Free Enjoying Trouble (Trouble #3) by Dee Bridle Page B

sip.
    “There she is,” he said quietly, almost to himself as he sipped from his own mug. I was still here. The same girl that he had loved was here. I just couldn’t be her anymore around him.
    “Where are you sleeping? Or not sleeping?” he asked.
    “The couch in the lounge room,” I replied. He nodded and then asked, “What time did you all finish up?”
    “About an hour ago,” I said, stretching my legs, feeling the ache of being on them for an entire day and night. “They all got wasted on tequila.”
    “Did you go crazy on soft drinks?” he asked.
    “Yep, went all-out and knocked that fizzy sweetness back like crazy,” I muttered, putting my mug down and pulling myself up on top of the kitchen counter.
    “You’re so hard core,” he said, taking another marshmallow, throwing it up and catching it again with his mouth.
    “Completely hardcore,” I mumbled.
    “I know it probably doesn’t mean much right now but I’m proud of you,” he said quietly, focusing on the spoon on the kitchen counter between us. His words wrapped around my heart and I had to swallow the sudden lump of emotion that was stuck in my throat. He meant everything to me and I had ruined it all - because of her, because of me. I wanted to hear more of his words, I wanted to lean against him and soak up his strength, even if I was no longer allowed. I wanted to crawl inside him and just breathe, knowing he was protecting me. Knowing he always had my best interests at heart.
    “It’s tough to give it up when everyone seems to be doing it around you all the time,” he said next, still not looking at me. Giving up the things that numbed me was nothing compared to giving him up. I had left a whole chunk of myself with him and I missed both of them.
    “So where have you been staying lately when you haven’t been at home?” he asked quietly. I knew it drove Zac crazy when he couldn’t find me and it had obviously been annoying Will too. On those nights I needed to escape the ones closest to me, the ones that I had failed in so many ways. Without a phone trace, Zac couldn’t find my whereabouts and I was truly alone.
    “Different friends’ places,” I said vaguely.
    His eyebrows drew together and he flicked the spoon over with his finger. It clattered on the kitchen table between us, cutting into the silence. I could tell he wanted to say more and get more questions answered but I turned the questioning to him instead.
    “So you have your own room now - what happened to your famous couch?”
    “Went into the Hall of Fame,” he said, casually leaning against the kitchen counter. “They begged me to give it to them in the name of science and world records.”
    I couldn’t help but smile before I hid it again, hoping he hadn’t seen it.
    “Whoa, I think I just saw you smile again,” he said with a smirk.
    “It was a wince,” I said, putting my hand in the bag to get a marshmallow.
    “Thought so,” he said with amusement. I chewed the marshmallow slowly, savouring the gooey sweetness while secretly soaking up the guy next to me. I could smell him and feel his warmth, his body even closer to me than it was before. I hadn’t sensed him move closer, but he obviously had, if deliberate or by instinct I didn’t know. I wanted to close my eyes for a moment and just get lost in his warmth. He would always have this effect on me.
    “Did you enjoy the festival?” he asked next.
    “I did.”
    “Now you’ve popped your cherry with the Wall of Death, the sky’s the limit.”
    “I survived it, it wasn’t a big deal.”
    “Once you put your mind to it, you’d survive anything,” he said, turning slightly so both of his elbows were on the kitchen counter, his body even closer to me.
    “Is that just a 5am metaphor or are you specifically talking about me?”
    “I’m talking about you. Janey the Invincible.”
    I huffed and took a sip of my milk. He was so wrong that it was almost hilarious. I was a ball of contradiction