Page 90

“Well, unfortunately, it’s true. And it happened. It’s just... It’s not the first time that I’ve experienced bullying like that, and I’m sorry, it’s just hard for me to believe sometimes that somebody is just being nice.”

He took a step toward her, and he felt something feral and fierce rise up inside him. “Rory, if I said I was going to kiss you, I would fucking kiss you. And if I ever run into the bastard who did that to you, I’d kill him.”

He felt like he’d said too much. Given away too much. Been too much of the dark thing inside him.

But he hadn’t been able to help it.

She looked stunned. Terrified.

Great.

He took a step back. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

The entire ride home was silent.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“DIDYOUDECIDEwhich dress you’re going to wear tonight?”

Rory took a deep breath and tried to squash the butterflies in her stomach.

She was staring up at the rope. Because today was the day she was going to attempt to climb. Which felt like a metaphor, because she had her date tonight.

She and Gideon had been working at this. At the climbing thing. And then yesterday there had been the shopping trip and...

If I said I was going to kiss you...

She was really hoping that she was going to make it to the top. Because it felt somehow inextricably tied to the date.

To the weekend camping trip.

But most of all the date, and she had to stop thinking about what Gideon had said.

There were only just over three weeks left until she went to Boston. She had to get this kiss. She had to climb this rope. She had to climb that mountain. Dammit, there was so much climbing. “I will probably wear the black one,” she said, stretching her arms out. “Because it’s sexy.”

The minute she said that she felt embarrassed heat rising in her cheeks.

“It is that,” he said.

Their eyes clashed.

Telling him about the whole thing with the frat boys had been...a moment.

The way that he’d said that to her... The way...

She felt undone by it. That husky promise in his voice. That maybe wasn’t a promise. And combined with what Quinn had said to her yesterday, she was just feeling a bit feeble.

Because she had a date tonight with a man she remembered only as an antagonist, who was pleasant enough to look at, but who hadn’t lit her up inside by any stretch of the imagination when they had seen each other again last week.

Not like Gideon.

And sometimes she felt like they were hurtling toward something impossible to ignore. And then she thought... She was a grade A coward. She could ignore whatever she wanted. She was great at ignoring things. It was like one of the things she was best at. Along with quitting. Along with avoiding.

“Well, thank you,” she said, her throat scratchy.

“The other two are very pretty. The green is nice. But it looks more like you’re going on a picnic with your sisters.”