Reconcile by Nicole Dykes
Seventeen years old
“Don’t go.”
I smile as my lips brush against Sawyer’s again. This boy is definitely my weakness. We can’t seem to get enough of each other. The first party he talked me into going to with him was only a few months ago. When he walked me back to my house, he leaned in and kissed me goodnight.
After that, I was a goner.
It didn’t matter that we were friends or that he was a player. I wanted to feel that feeling again and again, so I did.
Maybe I should make him promise me things. Maybe we should define what we are, but I don’t push him.
Why? I have absolutely no idea.
I just know when I’m around him, my mind is mangled and my heart races. I crave his kisses, his laugh, his jokes. Everything.
“I have to. My mom nearly caught me sneaking back in last night. She’s going to lose her shit if she ever does.”
He grins against my lips. “But if you go, we can’t keep doing this.” He kisses me deeply, and I groan into his mouth because I don’t want to leave.
“Sawyer . . .” I push him back gently, my hands on his solid chest. “I have to go.”
We’re standing in my parent’s backyard, near the pool shed where we usually meet. My parents probably aren’t even home anyway, but I can’t risk it. I’ve always been the good girl, riding on just this side of following the rules.
But Sawyer frequently shoves me over to the other side, pulling me in with that smile I can’t seem to resist and those dark brown eyes that always flicker with chaos and possibilities. They’re so richly dark, and I often get lost in them.
Just like I’m doing now in the moonlight as my thumb brushes over the stubble on his cheek while his lips hover over mine. “I’ll miss you.”
I try to laugh at that, but I feel it deep inside my gut. “No you won’t. You’ll find someone else to hang out with.”
He shakes his head. “Nope. I only ever want you, Pipes.”
I roll my eyes and shove him playfully. “Liar.”
He flashes that sexy grin and feigns hurt as he clutches a hand over his heart. “Me? A liar?”
I laugh, “Get out of here. I need to go inside.”
He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me tighter to him, brushing his lips over mine. “Everything, Piper. Soon, when we graduate, we’re going to do everything.”
I feel my heart racing as I look into those eyes that have always made me trust the boy who most everyone else would deem untrustworthy. I nod my head and whisper as I press my lips against his, “Everything.”
I feel him smile against my mouth, and then he presses a final chaste kiss to my lips and releases me.
I leave him there and go inside, locking the door behind me and breathing in deeply.
Someday.
For whatever reason, I trust those dark brown eyes more than my own instincts, which are telling me that disaster is coming.
