The Other Girl - Trisha Wolfe Page 0,15
burned out. Charred remains left to smolder against the rocks.
A smile tugs at my lips as I imagine teens coming here to make out. It reminds me of the beach hangout where I first met Jeremy. Although that memory is now tainted. My smile falls.
I perch my thigh against one of the large boulders, wishing I had a change of clothes in the car, as I angle myself to get a picture of the sky at sunset. A loud rumble startles me, and I nearly drop my phone down the ravine. “Dammit.”
The roar of a motor grows louder. I push off the boulder and wait to hear the vehicle pass, but it only gets closer. Deciding the mood has been spoiled, I start toward my car—and am immediately halted by the sight of a black motorcycle coasting up next to my Audi.
The rider wears a helmet, but I know—I just know—who is beneath the visor. I know, because I’ve stared at that same bike on his social media page for days.
Carter revs the engine once before he switches it off, kicking out the stand to lean the bike. He removes his helmet and hangs it on the handlebar. I watch, mesmerized, as he scrapes a hand through his dark hair, his eyes fixed hard on me.
My stomach is one tightly threaded knot. “What are you doing here?”
His mouth quirks into that sinful grin. “I followed you.”
I open my mouth to say…something. But I’m speechless. This situation is absolutely unfamiliar. I don’t know what to say, what to do—what to even think. I’m the one who has been fighting my urges to follow him. I’m doing everything within my power to behave…and here he is, the devil of temptation.
And we’re alone.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I say, Dr. Leighton’s words bleeding through. I grip my phone in one hand, my keys in the other, as I carefully step my way across the rocks. “You should leave. Or…I’ll leave.”
My nerves are on fire. My skin ablaze. My heart thumps wildly inside my chest. I can no longer hear the birds in the trees. “That stunt you pulled in the auditorium…and then not showing up for your session today…”
“You told me we shouldn’t see each other that way,” he says. “I thought about it, and you’re right.”
“See me outside of school was not what I meant, either.” I’m completely out of my element, and I need to gain the upper ground. Figuratively and literally. “This can’t happen, Carter. I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not an effective way to get what you want.”
He just watches me with that cocky grin. Those dimples. “I think I’m having all sorts of effects on you. Watch your step—”
It’s suddenly darker than it was only a moment ago, and gravity clings to my loss of equilibrium. My foot hits a stone wrong and I stumble.
Keys and phone clatter to the ground, but Carter catches me before I fall face-first onto the rocks.
He’s warm and solid and that scent… I take note of every flexed muscle in his arm, his chest pressed hard to mine. I right my feet, but he doesn’t let go. Instead, he frees one hand to sweep the hair from my eyes, his face hovering too close to mine.
“Why are you torturing me?”
His features draw together. “I could ask you the same thing.”
I didn’t mean to say that out loud; I’m disoriented and can’t think clearly, with his scent invading my senses, his heat searing my skin. I try to wriggle free, but he closes his arm around my waist, preventing me from escaping.
“If you keep squirming like that,” he says, “I’m not sure I can control myself.”
He effectively ends my fight when he crushes me to his chest. His eyes find mine, blazing with blue intensity, and I can’t breathe, my chest aching with every inhalation.
“Carter…please…” I’m not sure what I’m begging for—for him to let me go? For him to never let go? This is madness. “You can’t talk to me this way—”
He rests his forehead against mine, and my body softens in his hold.
I shiver, but not from the chill in the air. My blood is fire, my skin reactive to the elements in stark contrast. His grip seizes more than just control over my body.
I’ve never felt more powerless and powerful all in the same moment.
“My behavior was wrong before, when I grabbed you,” he says, as he pulls his head back. His hand skims my arm, trailing