Page 23 of Salvation (Rising From the Ashes #3)

Ivy

T he wind blows my hair, slipping under my jacket and sending a chill over my skin.

It’s Friday night, and in Benton Falls, that means football.

Pretty much everyone in town is packed into the bleachers.

They are all here to watch the game. I’m here to watch Campbell.

I haven’t missed one of his home games since he started playing.

I sit in the same spot and wear the same thing every time.

Top right-hand corner and a jersey with his number on it. It’s our tradition.

The band begins to play the fight song, and anticipation buzzes through my veins. It’s always this way when I know I’m about to see him. My hands get clammy, and my heart starts beating a little harder.

I think I love him. No, I know I love him. I just haven’t told him.

We’ve been dating for a year, but neither of us has said it.

The idea of saying those three words, of making my feelings known even though I’m pretty sure he feels the same way, terrifies me because what if there is a chance he doesn’t?

I’d lose him. He’s my best friend, and I’d rather keep those words to myself than take that chance.

The first boys break through the banner held by cheerleaders on either side, with Hayes and Langston leading the pack.

The stadium roars their names, chanting as they run toward the sideline.

They are the hometown heroes, the ones who will lead our team to state, but my attention isn’t on them.

It’s on a dark-haired boy with piercing blue eyes who is currently smiling back at me.

Campbell is holding his helmet in his hands, and his hair is rumpled like he’s run his fingers through it a hundred times.

I have to bite back a smile because I don’t think I’ve ever seen Campbell completely put together.

I don’t mind, though. It’s one of my favorite things about him.

In my grandparents’ world, perfection is the expectation, but when I’m with Campbell, it feels like I have the freedom to be imperfect.

He keeps running, his eyes never leaving mine as he draws closer and closer to the middle of the field. I hold my breath the whole time, waiting for that moment that always makes me feel like I’m the center of his whole world.

When he reaches the middle, he stops and winks, his smile growing impossibly wide. My cheeks hurt from smiling back. To everyone around me, I probably look like an idiot, but I don’t care because when Campbell looks at me like that, the rest of the world ceases to exist.

A whistle blows, and he’s called over to the sideline. I watch him go, never taking my eyes off him, even as his attention goes to the game.

I stay that way all evening, and when it’s over, I follow the crowd down the bleachers to wait outside the locker room, just like I do after every home game.

Standing off to the side, I make myself as small as possible so other people can pass by.

The girls we go to school with giggle in groups as they wait to flirt with the players.

Sometimes I wish I had friends like that—girls to talk to and laugh with—but I have Campbell.

And no one can beat his friendship anyway.

The locker room door opens, and several players start trickling out. Rising on my tiptoes, I try to see around them, looking for him—always—and when he comes into view, my heart skips one beat and then two.

His hair is wet from his shower, and he’s smiling at me again. I love it when he smiles at me.

A couple of the girls try to stop him, but he keeps walking, never taking his eyes off me.

My bottom lip slips between my teeth, and his eyes turn heated.

I know Campbell finds me attractive, but I want him to love me.

At this point, it’s not even a want. It’s a need.

I need him to love me like I need the next breath in my lungs.

He reaches me and looks down, a dimple poking in his cheek, and all I see is him.

“Happy birthday, sunshine,” he says, leaning down to press a kiss to my cheek. Heat follows the path of his lips, and I try not to shiver. “I’m sorry you spent it watching me play.”

Birthdays don’t mean the same thing to me as they do to Campbell. His mom bakes him a cake and cooks his favorite meal every year on his. I’m not even sure my grandparents remember that it’s mine. Honestly, I’d be happy to forget, too, if it weren’t for Campbell. So, I play along.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way.”

His smile turns into a smirk, his eyes dancing as he reaches up, wraps one of my curls around his finger, and tugs. I try to swat away his hand, but he catches it in his other one, pressing a kiss to the pulse point in my wrist.

I forget how to breathe.

“Still,” he says, with a shrug.“I have a surprise to make up for it.”

Campbell’s voice is starting to get deeper, and I don’t know what to do with the way it washes over my skin. It’s quickly becoming my favorite sound, and I wonder if he knows how wholly I am obsessed with him. He makes my life better.

Curling up my nose, I try to repress my smile. “What kind of surprise?”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “You’ll have to wait and see. Now come on, so I can show you.”

He drops my curl but keeps my wrist in his hand, tugging me to the parking lot. And I follow, willing to follow him anywhere.

______________________

Campbell drives us home, and I don’t have to ask to know where we are going. We’re going to the willow tree.

Pulling into his driveway, he cuts the engine and hops out of the truck, running around to my side to open the door, just like he does every time I ride with him.

Usually, he offers his hand to help me down, but tonight, he doesn’t bother.

Instead, he reaches in, taking me by the waist and lifting me out.

I start to squeal, but it’s cut off as my body slides down his, making it impossible to think straight.

Something about tonight feels different. Charged. Electricity sparks through the air, sizzling against my skin and causing nerves to tingle in my stomach.

Campbell doesn’t step back once my feet are on the ground, and I don’t think I want him to.

Everywhere we touch, his body heat soaks into me, keeping me warm and turning me into a fire.

My skin buzzes as I lift my head to look at him, only to find he’s already staring down at me.

The heat from his body burns into his eyes, and a gasp slips from my lips.

He’s never looked at me like this before.

Like if he doesn’t kiss me, he might die right where he stands.

He looks a little crazed. A little possessed.

And I’m positive that if I were to look at myself in the mirror, I’d look the same way.

After what feels like an eternity, he leans down, dropping a kiss on my forehead before stepping back and finally placing space between us. The cool night air sinks in, and I miss his heat. I get it back in the form of his hand in mine, though, and I follow behind him as he leads us to our spot.

We don’t talk as we walk, the nighttime sounds speaking for us, and I wonder if he can hear how hard my heart is thundering inside my chest. The branches of the tree hang down low enough to create a curtain of privacy.

Without letting go of my hand, Campbell reaches forward and brushes the limbs back to make a path for us to walk through, and when he lets go, it’s just us.

No one will find us here. They won’t even think to look.

“So about that surprise,” I tease, a nervous giggle slipping out.

A boyish grin lights up Campbell’s face, and suddenly I can’t remember why I’m nervous. This is Campbell. My best friend. The only person I feel safe with.

“Impatient, are we?” Campbell chuckles, and I shrug. “Fine, but you have to close your eyes.”

I roll my eyes, but do as he asks. Then I feel him step closer again.

His heat presses against me, and his mouth drops to my forehead.

The kiss skates from my forehead down my temple and onto my cheek.

Then his cheek is pressed against mine, and he is whispering in my ear. “Open your eyes now, sunshine.”

I do as he asks, cracking open one eye at a time and tilting my chin up toward his face. The look I find in his eyes takes my breath away. Every fear melts away because it’s love shining back at me in his gaze.

One corner of his mouth tilts up, and he pulls back just enough to lift his hand between us. There’s a gold braided ring pinched between his thumb and forefinger, and it’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.

“Campbell—”

He shakes his head, letting his hand slide down my arm to mine and lifting it.

“Me first, sunshine.” His hands tremble as he slides the ring on my finger, and a picture flashes through my mind—an image of the future and a someday ring.

“I know people say we’re too young to know what love is, but they’re wrong.

I’ve known what it was since the first time we sat under this willow tree together, and one day I’m going to marry you, Ivy Cunningham.

But until that day, how about you just let me love you? ”

His eyes are pleading, as if he doesn’t realize I’ve been in love with him just as long.

Stretching up to the tips of my toes, I place a kiss on the corner of his mouth. “Only if you let me love you, too.”

When I pull back, it doesn’t matter that it’s dark outside. The smile on his face is bright enough to light my whole world.

“Dance with me, sunshine.”

I wrinkle my nose as his hand snakes up and tugs at my curl. I’ve never told him how much I love it when he does that.

“There’s no music.”

Campbell shrugs as if he never thought of this as a problem. “We’ll make our own.”

He doesn’t wait for me to respond, sweeping me into his arms and holding me tight as he starts to hum. The tune is off-key and barely recognizable, but when I lay my head against his chest, it’s in perfect harmony with the beat of his heart beneath my ear.

We dance beneath the privacy of the willow tree, and when the song is over, I lift my head and press a kiss against Campbell’s lips.

It’s innocent. A confession of love for one second and then two—and then it’s something more.

An all-consuming heat that is both terrifying and exhilarating all at once.

It fogs my head and clouds my judgment until all I can think about is the way Campbell’s hands are tracing the words I love you along my skin.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I know there’s a reason I should stop this—probably a good reason—but I’ve felt unloved since I was nine.

And Campbell, he makes me feel so much more than loved.

So I chase after that feeling a little more, kissing him harder until that voice of reason is smothered out in the heat.