Page 18 of Falling Stars (Wild at Heart #2)

BAYLEE

Why does Maverick have to smell so dang good? And, ugh, I love how I fit against him. How we nestle perfectly together. How his chin rests on the top of my head. And how his arms wrap around me.

Leo lets out a cry, and I jump away from my roommate. “I’d better get him.”

As I rush into the living room, Mav calls out, “I need to talk to you about something.”

I slide to a stop when I see a big bed instead of the couch.

Leo wails from the opposite side, so I rush over to pick him up.

Then I turn back to Mav, who’s rubbing his neck.

“Paige had Jace drop off some bedding while you were in the shower. You, uh, you should take the bed. I can sleep on the floor.”

I huff in annoyance. “Maverick, you broke your damn neck. Guess what that means? You get the bed.”

“You just had a baby. I would be the biggest asshole on the planet if I made you sleep on the floor. What kind of jerk do you think I am?”

We glare at each other until Leo wails. Mav points at the baby. “He just agreed with me. ”

“My son did no such thing.”

Leo’s little face gets red and pinched, which means he needs a diaper change.

After I get rid of the stink bomb, I sit on the edge of the bed and grab the light cotton blanket.

I toss it over Leo and whip out my boob.

As he eats, I glance back at the big mattress.

“This is dumb, Mav. You have a huge bed. There’s space for both of us.

You sleep on your side, and I’ll sleep on mine. No biggie.”

My heart races as I wait for his response.

“Only if you’re sure you don’t mind sleeping with me,” he says slowly.

I ignore the way his gruff voice sends a zap of electricity through me. “I’m… I’m sure. Though maybe you’ll change your mind after you get a whiff of this diaper.”

He smiles. “It’s not so bad, but I don’t wanna make you do something you’re not comfortable with.”

“It’s not a big deal. It’s not like you’re sneaking through my bedroom window for a sleepover like you did when we were eight.”

He chuckles. “Your mom was so pissed the next morning.”

“My mom? Rhett thought you’d run away.”

I turn and catch his smile melt away. “I did. I ran away to the one person who’s always made me feel better.”

I consider his words as he goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth and returns a few minutes later. I lean back in bed and put Leo on my shoulder to burp him. “Did you really run away?”

After he clicks off the lights, he gingerly slides into bed on the opposite side. “Yeah.”

“Did something happen that night?”

He stares at the ceiling so long that I don’t think he’s going to say anything. Finally, he takes a deep breath. “My dad hit me.”

“What?” I struggle to sit up. I place Leo in his basket, and fortunately, he doesn’t fuss. Then I turn back to Mav. “Gus hit you?”

He nods. “Yeah. But the asshole said if I told anyone, he’d blame it on Rhett or Isaiah and that no one would believe me and I’d just be getting my brother in trouble. So I kept my mouth shut.”

Oh my God. “Where… where did he hit you?”

“Across my jaw. Remember how I had that bruise?”

“You said you fell off your bike.”

“I said what I had to say so I didn’t get anyone in trouble.”

“You were just a kid.” I cover my mouth because my bottom lip is wobbling, and I don’t want to cry.

“The important thing is I’m okay, right?”

Nodding, I take his rough palm in mine. “I’m so sorry. If I could’ve stopped that from happening, I would’ve.”

“I know, sweetheart.” He laces our fingers together. “You’ve always been my safe space. You don’t know how much that’s meant to me.”

The words rush from me. “I’m sorry I messed up our friendship in high school. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I’ve always regretted it.” I freeze. What did I just do? Why did I confess that? When he doesn’t say anything, I start to panic. “Forget I said anything. No one likes talking about the past.”

“Bay, calm down.”

“Seriously, I don’t know what I was thinking.” I pull back my hand and shove my hair out of my face. I’m hot and sweaty all of a sudden. “Let sleeping dogs lie and all that. Seems like a smart motto, no?”

“Baylee, I don’t regret it.”

“Do you want to watch some TV? I can look for the remote.” I shove my legs off the edge of the bed, but then Maverick grabs my arm, and I still.

“Look at me. ”

God, no. I close my eyes. “Seriously, it’s cool. Let’s just move on.”

“Baylee Reyes, either turn around now or I will sit on you until you look at me.”

I laugh. “As long as you don’t fart on me like Jace did when we were kids.”

“Remember how he called it cropdusting?”

We both laugh as he tugs me back, and I let him. I find myself on my side, facing him. We’re so close, I can smell his minty breath. He reaches out and brushes my hair away from my face. “I didn’t handle that kiss well.”

“I’m sensing a theme.”

He chuckles, but then his eyes grow serious. “I wasn’t ready for you when I was seventeen.”

“Okay.”

“No, it’s really not okay. I’ve thought long and hard about that night and about what I said to you.”

I wince. “We really don’t have to rehash it.”

“I think we should clear the air. We never discussed it, and it’s been festering this whole time. I know I hurt you and pissed you off.”

I glance down. “You hurt me when you took Nicole Ashbury to homecoming instead of me.”

It’s his turn to wince. “Not my best moment.”

“I’m not sure putting you on the spot like that was my best moment either. I’d seen this dumb thing online, the ‘kiss your best friend’ challenge, and I got carried away.”

He plays with a strand of my hair. “You used to love those social media challenges.” His eyes meet mine. “You stopped posting them.”

“I felt stupid doing them after what happened.”

His brows furrow. “It was a collision of bad timing.”

“What do you mean? ”

“That afternoon, Gus took me aside and warned me not to get you pregnant. Rhett kinda saved me from that conversation, but then he asked if you and I were an item. I told him no, but I don’t think he believed me because he cautioned me about how quickly sex can change a friendship.

And he warned me not to mess around with you if I wasn’t serious because he didn’t want either of us to get hurt. ”

I consider what he says. “That’s a lot.”

“I was overwhelmed. My friends were teasing me about you and saying how we’d get married if we started hooking up, and it got me thinking. I was about to go off to college, and?—”

“And I wasn’t.” My heart sinks. I remember how he asked me that night if I’d thought about going to Lone Star State too.

He laces our hands together. “The idea of dating long distance felt like a lot of pressure. And if we went down that road and we didn’t work out, I’d be ruining the best friendship I’d ever had.”

I sigh. “That makes a lot of sense.”

“But I did lie that night.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I said I didn’t think of you like that, when I said I didn’t have feelings for you. I lied. I did have feelings for you.”

For a moment, I can’t breathe. Then I pull my hand away. “So I felt like I was going crazy for no reason?”

“I panicked. I was young and dumb and so out of my league with you.”

I scoff. “Okay.”

“I’m serious, Baylee. You’ve twisted me up like no woman ever has.”

“I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”

“Let me put it this way—no woman has ever compared to you. Trust me, I’ve looked.”

“Oh, I heard all about how you looked long and hard in college.” I turn my back to him and pull up the covers. My eyes sting, and I quietly sniff.

“Don’t do that,” he calls out behind me. “Don’t shut me out.”

“I really don’t want to hear about all the girls you fucked in college, Maverick, so spare me.”

He groans. “I wasn’t the manwhore you think I was. Yeah, I dated, but I didn’t sleep around like Jace.”

A harsh laugh bubbles from my chest. “You were a huge flirt in high school, but you were ten times worse in college. You forget that I came to some of your Lone Star State games. I saw you flirt with every girl in a ten-mile radius, Maverick. Every girl.” I punch my pillow with a huff.

“You might not have known what you were doing in high school, but you sure as hell did in college.”

“Baylee, look at me.”

“Go to bed, Maverick.”

“Baylee.”

Turning, I glare at him. “Are you going to pretend you haven’t slept with anyone since we were in high school?” That shuts him up. “Thought so.” I turn away from him and scoot as close to the edge of the bed as possible.

Tomorrow, I’m finding another place to live.