go by Delivery Boy.”
He smiled sardonically toward the ocean. “Ronan.”
His hair curled around his ears, contrasting the porcelain of his skin. I took in his arms. One was tattooed more than the other, but it looked like there were more in progress. As I traced the lines with my eyes, I wanted to know more. To know everything.
“Go to high school?” I asked.
“No.”
“College?”
He shook his head but left it at that. I wondered what was hiding behind the dark sea of his eyes, mirroring the one before us.
“I go to Emerson Academy,” I said, needing to fill the silence.
“I know.”
“How?”
“Your uniform.” He glanced over his shoulder at me again. His eyes flicked lazily over my bare shoulders. “That morning in the café.”
Heat stirred the butterflies in my stomach. Ronan had noticed me. Remembered me.
“So, you and the movie star?” He almost said it with a hint of humor. Like my involvement with Ryde amused him somehow. But there was nothing funny about it to me.
“It’s over,” I said. “Beyond over.”
“Why were you with him in the first place? You don't strike me as the kind of girl who likes pretty boys.”
I shook my head with a heavy sigh. “I'm not. I'm just a girl with a dad who wants me to date the upwardly-mobile.”
“Oh.” He drove a finger through the sand, drawing small circles.
Our conversation felt like a dance, between his questions of why I was here and my questions of why he had brought me.
“If you could do anything,” he asked, “what would it be?”
“It's not a question of doing anything,” I answered. “The question is of being something.”
“And what would that be?”
“Free.”
He smiled at me. “I think we can arrange that, at least for a little while.”
Thirteen
He stood from his spot in the sand and extended his hands to me.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he easily pulled me up.
“Walking. Don’t you ever get tired of just being still?”
“No,” I answered honestly. Sometimes, I wished time would just stop. It seemed like my life was hurtling toward a destination I had no control over and my crash landing was just moments away.
He began walking along the packed part of the sand, his sneakers leaving small indents behind. The moon reflected the shallow impressions. He waited as I caught up, my heels hooked between my fingers and my dress lifted with the other hand.
The damp sand felt cool and refreshing under my bare feet, and with each step I took, I already felt freer. Ronan’s aura of mystery still hung over me, though.
“Can I ask you something?” I asked.
He nodded, slowly continuing his path down the shore.
“Why were you outside the club?”
“Just got off work.”
I nodded. But something still didn’t make sense. “Why did you give me a ride?”
His shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Why did you accept?”
I shrugged too. My stomach growled, standing out even with the crash of waves against the sand.
A small smile lifted his lips. “Hungry?”
“Starving.”
“Let’s go.” He turned course, and we walked together toward the boardwalk.
This time, getting on his motorcycle seemed more natural, and I easily slipped my arms around his waist. I realized Ronan felt solid, more so than anything I’d been holding on to lately.
He took off down side streets and alleys, easily taking each turn like he’d done it a hundred times before until he pulled into the lot of a Thai restaurant. He stopped the bike and helped me off.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Best place in town,” he said. “Hands down.”
We walked up sloping cement steps, and he pushed open the back door. Inside the kitchen, several staff worked over sizzling grills. One took notice of him and said, “Hey, Ro.”
Ronan lifted his chin. “Can you get us something?”
He nodded and cracked his spatulas over the grill, easily pushing around the food he was preparing.
I fiddled with the clasp on my clutch, wondering how many times Ronan had taken a girl back here.
I was immediately appalled at the thought running through my mind. What claim did I have on him? What right did I have to be disappointed? The only time he’d even touched me was when he said I could put my arms around him on the motorcycle, and even then it was technically me doing the touching. If anything, he was a knight helping me find my way.
Dalton from the club had been far more suggestive in much less time.
The cook shoveled a combination of rice and meat into a couple takeout boxes and handed them