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Trent’s gaze flickers, but I remain still, my hands at my sides.

“There’s also the woman walking in right now, carrying her dog,” I point out. I saw her reflection in the glass wall behind Jared a moment ago.

He looks around, seeing old Blue Hair enter the shop holding her brown-chihuahua-cocker-spaniel-mix. Chipaniel? I have no idea.

He looks down at me again, slightly unsettled.

“If I steal from you,” I tell him, “you won’t see me.”

His jaw flexes.

“No one will.”

He may not believe I’ll never commit another crime, but he can be damn sure I won’t commit one here. That would be stupid.

Thirty seconds later, I’m running back out to Hawke.

“I got the job!” I beam as I climb into his car. “I start this weekend.”

“Congratulations.” He grabs me and kisses me. “Let’s celebrate.” He shifts into gear. “Rivertown.”

I slam my door shut but put my hand on his before he shifts into gear. Inching up, I lean over the console and start nibbling his neck. “Lake.”

I bite his lobe.

“You start school tomorrow,” I remind him. “Don’t you want to have some last-minute fun with your high school girlfriend?”

He does a little laugh-gasp, but when I slip my hand between his legs, feeling him already hard, I don’t have to ask twice.

“Seatbelt,” he growls, shifting into second and peeling out of the lot. “Now.”

Two Weeks Later

I look out my window, seeing Dylan through the tree as she lies on her bed. She’s on her stomach, feet bobbing behind her as she scrolls through her phone and listens to music on her headphones.

My stomach fills with a weird feeling. Nerves and apprehension, but also anticipation and…

Warmth.

Matty is ecstatic—loves Jax. And Bianca, aside from the whining over the distance from her boyfriend, sleeps and smiles more now. She’s worried about fitting in at our new school, but I’ll be there, and I’m really hoping everyone knows that before they fucking mess with her.

I look around Hawke’s old room—which I’m told was once his father’s and then Jared’s before that—but I didn’t change much because I like Hawke’s smell on everything as it is. I want to cry a little.

But I won’t. It’s so weird.

I have a room of my own, a job, a college boyfriend, Matty and Bianca are fine and fed, and I have a tree that connects me to my first female friend.

I look out the window again, and Dylan looks over, immediately breaking into a smile and hanging her tongue out in a funny face.

I laugh. She’s got me excited for the school year, as much as I hate to admit it. The first football game is in two weeks. Rivalry Week is in seven weeks. We have the senior ski trip and her birthday sleepover. I’ve gone full-on suburb.

A knock hits my door. “You all set?” I hear.

Hawke walks in, and I look behind me, my stomach dropping. I hate it when he dresses like this, especially when his parents are home.

Black joggers, no shirt, bare feet. Like he doesn’t even live here anymore. Does he purposely remove half of his clothes when he visits from the dorms, just to drive me nuts? Thankfully, we still have the hideout, although we can’t get to it as much as we want. School, work…

I nod. “I think so.”

He wraps his arms around my waist and I circle his neck.

“You’ll have Dylan and Kade.” He stares down at me. “No one will mess with you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Exactly, and I would rather you didn’t,” he retorts. “I know how you handle females who get on your nerves.”

I laugh, remembering both times I handled Schuyler. And Dylan. I should probably apologize for that one at some point, actually.

But he tugs at me. “I’m serious. You get suspended or expelled, and I’ll have to start dating someone more mature.”

I jump up, and he catches me in time as I wrap my legs around him. “Need I remind you of all the very mature things you like to do to me, Pirate?” I whisper in his ear.

And he whips us around and lays me down on the bed, hovering over me. “They’re burned into my memory, Pirate.”

“Oh, that’s right.” I wince. “Shit.”

I’m a Falls girl now. Technically speaking. Under a black flag we sail. Woohoo.

“Seriously, though.” He kisses my nose. “Cut yourself some slack. And cut them some slack. A lot of students haven’t had the experiences you have. They’ll be a little shallow and ignorant, but someday, they’ll understand everything you do. Their behavior is not your problem.”

“Okay.”

I say it like ‘yes, sir’. I know he’s right, although it might be hard to remember it in the heat of the moment when they piss me off.

Either way, I’ll put his mind at ease. “It’s only a year anyway,” I tell him.

“And then you’ll be with me.”