Free My Skylar by Penelope Ward Page A

eyes. “You told him
    we kissed, didn’t you?”
    I stopped rubbing her feet, and my heart was pounding. “Yeah.”
    “I told Angie. I had to talk about it with someone because we weren’t talking about it. You know?”
    I swallowed, unprepared to discuss this. “Yeah, I know.”
    She held out her hand. “Show me the text.”
    I laughed nervously. “No.”
    “Show it to me.”
    My tone was serious now. “No, Skylar.”
    She got up from under the covers and grabbed my phone. She was sick and shouldn’t have
    been exerting herself. I knew she wouldn’t back down, so I didn’t fight her.
    Fuck.
    She read it and rolled her eyes.
    “I’m sorry he’s being a dick,” I said.
    “You think that bothers me?”
    “No…but it’s disrespectful.”
    “I don’t care what anybody thinks. I just care about you . Did you forget that I can sense what certain people are feeling? With you, it’s stronger than most, always has been. You think you’re
    hiding stuff from me, but you’re not, not earlier today in your room, not any day. Himeros and
    Pothos…”
    “What?”
    “The Greek Gods Davey was studying that he said reminded him of you.”
    “Yeah…what about them?”
    “I studied them, too. Himeros is the God of desire and unrequited love. Pothos is the God of
    yearning and wanting.”
    Shit.
    I let out a long, shaky breath. “Oh.”
    “Was he right? Were you just trying to stick it to Aidan with that kiss, or do you really want
    me? Please be honest.”
    Her eyes were searing into mine, and I felt like she could see right through me. If that were the
    case, then she knew I wanted her more than anything in my entire life. There was no point in
    lying. I may never muster up the courage to make good on my feelings, but I couldn’t look her in
    the eyes anymore and deny what was painfully obvious. I looked down for a moment, and my
    tense hands formed into fists when I whispered it. “Fuck yes…I want you.”
    It felt good to finally admit it out loud.
    I was sweating, but she was still shivering when I looked up at her. Her lips spread open into a
    slight, sympathetic smile. It took every ounce of strength in me not to cover her cold body with
    mine.
    “Thank you for being honest.”
    I nodded, unable to take my eyes off her now. “It’s the truth.”
    She adjusted the blankets over herself and sat up when she said, “I’ll talk about almost
    anything, but it’s not easy for me to talk about my feelings for you because getting rejected by you is about the only thing that could destroy my pride. But you mean more to me than my pride,
    more to me than probably anyone ever has. I don’t want to lose moments with you. I don’t want
    you to push me away like you have been because you’re afraid. I need you to know that if we screw
    up and fail, no matter what happens, you won’t lose me, okay? I’ll always be here.”
    Hearing her say that meant everything. Now, I had to work on believing it.
    “Okay.”
    “I’m going to go to sleep.”
    I left her bedroom in a daze.
    Her scent was all over my bedding that night as I played her words in my head over and over
    again.
    Over the next several months, that conversation in Skylar’s bedroom would haunt me. I don’t
    want to lose moments with you. I’ll always be here.
    I wondered if she sensed something that day, because I could have never predicted that the
    possibility of losing Skylar would take on a whole new meaning.
    CHAPTER 9
    SKYLAR
    I perused my closet for just the right outfit. Even though it wasn’t technically a date, Mitch had
    asked me to go to the movies with him, and it would be just the two of us. There was a new Adam
    Sandler flick he really wanted to see, and he’d be driving us there in Janis’ Accord.
    It was a Saturday night, but Mitch hadn’t been going out on dates with the girls from school
    lately. We never discussed why. It was obvious that he’d been making excuses over the past few
    weeks to hang out with me on weekends,