When I slipped back into the house I held my breath, half expecting my parents to be sitting in the living room waiting for me. I needn’t have worried, though. Everyone was still asleep, and my absence had gone unnoticed. Relief lightened my steps as I hurried up the stairs to regain the safety of my room.
As soon as I closed the door the window was calling me, urging me to look out and see if Walker was still sitting by his pool. For once I resisted it, ruthlessly pushing my need to see him aside along with my elation at his words by the pool. Whatever Walker had said to me, no matter how he’d made it sound, he was only messing with my mind. The boy was a player, plain and simple. It was who he was, from his hair to his toes, and came as naturally to him as breathing. He probably didn’t even realize he was doing it most of the time, although the way he’d bantered about me to Molly made that an unlikely explanation when I considered it.
No, he’d known exactly what he was doing. Teasing. Flirting. Trying to work his charm on poor, flustered Delaney who hadn’t had a boyfriend or so much as kissed a boy since middle school. He was just having fun screwing around with me.
I kicked off my flip-flops and fell onto my bed, gripping a pillow tightly against my aching chest as though that could cushion my bruised heart. I could have handled it if Walker just hadn’t been so nice. It was obvious that he liked Molly and cared about her as a person, and he had seemed genuinely interested in me while we were talking alone. So why would he turn around and start in on me with his player routine after that? It made no sense.
I wiggled under the covers, worming my way around Kiki’s gray bulk in the middle of the bed, and pulled the comforter up to my nose. Why had Walker acted like he was going to kiss me? Why had he pulled me into the hammock with him? Why had he held my hand?
I wanted so badly to believe that it all meant something, but how could it? He wasn’t treating me any differently than he did the other girls he messed around with, was he? Wasn’t I just getting carried away and reading more into his actions than what was really there?
As my eyes closed and I drifted off to sleep, my last conscious thought was that Walker hadn’t flirted with Molly at all.
When I woke up the next morning I was convinced that I had imagined half of what I thought had happened the night before, and overreacted to the parts that had been real. The truth was that Walker seriously overloaded my hormones, and that apparently shorted out my brain. I was far from the only girl in town guilty of that, but I would just have to do a better job of keeping a grip on myself—and reality—around him. Molly had warned me how dangerous he was, and I had seen plenty of examples for myself at school.
Of course none of that stopped me from wishing that somehow things could be different, and as the day went on I couldn’t stop the hopeful butterflies that kept fluttering around in my stomach. Would Walker be out at his pool tonight? Would he invite me over again? Shivers of anticipation slithered down my spine at the thought of sneaking out. I wouldn’t have risked it for anyone but Walker, but for him I was willing to risk it as often as he wanted me to.
That night after everyone else was asleep I found myself waiting by my window, my heart drumming and my fingers trembling each time I twitched the curtains back in hopes of a glimpse of the boy who had begun to haunt me worse than any ghost could have. Was he hidden in the shadows below? It was so difficult to see down there because of the glare from my brightly lit room, but I was still reluctant to turn off the lights. So I stood there gazing out into the darkness while my heart ached with longing.
I felt like Juliet standing on her balcony. O Walker, Walker! My fingers tightened on the curtain as I giggled. Our families might not be feuding, but if Dad caught me sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night to hang out with Walker, he was liable to kill both of us. It would be worth it to hold Walker’s hand again, though.
Was he out there? I strained my eyes trying to penetrate the shadows in his yard and caught a flicker of movement. My breath caught, and my heart did a slow flip in my chest. It was Walker. He was standing near the fence looking up at my window—at me—and lifted one hand in a wave. When I waved back, he motioned for me to come down.
My heartbeat slowed to a deep, bass thump that pounded all the way down to my fingertips. I was going to do it. I was going to see him again.
It was easier sneaking out for the second time, but my heart still leaped into my throat as I tiptoed down the stairs accompanied by creaks that seemed loud enough to rouse the neighbors. For the last dozen steps I held my breath as I crept along, and by the time I made it through the front door and escaped into the safety of the night my lungs were on fire.
When I opened the gate to Walker’s yard he was there to meet me, a hand held out in invitation. With a little gulp I reached out and took it, shivering as the heat of his palm slid against mine to send a pulse of warm, lazy tingles up my arm just like last time.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he said.
As if any girl wouldn’t if he asked. “Why not?”
He paused and gave me a searching look. “Because you’re a nice girl, and nice girls don’t sneak out of the house in the middle of the night to meet bad boys.”
I gave a breathless laugh as he tugged me through the gate. “Maybe I’m not that nice.”
“Yeah, you are. You’re just more adventurous than I thought.”
He released my hand as we stepped around the corner into the lights of the deck, and the loss of his touch left me feeling as though part of it was missing. My hand begged me to reach out and take his again, but I controlled the urge by sitting down on the chair closest to Walker’s and gripping my hands between my thighs. That was when I realized that we were alone.
“Where’s Molly?”
Walker shrugged and stretched out on his chair. “She’s playing in some online tournament tonight. It’s just you and me.”
Nervous prickles broke out all over my skin and left me covered in goose bumps. “Just us?” I squeaked.
“Yep.” He tilted his head to look at me with a grin that should have sent me running for home. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
It was more than okay; it was a dream come true. “Sure,” I replied, trying to sound cool and nonchalant. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I don’t know. You just seem kind of nervous.”
Of course I was nervous. I felt like a bird who had wandered too close to Kiki. “It’s just the move. I’m a little tired and on edge.”
“I understand. So, have you snuck out before?”
He’d know if I lied, so there was no point in even trying. “No.”
“I told you that you’re one of the nice girls.”
I felt a flash of annoyance. “I’m not that nice.”
“It’s one of the things I like about you,” he said in a low voice, as though imparting a secret. “So I’ll try not to corrupt you.”
That was disappointing. I’d been hoping he’d try to corrupt me a little, at least. But no such luck. He leaned his head back to stare up at the stars.
“Have you always lived here?” he asked.
“Yep, my whole life. Never been further away than the Hill Country or Houston.”
“Do you want to go away?”
“Not too far, I don’t think,” I admitted. “This is home. It’s where my family is, and that’s important to me.”
And the thought of being far away and on my own without them was all kinds of scary, even if they tended to be annoyingly overprotective and acted like they didn’t get me at all sometimes. That was so lame, though. Who wanted to stay in a dinky little town like this forever while the whole world was out there? Certainly not Walker. He had bigger dreams.
“What about you?” I asked to turn the subject away from me. “Have you always lived here, too?”
He sat up with a surprised laugh and fixed his eyes on me. “You don’t remember, do you?”
His response caught me off guard. “Remember what?” I asked caut
iously.
“I moved here during Christmas break in fifth grade to go to Victoria Mason Elementary.”
I blinked in confusion. I’d gone to Victoria Mason as well.
“My first day there I was in the office, and you came in to pick up your lunch that your mom dropped off. They were really busy so they asked you to show me where my home room was. But you gave me the whole tour—lunch room, playground, gym, library—before you dropped me off.”
“That was fourth grade for me,” I told him. “My Gramma died two weeks after we got back to school from Christmas break. Everything sort of faded after that. I hardly remember anything from that whole semester until summer vacation.”
I stared at him as what he’d said finally sank in. “You remembered that. You remembered me. Why?”
Walker grinned. “You were this cute little chatterbox with enormous eyes, and you were the first kid I met at my new school. I was really nervous, but after a few minutes following you around I knew everything was going to be all right.”
Awww. He had me feeling all warm and gushy inside with that. I thought hard and dredged up a vague memory of a tall, gangly boy who was all long arms and legs. I didn’t remember anything that I’d said or done, but I did recall the sober, uncertain look on his face and how I’d felt sorry for him.
“I’m glad it was you,” Walker added softly.
I gulped as my heart did that fluttery thing again. “Me, too.”
“Want to watch a movie or something?”
His change of subject left me gaping. “Huh?”
He nodded towards the house. “Would you like to come in and watch a movie with me?”
Excitement crackled through me like electricity. “Sure, I guess.”
Walker got up and opened the sliding glass door, gesturing for me to go in. “Lady’s choice,” he said, then winked. “Just no chick flicks.”
As I squeezed past him, I inadvertently brushed up against him and stumbled. Faster than thought his arm went around my waist to steady me, and I found myself lost deep in his eyes for long seconds while the heat simmering in the air between us grew hotter with every heartbeat. Finally Walker gave a little shake of his head and let me go.
“Come on—let’s go watch a movie.”
I followed him to their living room, my whole body buzzing and my brain foggy and sluggish like it had been doused in syrup. I could not figure out what was going on, why Walker was acting this way. Why did he keep playing this game with me? I dropped to the couch and tried to collect my scattered wits while he studied a stand full of DVDs.
“Anything you’d like to watch?”
My brain was hopelessly muddled. “I don’t know.”
“Well, what’s your favorite movie?”
“The Avengers,” I answered automatically. I’d watched it countless times to swoon over Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston.
His eyes lit up. “That works for me,” he said.
While Walker searched for it on the shelves, I watched him while trying to make it look like I was looking anywhere but at him. Somehow I didn’t think I was going to be paying any attention to Chris or Tom this time.
As the movie started, Walker turned to me. “You want something to drink? Soda? Tea? Bottled water?”
I didn’t want to have to ask him where the bathroom was or use the bathroom in his house the very first time I was there. “I’m good, thanks.”
With a shrug he sat down on the couch near me, but not too near me. He was actually kind of disappointingly remote. I tried to focus on the movie, but I kept thinking about having his arm around me, and that empty space between us on the couch practically begged to be filled. I was dying to scoot over and nestle up against him, to bury my face against his shoulder and breathe deeply of that warm, spicy scent I kept getting whiffs of whenever he moved.
But every time I glanced over at him, Walker’s attention seemed riveted on the movie. A tiny sigh whispered between my lips. Did he like me, or was I just delusional and making a big deal out of a whole bunch of nothing? If he liked me, why did he put so much space between us on the couch?
I jumped at the touch of his hand then held myself still as a statue as he gently wove his fingers through mine. Walker Dean was holding my hand.
“Relax,” he whispered.
Easier said than done. For the rest of the movie I sat there too afraid to move, barely willing to breathe for fear that somehow I’d ruin the moment and he’d pull his hand away. Finally the movie ended, though, and Walker stood up to go take out the DVD. My poor hand felt abandoned and lonely, and I hoped with everything I had that he’d hold it again when he finished putting the movie away. I wanted to keep holding hands with him all night.
“Want to watch another one?” he asked as though he could read my mind.
It was after midnight, but I wasn’t remotely tired. “Sure.”
When he held up his Age of Ultron DVD and waggled it questioningly, I nodded. “Yeah. Put it in.”
If he was asking me to stay for another movie, then he must not want me to leave, either. He could have called it a night, could have made any of a thousand excuses to get rid of me, but he hadn’t.
He wanted me to stay.
As the DVD started, Walker sat down on the couch again. Was he closer this time? I kept having trouble catching my breath with him sitting right there, where all I had to do was just reach over and touch him. The air felt heavy and ponderous, like when a big storm is on the horizon. More daring than I’d ever been in my life, I reached out and twined my fingers with his once more.
Chapter Nine
After a few minutes I worked up my courage enough to slide a little closer so that our arms weren’t stretched out in such an uncomfortable position. When I dared to look up at him, he was watching me with a teasing smile that left me overly warm and flustered. I was so out of my depth with him—I hadn’t had a boyfriend since middle school! It was like going from the Pee Wee league to the NFL in one step. But I wasn’t about to back away, and slowly I began to relax into the pleasant warmth of touching and being so tantalizingly near to him.
It had gotten really late, and at some point during the movie I must have dozed off. A noise from the television jerked me awake again. When I opened my eyes I was leaning against Walker’s shoulder without any idea how I had gotten there. Sitting up, I saw a dark stain on his sleeve. I had been drooling on him while I slept. Gross! I wanted to curl up and die.
“I am so sorry,” I groaned.
He smiled with a careless shrug. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I should probably get home before I zonk out and do anything even worse.”
“Why do you sleep with your lights on?”
My brain stuttered and ground its gears trying to shift to this new topic. “What?”
“The lights in your room stay on all night. I’ve seen it every night since you moved in. How come?”
I blushed, even more mortified than I’d been over drooling on him, but I felt compelled to tell him the truth even if it was embarrassing. “The house is creepy, okay? It looks like the set of a horror movie inside, and it’s full of weird noises and creaking all night. I just don’t feel comfortable there, yet.”
His fingers under my chin compelled me look up at him, but instead of the laughter I’d expected to see there was only understanding.
“New places can be hard to get used to. It was like that when I moved in here.”
“Yeah, but you were only ten,” I grumbled.
Walker snorted a laugh. “True. But nobody is going to think less of you if you get a little freaked out about moving into some weird old house.”
“You don’t know my family.”
“Well, I don’t feel that way. And they shouldn’t either.”
“Thanks. I’d better go.”
I moved to step past him, but his hand fell on my hip and stopped me. I was falling into the depths of those blue eyes again and my heart started racing like a scared bunny ra
bbit’s. Slowly he drew me against him, and our bodies met like two puzzle pieces coming together. As his free hand came up to cup my cheek, Walker looked down at me in muted wonder, almost as though he’d never seen a girl before.
His lips brushed mine, gentle as the touch of a feather, then with a soft sigh he slid his fingers into my hair and kissed me for real. His lips were warm and soft, and it felt like fireworks were exploding all through me. I melted against him, my arms wrapping around his neck, and heard myself moaning in the back of my throat as my knees forgot what they were there for.
How could something be so tender and so hot all at the same time?
When he finally pulled his lips away from mine, I thought I was going to melt into a puddle. There was a flicker of something in his eyes as I glanced up at him—satisfaction?
I wanted to throw myself at him. I ached to feel his arms around me and have his lips on mine again, but he let me slip away to rest with my back against the glass door, my chest heaving as I panted for air.
“Why?” I stammered. “Why did you do that?”
“Because I wanted to. I’ve been wanting to do it since the day you moved in.”
I took a deep breath and straightened my spine. “Well, you finally got it out of the way.”
His fingers brushed loose strands of hair from my face, so soft and gentle that it made me shiver. Longing stabbed straight into my heart, and I struggled against the warning in the back of my mind that insisted that this was a big, bad mistake.
“Stop freaking out, Delaney. I like you.”
The ache in my heart swelled. “You like a lot of girls.”
He gave a tiny shrug. “Not the way that I like you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I’m tired of London and of hooking up with girls like her. I want to try something different. And you’re as different from her as you can possibly be.”
We’d read parts of The Iliad in my literature class last fall. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. I wanted what he seemed to be offering so badly, wanted him to go on holding me and kissing me like that forever. But this was Walker and I was so terribly afraid of what would happen. If he got bored and tossed me aside I didn’t think I could handle it.
A Little Bit Haunted Page 6