Page 42 of You Found Me in the Dark
I gave a half-shrug, trying to play it off. “A little.”
She pulled the hoodie over her head, the hem swallowing her thighs, sleeves past her hands. When her face popped through the collar, her hair was tousled, eyes shining. She looked like trouble wrapped in comfort.
She glanced down at the design, fingers brushing the embroidered sun and moon on her chest. “This yours?”
“Yeah.”
“Figures,” she said, tugging the sleeves over her hands. “Even your hoodies are poetic.”
I swallowed. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“I’m not. And it smells like you,” she replied, and that look she gave me? Like she was daring me to do something about it.
I leaned in just a little, elbow on the center console, close enough to count the freckles across her cheekbones. “You trying to get me in trouble, pretty girl?”
Her gaze dropped to my mouth for half a second. “Maybe.”
I should’ve kissed her right there and then. I think we both knew it. Her knees were turned toward me, her breath shallow, chest rising slowly beneath my hoodie. Instead, I reached out and tugged her left sleeve higher up her arm, fingers grazing her wrist.
“You warm enough now?” I asked, voice low.
She nodded, but didn’t move. “Yeah. But I might still keep this.”
I smirked. “It looks better on you.”
She bit her lip, like she was holding something back, then opened the door slowly. “Thanks for today, Reed. For… everything.”
I cleared my throat. “Anytime.”
She stepped out, then leaned back in, hands still wrapped in the sleeves, her voice quieter now. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this good and this wrecked at the same time.”
And before I could respond, she closed the door and walked up to her door, one hand pulling the hoodie tighter around her. I watched until she disappeared behind the door.
My fingers still buzzed. My chest ached as if I’d held my breath the entire ride. She’d said she felt wrecked. She had no idea. Because I was already ruined.
I backed my truck out of the driveway, only to notice a familiar car parked on the street in front of their house. Fuck, it was Harper’s. She hadn’t gotten out yet, just sat there with the headlights off. I cursed under my breath, jaw tightening. The last thing I needed was Harper catching sight of Wren in my hoodie with messy hair and flushed cheeks. It would look like we did a lot more than we had.
I drove slowly and tossed another glance toward Harper’s car again. Hopefully, she hadn’t seen anything.
27
WREN
Ididn’t realize how quiet the world was until Reed’s truck pulled away. The hoodie he’d tossed over my shoulders was oversized and smelled like him—clean, woodsy, with that faint trace of cologne he swore he didn’t wear. I didn’t want to ever take it off.
The house was calm when I walked in. Cam’s door was closed, probably passed out early from another late-night gaming marathon, or he was just hiding from the world in his usual way. I made a beeline for the couch, curled up with my sketchbook, and continued the sketch of cosmos I had started weeks earlier. It was starting to come together. I started to lose myself in the art. I began to imagine how the flowers would look painted.
Then—
A knock at the door. I assumed it was Harper. No one else came by unannounced. I got up to go answer the door, but I had forgotten she had a key.
By the time I registered that I was still in Reed’s hoodie, it was too late. She stepped inside like a whirlwind—iced coffees in onehand, a bag of chips tucked under her arm, her bright pink hair knotted on top of her head like a crown of chaos. I stood up and walked towards her to make sure she didn’t drop anything.
Her eyes locked onto me instantly.
“Okay, you’ve got exactly five seconds to explain why you’re wearing that,” she said, narrowing her gaze and nodding toward the hoodie.
I blinked, panic flaring. I turned and made a quick exit back to the living room. “What?”
