Aspen laughs. “So how did your irrational rule end up with you getting sunburned?”

I shrug but she doesn’t see. “I fell asleep by the pool,” I tell her.

She turns her head to the side. “Because you didn’t sleep that night?”

“Yes.”

“Because I didn’t come through your window?”

I swallow. “Yes.” Her not crawling through my window was a punishment I couldn’t bear.

“I was still mad,” she whispers.

I nod. “I deserved it.” But that didn’t change the fact that, without her, I was miserable.

This time, she turns her body around, sloshing water outside the tub. Her hands go to the water, bringing it to my chest. “You did what you thought you needed to.”

I press a tea bag to her chest. It’s easier to see with her facing me. “I was wrong.”

She nods, her eyes downcast. “It didn’t matter, though.”

No, it didn’t because neither of us ever dated anyone. And it wasn’t because of a rule.

Salmon kisses are not optional

Bennett

“Icould eat a whole cow right now.”

My brows arch.

“Don’t look at me all judgy, BJ. Swimming makes people hungry.”

I chuckle. “But you didn’t swim.”

Aspen levels me with a look. “I exercised in other ways.”

Tension coils deep in my gut as I think of her dropping to her knees in the bathroom as I came down her throat.

“I say we grab something to eat.” She shuts the refrigerator. “And then maybe we can stop by the grocery store since, clearly, Fenn and Drew won’t be going.”

She points to the sofa where Fenn is passed out. “You think we should wake them? They might wake up with a kink in their neck.”

My gaze travels to the living room where my brother is sitting on the floor, his head folded over the coffee table, sound asleep. “Nah, let ‘em sleep.” And wake up with a kink.

“I’ll get the keys.” She grins, brushing past me, snagging the keys off the table and slipping on the flip-flops she left at the door.

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