his beer.
Instead of taking it, he put his hand over mind, forcing me to look at his face. His expression was troubled. “That was an asinine thing to say. I’m sorry. I’d say my manners are rusty but, honestly, I was a horse’s ass before, so . . .”
“Before? You mean before the accident?” I asked without thinking.
I saw his Adam’s apple bob. He frowned. “What do you know about the accident?”
Shit. I didn’t want Aaron to know I’d been stalking him. I sat down and took a swig of beer. “I mean . . . I assumed there was an accident. Sorry.”
He winced. “We’re oh for two. Maybe we should just stop talking.”
That made me smile. “No, no, we can’t stop now! We might be afraid to ever speak again. You know what they say about getting back on the horse. We can do this.” I cleared my throat. “I’ll start, and I swear, Scout’s honor, that I won’t take anything you say personally.” I mockingly raised my hand in an oath.
He raised his eyebrows doubtfully, but I ignored that and plunged on. “Yes, I go to college here. I was my high school class valedictorian so, no, it wasn’t because I couldn’t get in anywhere else. My mom has—” I took a deep breath “—bipolar disorder. It’s been bad the past few years. She can’t seem to get a good medication figured out and her doctor sucks. It’s just her and me because she and my dad got divorced when I was five. He lives in California now. So I didn’t want to move far away for college and leave her on her own. Plus, money. She’s an artist and she’s incredible, but she hasn’t been working much lately. So here I am in Ever After. The local college is better than you think. The campus is pretty, especially in the fall, and I like all my profs.”
Aaron listened to all of this babble with an intense expression, as if he really wanted to know about my life. “I’m glad you like the college. What are you studying?”
“I’m double majoring in biology and chemistry. I want to be a veterinarian and that’s a good setup for vet school. The good news is, dogs don’t care where you went to college. Right?” I laughed.
He groaned. “I deserved that. Do they have a veterinary science program here?”
“No. They only have undergrad. I’ll have to go away for vet school, but hopefully my mom will be better by then.”
“Biology and chemistry?” Aaron shook his head. “Yikes.”
I wasn’t sure if I’d actually impressed him, or if he was just being polite, but I felt a glow of pleasure all the same. “I like figuring out how stuff works. Like, at the cellular level.”
“I guess this isn’t beginner’s luck then. I’m doomed.” He rolled the first roll since I’d won the last game. He moved one of his pieces.
Chapter 11
Aaron
Billy took his first roll of the game and got double fives. He had the devil’s own luck. He tried to hide a pleased smile behind his hand, as if not wanting to gloat.
I rolled my eyes and groaned, but really, I was glad. Glad I hadn’t ruined the day with my stupid remarks about the local college. Glad he was smiling, even if it meant I’d lose another game.
The conversation had made me aware of my own sheltered reality. I’d had a brief flash of what it meant to be someone else—a bright high school graduate who couldn’t pack his bags and head excitedly to Harvard or Yale or MIT, who’d never experience all the freedom and growth and, yes, wild times of going away to college. I felt a stab of guilt. I’d had every privilege in the world heaped upon me, and I’d never appreciated it. Rather, I’d managed to blow it all.
Billy held the dice out for me. I took them in my right hand and his fingers brushed my palm. I pretended not to notice, but that touch sent an electric jolt down my body. It had been so long since anyone had touched me. I had a deep ache for more.
“There was an accident,” I said, rolling the dice.
His expression grew serious and he waited, listening.
Crap. Why had I started this? So much for changing the subject to something less thorny.
But he’d shared. I felt like I should give him something. I cleared my throat. “It happened on a mountain road. My car went through the guardrail and