Page 37 of One Little Lie
Fuzzy visions of me sitting on the floor outside of her room flood my head while my admission becomes clear.
“I’m sorry I hurt you, Verity. I’ll miss you every day for the rest of my life.”
“Desultory,” I grumble under my breath.
“Well, you’ve certainly gotten good at our game, Hatty. Just a sec.” Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as she pulls up Google. “Hmm.” She turns in her seat to stare at me, and my neck gets hot under her perusal. “Without a plan, huh? That was always how we worked best, so yup! I think it works.”
“What do you—”
I’m cut off when she unbuckles and leans over the console.
“Jesus, Rylan. Put your goddamn seatbelt back on.”
“Have you suddenly become a drag racer?”
“What? No, but you never know what other people are doing on the road. Put. On. Your. Seatbelt.” My words are strained until her scent is right under my nose. Involuntarily, my muscles relax as she pushes her lithe body into the side of mine and holds up a camera.
She smiles prettily, but I can’t erase my scowl. I can’t let my guard down. I’ve already lost my dad because I loved her too much. I can’t lose Colton, too.
Rylan jabs me hard in the chest with her thumb, and I feel the warmth radiating in my chest long after she removes her hand.
“We’re going to fix that, you know.”
I peek to my right to find her leaning against her door, with a leg folded up under her, staring straight at me.
“Fix what?”Jesus, Halton. You need to keep her at bay, but you don’t have to be a nut monkey about it.
“Your smile.” She shrugs and faces forward, finally buckling her seatbelt again.
“My smiles not broken, Ver— Rylan, it’s …”What? It’s what, Halton?
“It’s on punishment, just like when we were kids. Except instead of taking your charcoal away for a few days, you’ve taken away everything you love for years.”
“GG and her fucking truth wine,” I mumble under my breath.
“It’s time to let it all go, Hatty. I’m gonna be your sunbeam again.”
I nearly crash the car when I snap my gaze to hers. She winks, and I wonder what the hell else I said while doped up on truth wine.
“Can you put on some music or something?” I feel her smile but can’t return it. Apparently, I haven’t punished myself enough. Now everyone in my life is piling it on, too. This is going to be a special kind of hell. Camping with her? Living with her? Seeing her twenty-four-seven is going to break me. I always considered myself a strong man, but Jesus. This is too much.
A melancholy sound filters through the speakers. Rylan sings along, off-key, and I’m transported back in time to when life was good. My breathing becomes a little less labored with each passing note, and my chest doesn’t feel like a razor’s edge.
This will either send me over the brink of sanity or bring me back from the dark. I wish it could be the latter with every fiber of my soul, but Colton has to come first.I also can’t forget that it was my fight with Dad over Rylan that killed him.That thought alone sends the darkness crashing in like a tsunami.
“What the hell is this music? I always pictured you as a lifelong Taylor Swift fan.”
When she doesn’t answer me, I dare a peek in her direction. Rylan sits with a sad smile on her face, her fingers tapping out the beat on her thigh. Her bare thigh. I swallow hard and tear my gaze away.Did she always wear such short shorts?
Rylan still doesn’t answer, so I’m forced to make eye contact again, and finally, she answers.
“I am forever a Swifty. This is Taylor.”
My brows furrow in confusion. “This is Taylor Swift? Taylor’s music is sunshine and moonbeams. Teenybopper ballads. This is … this is sad.”
The sigh that escapes sends her scent rushing toward me, and I can’t control the full-body shiver it evokes.
“No, this is Taylor. She grew up, Hatty. We all did.”
