Page 54 of Until Nalia

“Okay.” She waits for me to lock the front door then jogs over to the Bronco, getting into the front seat, something she does on occasion if we are going short distances.

“Do you think we can go swim at grandma and grandpa’s tomorrow?” She asks as I head down the street towards Logan’s house.

“Maybe,” I glance over at her quickly, the bridge of her nose and cheeks are still pink from the sun today. “If not tomorrow next weekend for su…” I cut myself off when a group of boys riding their e-bikes comes out of nowhere, cutting in front of me in the middle of the road, scaring the life out of me. I slam on my brakes so hard my tires screech, my Bronco jerks forward, and my seatbelt digs into my skin. With my heart pounding, I look over at Zuri who I have pinned to the seat with my hand against her chest, something I must have done without thinking.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she breathes, and I spin my head around and quickly roll down my window.

“Hey!” I call out, and the boys all look back at me. I notice then that not one of them has on a helmet. Regardless, it would have been my fault if I hit them. It’s likely without a helmet on that they wouldn’t be going home to their parents later, and that pisses me off. “I almost hit you. You need to be careful!”

“Fuck you,” one of them shouts.

“Cunt!” another yells.

“Fuck you, bitch.” The kid at the back of the group turns around and flips me off, his eyes going past me to Zuri and narrowing. I recognize him immediately. He’s the little shit who kicked the ball in Zuri’s friend’s head, the same one who Cooper punched for talking crap.

I glare at his back when he rolls off behind his friends, keeping his hand with his finger up in the air.

“Are you sure that you’re alright?” I ask triple checking the street before I put my foot on the gas.

“Yeah, but maybe we should have walked,” she mumbles.

“Yeah, maybe,” I laugh and she giggles.

With my heart still beating erratically I pull into Logan’s driveway just a couple minutes later and watch his front door open and Cooper run outside.

Opening my door, I hop out at the same time Zuri does then meet her at the end of the sidewalk where Cooper greets us.

“Gigi is taking us to get Sonic and ice cream, then we’re going to watch a movie.” He shouts doing a dance with his hands and body shaking making Zuri laugh.

Looking past them, my eyes land on Logan standing at the top of the stairs with his gaze on me and a soft smile on his lips. The visceral reaction I have to his presence no longer catches me by surprise, and neither do the butterflies that have taken flight in my stomach.

As I close the distance between us, I’m glad I didn’t decide to change and that he kept things just as casual as me in a pair of worn jeans and a tee that looks like he’s had it for a hundred years.

“You okay?” He steps down the stairs and ducks his head, brushing his lips against my cheek. God, he’s ridiculously gorgeous and smells way too good.

“Yeah,” I tell him as Zuri chimes in.

“Nalia almost ran over Matthew.”

“What?” Logan asks, holding open the door for us. I start to open my mouth to explain what happened, but before I can, Gigi comes around the corner with a bright smile on her face.

“Hey, honey.” She smiles at Zuri, touching the side of her face like my mom does, and Zuri’s face softens.

“Hey, Gigi.”

“I’m not sure if Coop told you, but we’re gonna go get some food and ice cream, then come back and watch a movie.”

“He did, that sounds cool,” Zuri tells her, and Gigi smiles, then looks at me.

“We won’t watch anything scary.”

“I trust you,” I assure her as she wraps me in a tight hug, whispering. “You look beautiful.”

“Thanks,” I whisper back, laughing.

“Okay.” She claps after she lets me go. “Are you kids ready?”