“Or done none of the above,” she retorted as she quickly checked what she was wearing. As she suspected, it was once again her pajamas. Probably for the best. No sense looking cute for a heartbreaking liar. “You can’t just ditch me and then expect to James Bond your way into my backyard.”
“Bond? I was going for more of a John McClane without the dirty T-shirt. I guess I should’ve taken off my shoes,” he said before finally turning to her. His hair might be longer, the lines of his face tighter but his mouth—his mouth was…
No!
No mouth looking.
“I know you’re pissed at me. I’m pissed at me, too. I just wanted to see you to say sorry. And to give you these.”
She dragged her unrepentant eyes away from his lips over to the tin in his hand. Heartbreak brownies. He’s delivering brownies to help mend the heart that he broke? She leaned against the tree. Bark pressed through her pajama top, keeping her grounded, while anger burned inside her.
“Is this some kind of joke?”
“God, no. It’s not like that.” Color stained his cheeks and he shook his head. “They’re not heartbreak brownies. They’re sorry-for-being-an-asshat brownies. Sorry-for-getting-it-so-freaking-wrong brownies. Sorry-in-so-many-ways brownies.” He pushed the tin toward her. “Please. I really want you to have them.”
Her anger faded—probably because, like her eyes, it kept getting distracted by his mouth. She hitched in a breath and reminded herself that right now he was a nanosecond away from being the star of a burn-the-body love song.
“Fine, but I’m only taking them because I’m snackish,” she retorted, careful to avoid touching his hand. She lifted off the lid to reveal four misshaped brownies, surrounded by shredded paper. Okay, that was new. “What’s going on? Was Birdie drinking when she made these?”
“Birdie didn’t make them,” he said. When he smiled, it reached his eyes. “I did. Turns out that there’s a bit more to baking than I thought. As for what they’re sitting on, it’s the essay I wrote to Franklin Community College. I’ve been invited to have an interview with them.”
“Alex, that’s great,” she said before remembering it was no longer her problem. And I’m still mad with him. “Er, I mean I’m pleased for you. And thanks for the brownies. I’ll eat them under advisement. Now, if you don’t mind. I’m pretty busy.”
“I can see.” He glanced over to where her notebook still lay spine up on the grass. “Do I want to know how many ways you’ve killed me?”
“Probably not,” she lied, since, while it had been easy to condemn Bennet to the killer ants, no matter what she tried to do to a fictional Alex, she could never go through with it.
“I should go,” he said as he slowly got to his feet, his long legs covered in the tux trousers. He didn’t play fair, and the warning sirens in her mind faded away as if a switch had been pressed. “But there’s one more thing I wanted to tell you. I took the egg back to the original owners, and I told them what happened.”
“You told them what happened? Oh, God. Are you in trouble?” she asked, desperately searching his face for clues. “Is this why you’re here? To tell me you’re going to prison?”
Blood drained from her face as she jumped to her feet so quickly the brownies almost fell from her hands. He reached out and steadied her, sending an explosion of emotions through her body
“Hey, no. I’m not going to prison,” he said, making no attempt to let go of her. His fingers burned against her skin. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I guess that’s part of the whole damn problem. I’m not used to people caring about what happens to me.”
“That’s because you’re too busy pushing everyone away,” she retorted, desperately trying to hide the reaction she was still having to his touch. “Me, Joe, Birdie…”
“I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.” He let go of her arm and bowed his head. When he looked back up, some of the tightness in his jaw had lessened and his eyes were clear, like the sea after a storm. “Cat, I’m sorry.”
She wrapped her arms around her chest and titled her head. “Did you really go and see the people you robbed?”
“I really did. I spoke to Birdie, and I figured out some stuff. If I really want things to change for me, if I want to be good enough for someone like you, I needed to put some things to bed. Like what happened that night.”
Pain caught in her throat. “What did they say?”
“At first, they thought I was joking,” he said, his face pale. “But then I gave them the egg and described the fight and who Clay was—more to the point, where Clay was. I told them if they wanted to press charges against me, I’d go down to the Sheriff’s Department with them immediately.”
Her body was one large nerve as her heart hammered in her chest. “So? What happened?”
“They said after the robbery they were scared, upset, hurt, and would have pressed charges. But as I told them about Clay and my mom and sisters, they decided not to. It might’ve helped when I promised Joe would give them free oil changes for a year.”
“You’re making a joke out of it?” His calmness was making her angry. “What if they’d sent you to juvie? What about school? College?”
His jaw softened, and his eyes dilated. “That’s the thing. I was screwing up all those things anyway. By doing the one thing I didn’t want to do…I think it’s given me a shot.”
“I’m happy for you,” she said, suddenly aware just how little space was between them. And I haven’t brushed my hair. She studied her fingers. “Though, I’m not surprised, you always were better than you knew.”
“God. I was such a jerk to you.” The words came out as a growl, and she finally looked up. His eyes glittered with remorse, his jaw tight. “You believed in me, but I didn’t believe in myself, and I pushed you away.”
Yes, he did.
Which is why she couldn’t just fall for what he was saying, no matter how much she wanted to.
What he’d done had hurt. Hurt in a way that not even writing could fix. She dragged in a ragged breath.
“You did more than that, Alex. You shut me out like I was just some kid whose name you didn’t even know. Like I wasn’t good enough for you to bother staying around for.”
“Yeah, my coping skills aren’t great.” He shut his eyes and rubbed his brow like he was willing the words to come out. When he looked at her, though, his face had softened, like the mask he’d put on was finally coming off. “But I swear it was only because I thought you deserved better.”
“That’s the thing. You took the decision away from me.”
“That’s pretty much what Birdie told me.” He let out a soft sigh. “I screwed up. Real bad. Which sucks because you’re the one who helped me sort everything out. All I can promise is, if you want to do this again, then I’ll never make a decision without you.”
The world went silent.
Whatever birds had been singing ceased to exist.
All she could hear was Alex’s breath. Her skin prickled.
“What are you saying?”
“I want to be your boyfriend. And not a fake one. A real one. One who doesn’t get dragged off in the middle of a fundraiser. One who doesn’t drop off the face of the Earth because he’s scared.”
Her pulse hammered as she dared to look at him. He was so close. The lines and shadows of his face were so familiar. His hands were by his side, twitching with uncertainty. She thought of what Isabel had said, that she trusted Bennet because he’d fixed a doll for her when they were kids. Well, Alex had done more than that. Yes, he’d hurt her, but he’d also helped her when no one else could.
Plus, man, could he kiss.
Suddenly all she wanted was for the space between them to be gone. She reached for his hand, her eyes never leaving his face.
“If you’re my real boyfriend, that means I get to choose all the movies from now on. Even if they’re girlie.”
His fingers tightened around hers. Then he let out a strangled gasp as he dra
gged her toward him. Electricity shot up her arms and untangled the thoughts in her head. When it was like this, everything made sense.
His mouth found hers, and she breathed him in.
As they kissed, her foot ended up in the tin of brownies on the ground. Not that Cat cared. Soon enough, Birdie would be sending her a new batch of brownies, the ones that weren’t about heartbreak, but about happiness. Her mom had received her own box last week, and they were really delicious. Almost as delicious as kissing Alex Locke.
Epilogue
“Okay, I’ve got three sodas, enough hot dogs to last a zombie apocalypse, and some gummi bears. Just because,” Nikki said as she squeezed her way down the row. “Does that sound like enough? I have no idea how long this thing will go for.”
“That makes two of us,” Cat said as Nikki sat down.
Her friend’s hair was bright pink, and she was wearing a Franklin High Mathletics T-shirt. Over on the stage Parker was chewing his lower lip and looking like he wanted to puke. Cat couldn’t blame him. Doing math in public…for fun? It was enough to make anyone nervous. Having his girlfriend and her posse watching probably didn’t help.
Parker looked up, and as soon as he saw Nikki, his face softened and the terror fled from his eyes.
Shows how much I know.
Alex leaned over, his breath brushing her neck and sending shockwaves down her arm. “Will Nikki really be able to eat all of that?”
“Sit back and watch, my friend.” She rested her hand on his leg, and he leaned in to kiss her. Cat grinned. Okay, I know some stuff. She returned the kiss and nestled into his shoulder, just as someone coughed.
It was Mackenzie. Her blonde hair was held back by a preppy band, and her clothing screamed “Stanford, here I come.” Her laser sharp gaze settled on Alex, and she frowned.
“Hey, Locke. What are you doing here? You do know that attending a midweek mathletics competition isn’t compulsory. You’re going to graduate whether you come here or not. I mean it’s only a heat, it’s not like it matters.”
“Hey, I heard that.” Nikki growled before ripping open the gummi bears with her teeth.
“I know.” Alex let out a lazy smile that did wicked things to Cat’s stomach. Even Mackenzie didn’t seem immune to it. “But I like seeing Parker doing his genius thing. Is that a problem?”
“No problem for me.” Mackenzie shrugged before turning to Cat. “And since you’re here, you can give me a five-hundred-word article. And don’t forget I want it with—”
“Heart?” Cat finished, and Mackenzie nodded before walking to the front row of the auditorium.
“I swear you have the patience of a saint,” Nikki muttered, but Cat just smiled and rustled around in her backpack for her notepad. After working with Mackenzie for the last three months, she was used to orders being flung at her. Then again, the fact she now had a hot boyfriend meant that not even Mackenzie could ruin Cat’s happiness.
“She’s right.” His hand tightened around hers. “You’ve put up with me for all this time.”
“You are a lot of work,” Cat agreed as she shifted in her chair to drink in his face. The dark shadows that once followed him around were gone. His mouth had softened, and his lapis eyes had lost their haunted look. She liked to think it was from all the kissing, though she suspected the early acceptance and scholarship from the local community college probably helped. “Luckily, I like you.”
“Tell me about it.” His voice was a caress as his mouth moved closer to hers. “Especially since I’m crazy about you. Have been from the moment I returned that rabbit of yours.”
Warmth travelled down her skin.
The last few months had been a revelation, and as he’d come to terms with his past, his attitude about everything had changed. Well, almost everything. He still ate far too healthily and every now and then tried to convince her that tea was a better beverage than coffee, but she could work with that.
“I’m crazy about you, too,” she murmured as his mouth found hers. Next to her, Nikki made a groaning noise, but Cat didn’t care.
Kissing Alex was the best cure to heartbreak that she’d ever discovered.
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About the Author
Amanda Ashby was born in Australia but now lives in New Zealand where she writes romance, young adult, and middle grade books. She also works in a library, owns far too many vintage tablecloths, and likes to delight her family by constantly rearranging the furniture. You can find out more about her and her latest books at www.amandaashby.com.
Adult romance by Amanda Ashby…
Falling for the Best Man
The Wedding Planner’s Baby
Dating the Wrong Mr. Right
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