Page 9 of You Found Me in the Dark
Reed leaned forward, forearms braced on his knees, water bottle hanging from one hand. He acted as if he wasn’t watching me, but I knew he was.
Every so often, I’d catch him glancing at me. Not long enough for Cam to notice, which was shocking because neither of us was being subtle. Just these brief, exacting checks, like he needed to look just to be sure I was still here. Every time our eyes met, it pulled something tight in my chest.
I told myself to breathe, to focus on the sketchbook, or anything except the way Reed’s voice dropped just a little when he spoke around Cam. Or how he shifted slightly in his seat, angling toward me instead of away. Or how, when Cam got up to grab something out of the kitchen, Reed’s eyes met mine instantly like the space between us snapped taut without a third person in the room.
I took the first sip of my tea and hoped Reed couldn’t see how hard I was trying not to look back. But God, he was making it hard.
His knee bounced. His hand flexed around the water bottle, causing it to make a distracting crinkling noise. He ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek like he was chewing back every word he couldn’t say.
“You’re doing art again? It has been years since I’ve seen you touch a sketchbook. When did you start again?” he asked, barely above a whisper.
I looked up, absolutely floored. I can’t believe he even noticed. I didn’t answer. Just took another sip of my lukewarm tea andreadjusted my legs, so now my feet were touching the floor. I was worried that if I said anything now, my voice might betray me.
He leaned back slightly, stretching one arm across the back of the couch. I am pretty sure he knew I wasn’t going to answer the question before he asked it. Cam’s footsteps echoed across the hall, and Reed dropped his arm a second before he walked back in.
The tension snapped, but it didn’t disappear.
“Reed, can you grab me a beer from the garage?” Cam said, popping a chip into his mouth returning to his video game.
“Dude, you were just up.” Reed rolled his eyes and stood. He looked directly at me with a smirk on his face as he made his way down the short hallway to the foyer and into the garage.
I stared at the sketchbook like it was the most important thing in the room, but I could feel my cheeks heat up from his attention.
Everything was too much. And the worst part? There was nothing to justify the feeling. This time, there was no kiss, no touch, and no healing words. It was all just stolen glances. Even in those small glances, I swear, the way he looked at me when all I craved was his hands on my skin, his mouth on my neck, and the weight of him finally giving in was the riskiest part of all.
8
REED
The fridge hummed quietly in the corner of the cluttered garage. In the center of the space sat an old Honda Civic, waiting patiently for Cam to get around to fixing it. Since it was Saturday, the car would probably sit untouched until at least Monday. This garage doubled as a home workshop for Cameron, the town’s favorite mechanic. He proudly referred to it as his garage, though it was a mix of workspace and storage overflow.
A built-in lift took up the majority of the garage, and it was surrounded by tools scattered across benches and the concrete floor. Along one wall stood a tall metal storage rack filled with plastic totes marked for every holiday. That part had Wren written all over it. She was the one who insisted on buying the decorations and keeping them organized. An old fridge, a few rusted bikes, and a lingering scent of oil and gasoline completed the space. It was chaotic but familiar, a little piece of Cam’s world that felt lived-in and real.
I stalked toward the far corner of the garage where therefrigerator was and yanked the door open. I grabbed a cold beer and just… stood there.
I needed the second.
I’m not sure I could go back inside because Wren was looking at me like she felt it too. It felt like every glance we’d stolen tonight was building into something neither of us could name out loud. If Cam noticed or if he so much as sensed what I was thinking, he would without a doubt beat the shit out of me. Or worse, he’d never look at me the same.
She was off-limits. She was Cam’s little sister and the one girl I should’ve never looked at twice. But fuck, since I kissed her on her birthday six years ago, it felt like looking was all I was ever doing.
It was every second she walked into a room. Every bite of sarcasm she threw was like armor. Every flicker of sadness she tried to bury beneath her favorite hoodie that she always wore like a shield. And now… now I couldn’t unsee any of it. Couldn’t stop the way I wanted to pull her into me and promise her she didn’t have to carry any of this shit alone.
I ran a hand down my face and let the bottle chill my palm.
Just get back in there. Give Cam beer. Play it cool. Don’t look at her the way you did before. But I already knew I would.
I shut the fridge door and walked back in.
The room looked the same, but something in it had changed. Cam was still on the couch, controller in hand, shouting something obscene at the screen. The armchair was empty, and the tea on the table had disappeared along with the sketchbook. She was gone.
And that low burn I’d been trying to hold at bay? It twisted into something darker, like hunger and frustration had knotted together in my chest.
Why did she leave?
As I took my place back on the couch, I handed the beer to Cam without looking at him. My eyes were busy scanning the space, like I was missing something obvious. Maybe she’d just slipped into the kitchen or gone to the bathroom.
Just like that, I was colder than the bottle I’d just let go of. The second she wasn’t in the room, it was like the air didn’t move right.
