that will never understand how a girl can love a boy for years, even with a promise of a broken heart.
“Oh, no, sorry.” I shake my head, and when his brows raise in question, I realize what that probably sounded like to him—he can’t sit. “It’s open. You can sit. There’s no one there. I mean, obviously.” The words spill past my lips in a nervous stream of word vomit.
He chuckles. The sound is deep and gravelly as it rolls through me. End lowers himself next to me and blows out a tired breath, as if he hasn’t sat in hours. I fidget in the grass, suddenly feeling like the air is stifling. My skin is overheating with his proximity, and suddenly, my brain is going haywire. Whereas, only seconds before, I felt calm as I stared up at the night sky and was chilled to the bone by the brisk air.
His clean, woodsy scent overpowers the smell of the grass and the creek, infiltrating my senses. Sitting next to him, it’s hard to ignore his overwhelming presence, just how larger than life he is. Out of the corner of my eye, I trek my gaze up and down his broad shoulders, taking in his profile. The height difference between us is evident even while sitting. He’s this big, bulky man.
That’s exactly what he is now.
He isn’t just a boy or a teen anymore. He is all man.
And at twenty-two years old, he is sexier than ever.
We sit in silence, soaking up the sounds of the creek and the nature around us. I can’t help but notice the weird energy radiating off Endymion. In all the times I’ve been near him, he’s always seemed so calm and collected, but right now? He’s the opposite. I may not know much about him, just what I know from afar, but whatever is bothering him is affecting his mood.
I open my mouth, trying to find a way to get him to talk, but he beats me to it.
“Happy Birthday.”
A smile tugs at the corners of my lips. “Thank you, um, Happy Birthday to you, too.”
“Do you spend all your birthdays sitting out here alone by this creek?”
I smile. “I do, actually. What about you? I would think you prefer doing something a little more extravagant on your birthday.”
He shrugs. “I like sitting here with you just fine.”
My heart stumbles at his words. It’s not like he’s professing his undying love to me or anything, but hell, tell that to my battered heart that has waited years for this man to show me an ounce of his attention.
Another period of silence lingers between us. Me, thinking about him and the years I may have wasted lusting after him, and him, sitting there, staring off into the distance, stuck in his head.
“You ever feel like life is moving too fast and you can’t catch ahold of anything?”
I glance at him fully, no longer pretending I don’t notice he’s sitting next to me. “All the time. I leave for college soon, and there’s this part of me that is scared to leave everything I’ve ever known behind, but you know what? I’m so tired of dealing with the same crap at home that I need a break. I’m looking forward to leaving this place.”
“I hate this town. I hate the fucking people here. I hate working at the garage with my dad. I never wanted this to be my life. I never thought that this, this is what I had to look forward to.”
I pause, processing his words. The last time I had a conversation with Endymion that lasted longer than a moment, he stressed just how badly he didn’t want to work at the garage with his dad. Sadness blooms in my chest when I realize he was never able to get out of this town. He ended up working at the very place he hated, the very place he wanted to avoid.
“What did you want?”
Slowly, he turns to look down at me. Like a spotlight shining down on him, the moon highlights his features, making it hard to do anything but beam at him in awe. For a moment, we just sit here in the long blades of grass with the rolling sounds of the creek as the moon stares down at us, studying our interaction as we watch each other. A long moment passes between us, and a startling vibration travels down my spine at the way he stares so deeply into my