Page 29 of What He Always Knew

I saw her eyes wide and lips parted as I slid inside her for the first time.

I saw her under a white veil as she promised to love me for the rest of her life.

And the way she looked at me, the way she tilted her head to the side just an inch, I couldn’t be sure what she was thinking, but I did know one thing.

She still loved me.

Even if I didn’t knowwhy, I knew she did.

The song faded out, both of us still bopping along, and she leaned one elbow on the console with her hand propped on her chin.

“Kiss me,” she whispered.

I slowed, glancing at the road once more before my eyes found hers. She watched me with brows bent together, like being near me hurt her as much as it healed her. I framed her chin with my pointer finger and thumb, lowering my lips to hers slowly and purposefully, as if that kiss was my only chance to keep her outside of her shell. I’d finally coaxed her out, and now I needed her to stay.

My eyes found the road again, ensuring I was driving safe before I glanced back at her. She was still watching me, a small smile on her lips now.

“I love you.”

I rubbed her lower lip with my thumb, tracing where I’d just kissed her. “I love you, too.”

When my eyes glanced back to the road, I smirked, leaning in to press my lips to hers once more.

“And Charlie?”

“Yes?” she breathed.

I smiled wider, kissing her nose.

“Stripes.”

Charlie tilted her head again, then she whipped around just in time to see the sign fly by.

“Damn it!” she yelled on a laugh, then she poked my ribs over and over as I laughed, too, trying to dodge her jabs. I memorized her laugh in that moment, the way it left her lips at different decibels, the tone of it sweet and song-like.

I wanted to bottle it up and keep it forever, just in case I ever wanted to take a sip of this night again. Later. In another time.

In a time when maybe she wouldn’t be mine anymore.

“So, I have to strip now?” she asked.

I just lifted a brow, because she already knew the answer.

Besides, I was too busy tracing the lines of her face, tacking them to the foam board of my memory, hoping to keep her there forever.

But when she reached behind her, eyes on me as she unclasped her bra, everything else faded away.

And I prayed to God for more time.

Charlie

“That was so fun,” I said as Cameron unloaded our bags from the trunk.

He threw them over his shoulders, closing the trunk and reaching for my hand as my mind ran over the memories that resurfaced from the evening.

“I can’t believe how much the campus has changed,” I added, offering to take my bag from him. He just shook his head, tightening his grip on my hand. “The old bonfire pit is gone. I mean…gone.”

“Guess they needed a Science Center more than drunken bonfires.”