He tilted his head back, meeting my gaze. “I knew what I was doing.”
“You...” My throat thickened as memories rose like a vile, tainted wave. “You took beatings for me. You—”
“Mouse,” he said gently. “I knew what I was doing then and I know what I’m doing now.”
Was he basically telling me that he was now taking a beating for someone else? Without him saying any more, I knew it. I knew the bloody gash on his forehead wasn’t because of something he’d done, but something someone smaller, weaker had done. “Are you a masochist?”
He stared at me a moment and then he laughed—that deep laugh that made me shiver. “That’s a good question.”
“It’s not funny.” I started to pull my arm away, but he held on to my wrist. Our gazes held again, and words bubbled up my throat like champagne. “I don’t like seeing you hurt now any better than I did back then.”
“But I’m not hurt.” His voice was low. “See? You took care of me.”
There was a swelling feeling in my chest again, but this one was different. Sort of like a balloon being filled. “Is that why you came here?”
He didn’t respond immediately. “I don’t know. I think I just missed you. Like not seeing you all this time after...after being around you every day for, hell, for a decade, and then...then I lost you. But now you’re back.” He smoothed his other hand over the top of mine. “It doesn’t seem real. The odds of us ever crossing each other’s path again had to be stacked against us, but here we are.”
Here we are.
“So how long do I have before—what were their names? Carl and Rosa? Yeah, that’s them. How long do I have before they come back?”
“I don’t know. Maybe...maybe an hour or so?” My hands felt incredibly small in his.
That lopsided grin was back. “I doubt they’d be happy to find me here.”
“Why?”
His brows rose. “Maybe I’m wrong. They used to coming home to find some strange guy sitting on their couch?”
I rolled my eyes.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Rider tugged on my hands, and I rose, letting him pull me down to the couch beside him. He leaned back, sliding one arm around my shoulders and tucking me against his side. “Just par for the course with you, huh?”
I didn’t know what to do with my hands since he’d let go of them, so I folded them in my lap. “I’ve never had a...guy here.”
Rider stiffened and then he twisted his neck so he was looking at me.
Did I seriously admit that out loud? Squeezing my eyes shut, I sighed. “I’m just...going to shut up now.”
He chuckled. “Don’t do that. I like listening to you talk.”
With our sides pressed together and his arm around my shoulders, it was like having one foot in the past and one in the present. Being this close now felt totally different than before. If only the TV had been on, I imagined we’d be following in the footsteps of couples all over the world, cuddled up as we were.
Except we weren’t a couple.
I really needed to get that thought out of my head. “You didn’t, um, miss much in class. We have to read examples of...informative speeches.”
“Sounds fun.”
Our gazes met briefly, and I looked away. “Where have you been, Rider?”
Rider was silent as he slid his hand up my arm. His fingers brushed over the bare skin of my shoulder as he curved his hand there. It seemed like such an unconscious move, but tiny bumps formed on my skin, chasing the caress. “Hector and I needed to talk to some people.”
My gaze shifted up to his again. “Does talking involve fists?”
A wry grin formed. “Sometimes.” He reached up, wiggling the knot of hair piled atop my head. “Hector’s brother...he’s young. Jayden’s just fifteen, but sometimes he seems even younger than that. You know, mentally, and he gets himself into some trouble.”
Staring up at him, I was struck again by the fact that some things didn’t change. Or maybe it was some traits in people. “So you’re helping him out of trouble?”
“Trying,” he murmured, resting his head against the back of the cushion. His eyes took on a hooded, lazy quality as he continued to mess with my hair. I had no idea what he was doing. “Anyway, we talked yesterday. Made sure Jayden got his ass to class today. The talking didn’t go as smoothly this evening.”
Oh my God, I wanted to hug him and punch him. “Rider—”
“Did you ever think we’d be sitting here?” he asked.
“You’re changing the subject,” I pointed out.
“I am.” He flashed a quick, impish grin. “But did you?”
“No,” I admitted, swallowing against the sudden lump in my throat. “I never thought...I’d see you again. I hoped that I would.”
“Hoping never really got us anywhere, did it?”
I shook my head. Growing up as we did, we learned real quick to get on a first-name basis with reality. Things like hope and aspirations had seemed like dreams and fantasies.
Rider’s fingers kept moving along the knot and before I knew it, he’d worked the bun loose. My hair fell past my shoulders, a tangled mess of waves. “I like it down,” he said, and the hollows of his cheeks pinked as he dropped his hand. His fingers grazed my upper arm. “Though I kind of miss the orange. Made it easy to pick you out in a crowd.”
“Thanks.”
He laughed. “Ah, I’m lying. Still easy to pick you out. A mile away,” he added, almost as an afterthought.
“Because I’m shorter...than everyone in a crowd,” I replied drily.
His gaze flickered over my face in that strange, concentrated way. “No, not that at all.” Casting his gaze to my hands, his brows lowered. “So how have your first three days at school been?”
Only three days? Felt longer than that. I raised a shoulder. “Okay.”
“That’s not very convincing.”
Lifting my gaze to his, I suddenly thought of Paige. I pulled away, putting space between us. How had I forgotten about her? I’d been caught off guard by Rider’s sudden appearance and the condition he’d been in, but that wasn’t a good enough excuse.
I glanced over at him, a hundred questions rising to the surface. One of them being why he’d come to me instead of Paige in the first place.
My heart started pounding. Part of me didn’t want to bring her up, because if he didn’t, then I could still... What? What could I still do? Even if we never talked about Paige, it didn’t change reality. And his having a girlfriend didn’t change what we were. Which was friends.
I drew in a deep breath. “You...you have a...girlfriend, right?”
“What?” Rider stared at me a moment and then he shook his head. “That kind of came out of nowhere.”
True. I didn’t let that deter me. “It’s...it’s the girl in our speech class.”
Rider stared at me a moment. “You’re talking about Paige. Yeah, we’ve been seeing each other.”
Folding my hands in my lap, I smiled nervously. “That’s...that’s good.”
He looked away, lips pursed. “We’ve known each other for a while. She’s known Hector