Page 131 of Composed
I still, my heart thudding. “What are you thinking?”
She rises to her knees, fingers wrapping gently around my wrist as she cups my cheek.
“Do you trust me?”
“With my life.” My voice is low. “Why?”
Her thumb moves in soft, slow circles, the corner of her mouth quirking. “I’m feeling a little reckless.”
“Reckless?” I echo.
A muscle jumps in my jaw when she kisses it. “Uh-huh.”
I squint. “You been spending too much time with Saint this summer?”
“Almost certainly.”
Then she’s off the bed.
She flings my wardrobe open, her hands moving on autopilot as she flicks through the rail. She tosses a black t-shirt onto the bed, jeans, and a thick black belt. Then, she snags my Blink-182 hoodie off a hanger and drags it over her head the way she has a thousand times before.
“Come on, Rock Star,” she says, grabbing a pair of leggings from her backpack. “Clock’s ticking.”
I pull my clothes on while she scrapes her hair into a ponytail. My gaze never leaves her. She races around my room, and if she hadn’t been with me all morning, I’d wonder if she’d been snorting shit with Saint.
She scoops up our phones, my keys, her purse and crams them all into my pockets, before pushing onto her tiptoes and slamming her lips to mine. Hard, fast, and not nearly long enough before she drops back to her heels.
My chest tightens.
She grins. “Let’s go!”
She laces our fingers together, hauls me out of the house, and into my car.
She punches a postcode into the Satnav, then flips through the CD wallet as I reverse off the drive.
“What are we doing?” I ask, though pretty sure I already know. I’ve been going to Ink Spired tattoo studio for two years now, I’d be able to do this journey with my eyes closed. “Are you pulling a Saint move right now?”
She hums under her breath as she slots her favourite My Chemical Romance CD into the stereo and cranks the volume, then she turns to me with the most beautiful grin.
“Saint gave Theo a ring. I’m going one better,” she says. Her fingers curl over mine on the gearstick. “I’m giving you a piece of me. Forever. No matter where you go, or how far apart we become, I’ll always be with you.”She tugs up her sleeve, revealing bare, pale skin to me. “And you’ll always be with me.”
“Rixie…”
She squeezes my hand. “What do you say, Rock Star?”
I inhale.
We’ve talked about getting inked together for years. But now, sitting here with her hand in mine and her voice too bright, too calm, it doesn’t feel like a promise anymore. It feels like a memory I’ll spend every day reliving…
“Wanna be reckless with me,” she whispers, her eyes glimmering, her cheeks rosy, and I know there isn’t a single part of me that will deny her, “and abandon all your sensibilities?”
Chapter forty-two
Hendrix • Now
Jersey – Mayday Parade
Settlingbackagainsttheheadboard, my phone balances on my knee as I nestle my Yamaha Pacifica in my lap and test the strings once.
