Page 23 of Ly to Me (Devils of Alliston Springs #1)

“The happiest I’ve ever been,” he replied without pause, though my own pause stretched. His fingers drummed on the steering wheel. “Is that…okay?”

I smiled solemnly. “Yeah. I feel the same.”

“Great.” He grinned and squeezed my hand. “When can I meet yours?”

“Oh. Um…” I acted like I was calculating days or minutes—any stretch of time—when really all I could picture was Chet walking in hammered, yelling at Carver for being near me, or liking me. And if he kissed me? Chet would lose it.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t want to pressure you.” His words would have sounded reassuring if not for the deflated tone to his voice. The truck came to a stop behind a line of cars, the sounds of loud music making the windows shake.

“Carver.” I squeezed his hand, forcing him to look at me. He sighed and gave in, the dejection I’d heard clear as day on his face. “I’m sorry, I just—”

“Need time. I get it.” He turned and reached for the handle with his freehand, but I squeezed his hand again, drawing him back to me, though no words formed past my lips. His blue atala eyes searched my face. “We can talk about it when you’re ready, Ly. Really.”

I just hoped that length of time could stretch and stretch until he’d forget about wanting to meet them at all.

Mama was gone, and Chet wasn’t my father, anyway.

I wouldn’t be lying if I told him I didn’t know where they were every time he asked in the future.

But how long could that go on for? How long before he figured out that meeting them would never be in the cards?

Carver and I walked into the party holding hands, and immediately several pairs of hazed-over eyes locked onto us.

“Hey, my guy!” A tall boy with deep brown skin and a grin stretched across his face strolled up to Carver. Their hands slammed together. “You’re missin’ the puff-puff-pass outside.” My brows hitched, but as his friend’s gaze swept over to me, I quickly schooled my features. “Lyra, right?” he asked.

I nodded, and Carver wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me to his side. “Lyra, Jared. Jared, Lyra.” He pointed back and forth as he said our names.

Jared’s grin spread. “An honor, my lady.” He bowed, then chuckled as he came back up.

“Jared likes to act like an idiot when he’s high. But he’s my best friend, so I let it slide.”

“We all like to act like idiots when we’re high,” Jared corrected. He jerked his chin toward the back door. “C’mon. We saved you a seat.”

Carver’s hand slipped back into mine and I let him guide me as we made our way through the kitchen and out through a sliding glass door, where a small porch and about ten other people sat in a circle.

“There he is!” Carver’s fingers tightened around mine as another guy leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. In his hand was a glass pipe with swirling greens and reds and a large knob that looked like an eyeball at the end. “You bring that eighth?”

Car reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small bag. “Yep. Got another chair?”

“Course I do!” Every word his friend said was done with enthusiasm. A little too much. He looked really happy, too.

Too happy.

They all did.

Everyone was giggling in a circle and I couldn’t help but feel the need to push my dress down as discreetly as I could while Carver guided me to the chair one of his friends had just dragged out for me.

Their laughter continued, and it took me a second to realize none of it was aimed at me, or even Car.

They were just…happy. Talking about life and the stars and some story about a group of them at the beach from another time, when the guy next to me, who I found out was named Mark, had stripped down to nothing after taking something I’d never heard of before.

Carver let go of my hand briefly as that same glass pipe was passed to him. “Fill and pass, bro. Got something a little extra.”

Carver dug into the bag he brought and a sweet, flowery smell filled my nose as he broke a piece of it apart, then filled the pipe. “I’m Ant, by the way.” The friend beside him leaned over, his painted fingernails hovering above the bowl.

“Lyra,” I replied, unsure if I should hold my hand out or not. Was that stuff safe to touch? He was touching it. Did he want to shake my hand, or—

“All good now. You can go first.” Ant winked at me and my fingers dug into my palms.

“You okay?” Carver asked quietly, so only we could hear.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” I took a deep breath, kind of enjoying the atmosphere but also freaked out by whatever Ant had just put on top.

Carver followed my gaze to the pipe and raised it up. “You’ve smoked before, right?”

I nodded. “Oh, yeah. Totally.”

Carver hesitated, then leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Alright,” he said, then lifted the pipe to his lips and sparked a lighter above it. I watched as he dipped the flame over the top briefly, then immediately passed it to his left, away from me.

“To the left, to the left,” a girl in the group sang, and I relaxed into my seat, watching the pipe go around and around, each one doing the same thing Carver had. He finally exhaled what he’d taken in after the pipe reached the third person, and his head tipped back as he reached for my hand.

“Fuck, man,” Ant murmured as he stared up at the stars, just like Carver was doing.

“Yep,” Carver replied, his fingers smoothing over mine. His head turned to face me as his chin stayed titled up to the sky. Onyx circles ate away at his beautiful blue eyes, and a small smile formed on his lips right before he leaned in and kissed my cheek.

I blushed and glanced around the circle. Not a single person was paying any attention to us. They were all lost in the stars, or talking to the person next to them, waiting for the pipe to come to them next.

“You’re really beautiful, you know that?” he whispered sweetly against my skin as he shifted lower, then kissed my neck. I squirmed in my seat at the contact.

“Here.” The pipe tapped along my thigh, and I looked to the right to see Mark’s face angled up like Car’s had been.

Carver glanced at the pipe, a flash of worry passing through his eyes before calming almost immediately. “Want help?”

I nodded, and he took the pipe and lighter and held it up to my lips, then covered another circle with his thumb. “Suck in real quick when the lighter hits it, okay?”

“Okay.”

He pressed the glass to my lips, warmed over from the other people in the circle. I mentally grimaced at the thought, but then the flame sparked and I took in a quick breath.

The smoke burned the back of my throat and I coughed, clutching my hand to my chest as a short plume of smoke escaped me.

A weird sensation skittered across my head, almost like I was floating. My head felt bigger, my hands felt smaller, and everything in my usually overly analytical brain came to a halt.

“You like it?” Car’s voice filled my chest before it reached my ears, and none of that made any sense but at the same time, it made all the sense in the world.

“Yeah.” I nodded my head, the bounce feeling like a balloon being flicked over and over.

He chuckled and tucked some hair behind my ear. The touch, though it only spanned a small section of my skin, warmed my entire body. He lowered his voice as he leaned in and whispered, “You lied to me again, little Ly.”

I couldn’t help but giggle at his words. “What?”

“You’ve never smoked a day in your life, have you?”

I bit down on my lip and shook my head, my hair tickling my bare shoulders in a way that forced more laughter from me.

“Is that why I don’t feel like them? Are my pupils also super big like yours?” I reached out for his eye and tapped on the lid.

He chuckled more. “No, sweetheart.” His arm wrapped around my shoulder, tugging me to him. Then his fingers curled under my chin right before he brought my lips to his.

“Get a room!” Jared shouted from across the circle, and Carver pulled back slowly, flashing a grin at his friend before repeating the action with his middle finger up. All my nerves homed in on the spot where we joined, sending little zaps of energy through me.

I put a hand to his chest and pushed gently. Still, no one seemed to care that we had been kissing, or that he was holding me like he was besides Jared, who was already back to talking to someone else in the circle.

Oddly enough, I felt…at peace.

“So, what made your eyes so big and the stars seem so interesting?”

Carver quirked his lips to the side. “First off, the stars are always interesting.”

“Car, seriously.”

His thumb smoothed over my knuckles. “DMT.” His tone turned serious, like I’d asked him to be. “And I’m really glad I caught your lie before passing it to you first. You’re clearly a lightweight, not that that’s bad at all. Just means you won’t be taking the harder stuff if I can help it.”

I pouted. “What if I—”

“No, Ly.” His voice turned to stone. “You stay far-the-fuck away from that stuff. All of it, really. Weed and drinking here and there is one thing, but—” He stared at my lip as my teeth assaulted it. “You’ve never had a drink before either, have you?”

“Umm…no?”

“ Fuck. ” Carver took a deep breath and looked around the circle, then stood and held his hand out for me. “Good seein’ y’all, but Lyra and I are heading out.”

“Boo,” Jared hollered through his cupped hands, flashing a small eagle tattoo on his bicep. The knowing grin he gave us made another giggle rise to the surface as Carver tugged me through the back doors.

“Jared is a good guy. I like him.”

“He’s the best there is, besides you.”

I blushed furiously. “Where are we goin’?”

“Your house, my house, I don’t really care. As long as it’s just you and me.”

We waded through a sea of people who were drinking and dancing and laughing.

It kind of looked like fun. I still felt that bubbly, floating sensation, and it made me want to stay and have fun, too.

My attention was on some girls dancing and drinking in the corner, and when Carver stopped walking, I bumped into his back.

His arms stretched back, barring me from moving anywhere else. I peeked over his shoulder, and tiny pinpricks dotted my skin.

“Roland,” Noah spat, then smiled as he noticed me standing behind him.

“Hudson.” Their formalities jumped to their last names like the last time they fought. Carver’s fingers sprawled along my side.

“See you brought Lyra along.” Noah’s eyes fell to my exposed leg, shifting into something I knew immediately— hunger . And not the kind I felt at that moment. I doubted a cheeseburger and french fries covered in cheese sauce was what he was looking for. “How is that goin’? You ask her to prom yet?”

“Prom?” I asked and Carver stiffened.

“Aw, he hasn’t asked you?” Noah Hudson made a tsking sound, and a rumble moved through Car’s back, seeping into my front. “It’s in, what, five days? Time’s a tickin’.”

“Fuck off, Hudson. I told you to leave her the hell alone.”

Noah crossed his arms over his broad chest. “I’m not the one who signed up to do anything but that, now am I?”

Signed up ? What was Carver signing up for? Did he mean because he was with me? I didn’t know getting a girlfriend meant you had to take her to prom. I couldn’t exactly afford a nice enough gown for it, anyway.

"We're leaving." Carver took my hand again and dragged me right past Noah’s smug face that was glued to my legs and ass as we all but rushed from the party. I flicked my middle finger over my ass, and Noah’s laughter followed us out.

Car’s shoulders were tense as he helped me into the truck like he had before, only this time the door shut a little too hard. He turned the key in the ignition and shifted the car into drive immediately.

“Is this about prom? We don’t have to go—”

“No, I—” His hands tightened around the steering wheel, and I could see those deep breaths he was taking level out his frame once more. Calming him. When his hand slid into mine, it warmed me back up, soothing those pinpricks that Noah had formed. “I do want to take you.”

“You do?”

“Of course, I do. I just—” He exhaled another big breath. “I was gonna ask you tonight, after the party.”

I arched a brow. “You were? You aren’t just saying that because of what Noah said?”

His hand twitched in mine. “What did he say?”

“Just now? He basically said that you being my boyfriend meant you had to take me to prom.” Maybe he hadn’t heard because he was too mad to focus on the words.

Car nodded slowly, then released an odd laugh I’d never heard from him before. “Yeah, guess he’d be right about that.”

“You don’t need to feel pressured to take me, just like you aren’t pressuring me to meet your parents. I know showing up to a school thing with me might be pushin’ it a bit—”

“What?” His eyes found mine, all narrowed and confused. “Why would you think that?”

I shrugged. “I figured people might look at you weird. You’re more popular than I am, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Screw all of them.” His thumb rubbed soothing circles along mine. “Lyra Thomas, would you please do me the honor of attending prom with me? I’m not nearly as cool or smart or beautiful as you, but I think I can clean up nice and smile real big for the pictures they take.”

He flashed a grin, and those same darn butterflies went haywire. Carver Roland had no idea what he was doing to me, to my logic, to my way of life. He was disrupting everything—and I couldn’t find it within myself to care about any of that as I said, “Yes.”