Page 38 of All This Time

Henley grunts. “What about me? You don’t trust me?”

Rhonan points a finger at him. “Your method for helping women get over their exes is getting themunderyou.”

Henley grins. “What can I say? I’m dedicated to the cause.” He laughs before adding, “But Laney is your sister. Even I know she’s off-limits.”

“True, but I feel like Fletcher is less of a threat than you are.”

Henley bounces his eyebrows up and down while he looks at me. “You hear that? Rhonan thinks I’m better looking than you.”

“Do you want a trophy or something?” I say, grinding my teeth together at the thought of Henley touching Laney at all.

I respect Henley’s carefree attitude toward sex. He’s honest with the women he hooks up with, never pretends it’s more than it is. If that works for them, no harm, no foul.

But Laney isn’t just any woman.

She’s my Laney—my angel.

And the irony is, as Rhonan says his goodbyes and heads out to his cruiser, he has no idea that Henley isn’t the one he should be worried about making a move on her.

Chapter 9

Fletcher

Age Seventeen

Angels, Future Plans, and Admissions

“Fletcher?”

Laney twists around in her desk chair just as I finish climbing through her window. I wince as I slide all the way through. “Hey, Laney.”

Her expression instantly morphs into concern. “What’s wrong?”

I hold my ribs as I walk up to her, forcing a smile. “It’s nothing.”

Yanking my arm away from my body, she lifts my shirt and gasps. “Holy shit! That doesn’t look like nothing.”

I glance down at the spot that was only red when I snuck out of my house and see that it is now turning purple. “It looks worse than it really is. It happened during football practice. Comes with the territory.”Another lie, but at this point, they’re beginning to sound like the truth even to me.

Laney’s frustration is visible. “Sit down. I’ll be right back.” Before I can argue, she quietly exits her room, leaving me alone.

My eyes scour her space, taking in this light blue and lavender room that has become the only place I feel like I can really breathe. The first night I ended up here was by accident. I honestly thought it was Rhonan’s window I was crawling through.

As soon as I realized my mistake, I should have left. But being able to talk to Laney without anyone else around—most of all her brother—was too tempting to resist.

Laney Hart is intriguing, intelligent, a tad feisty yet kind, and her green eyes shine when the sunlight hits them—a detail I shouldn’t know but now can’t seem to forget.

I remember when I first met her—she was twelve and I was fourteen. Back then, I just saw her as Rhonan’s annoying little sister, even though I couldn’t deny that when she came around, she made me laugh and I loved that she didn’t let Rhonan boss her around. But then when she came to Blossom Peak High as a freshman, something changed.

It was a slow change. I no longer minded if she came around when Rhonan and I hung out. I made sure to wave when I saw her at school, and when she smiled back, something funny started happening in my chest.

But now, in my senior year, I can finally admit what’s been happening to me.

I’m developing a crush on my best friend’s little sister.

This past summer, she changed—not just physically, but in her confidence as well.

I definitely noticed the physical part, though.