Page 46 of All the Things We Buried
“You followed me.”
“You knew I would.”
“You going to babysit me all night?” I took another sip. “Or just judge from the sidelines?”
He didn’t answer, but his eyes flicked to the guy standing a little too close behind me. One of Sophie’s friends.
“You know him?” Dorian asked.
“Not really.” I tilted my head. “That a problem?”
He stepped closer.“It will be.”
“Oh, come on. I thought I wasn’t your problem.”
“You’re not,” he said. “But he’s about to be.”
The guy behind me muttered something about “chill out” and “not your girl.” Dorian didn’t even look at him. He looked at me.
Justme.
His eyes dropped to my lips. Then my neck. Then lower.
“You shouldn’t have worn that,” he said.
“Why?” I smiled slowly. “Because it makes you think things you shouldn’t?”
“Because it makesthemthink they can touch you.”
“And you think you’re different?”
“I don’t touch what I can’t have.”
A silence passed. Long enough to crack something between us wide open.
Then I stepped into him, closing that last inch.
“What if I want you to?” I whispered.
His jaw clenched. His hands didn’t move. But his breath hitched.
“I mean it,” he said. “If you keep looking at me like that…”
“You think you’re the only one struggling not to fall?”
His eyes moved to mine.
“I’m not falling,” he said. “I’m already down. I’m just trying not to drag you with me.”
“What if I’ve fallen too?” I asked quietly.
He paused, just for a breath. Then stepped closer like he couldn’t help himself.
“Then we’ll go to hell,” he said.
I smiled.
“If there’s a hell for people like me, you’ll be right there too. Sitting on my lap. Wearing that smile you only show me.”
