19. Micah

19

MICAH

" W e can explain the photo." I leaned into Ava, unsure if my touch would be welcome, but she immediately curled into me. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I gave in, lowering my head and burying my nose in her soft hair. The night air was chilly, and she shivered. My arm tightened around her, letting her burrow into my body heat.

"How?" Her voice was muffled against my chest.

"Easy. We say I was there on a team photography assignment, contrasting hockey players with ice skaters. All I need to do is get some photos of you in action, and I can easily make an article out of it."

"Really?"

The undisguised hope in her voice made me want to kiss her. "Yeah, really. It's going to be okay."

She stopped dead on the sidewalk, turning to look at me. Her hand came up to cup my jaw. It was as if she was seeing me for the first time, seeing me in a whole new way.

"Micah. Thank you. For everything." Her hand trembled.

"You're welcome," I said softly. As much as I didn't want to ruin the moment, I couldn't help thinking about the library. "Ava? What happened with Grayson earlier?"

If we hadn't been so close, I might have missed the flush on her cheeks in the darkness surrounding us, broken only by the intermittent lamps that edged the road. "He kissed me. I— It was confusing. I wasn't expecting it." She laughed humorlessly. "I don't think either of us were."

My heart sank, and at the same time, sped up. It was like a roller coaster—nauseating but exhilarating. "Did you like it?"

She bit down on her pouty bottom lip. The urge to kiss her was so strong, I had to take a step back, loosening my grip on her. This beautiful woman was so far out of my league, I shouldn't even be contemplating kissing her, as if it could actually happen.

Eventually, she nodded. "I didn't want to like it. I wish…" Trailing off, she gazed at me, her eyes wide and her pupils dilated. "I wish I could have?—"

"Ava!"

Both of our heads jerked up. It was only then that I realized we'd reached Ava's sorority house, and one of her sorority sisters was in the open doorway, beckoning her inside.

We can explain the photo .

My promise to Ava echoed through my brain, and squaring my shoulders, I stepped forward.

"Hey. I'm Micah Pierce. I'm doing an article on hockey players and ice skaters, and I'm featuring Ava as one of the skaters. I wondered if I could ask you a few questions about her sorority life." Giving her my most polite smile in response to her suspicious look, I added, "Olivia asked me to take some photos, too."

At my words, she relaxed, stepping aside to let me through. "Oh, yes. Livy mentioned that. Come on in."

"You didn't need to pick me up."

Cruz huffed out an impatient breath next to me, starting up the engine with a loud rumble. This staying in pairs thing was really happening, then.

"We stay in pairs." There was a long, drawn-out pause, and then he bit out, "Except I let Cross walk home alone earlier."

"Huh?" My head shot around to face Cruz's profile—the tense line of his jaw, the way his eyes were narrowed, his fingers clenched around the steering wheel.

"He had to get back to the hockey house for a team meeting. You know he wouldn't have let me walk with him. He would've bitten my head off if I'd even asked."

That was true. A grin tugged at my lips as I imagined just how pissed off Grayson would be with Cruz walking him home.

Another thought struck me. "What about after this? You'll be alone."

"I'm in my car. Nothing will happen."

"You'll text me the second you get back to your house," I told him, and some of his tension disappeared, the corners of his lips kicking up.

"I will, will I?"

My response was forgotten as we turned onto the street where I lived in a three-bedroom house with my dad. It was right on the edge of campus in an area where a number of the alumni resided, and I hated it. Not the house itself, nor the area, but the fact that since my mom had left, it had been me and him, and he couldn't stand the sight of me. He hated that I reminded him of her, that I could never live up to his dreams of a son he could mold in his image.

"Micah?"

I blinked, and then blinked again, coming back to myself. I realized two things in quick succession—the car had stopped, and Cruz's palm was resting on my thigh, the heat searing through me.

Swallowing hard, I curled my fingers around the cool leather of the seat on either side of my body, letting it ground me. "Sorry."

"Fuck apologies—what's the problem?"

There was no way on earth I could even begin to explain my complicated relationship with my dad to Cruz Martinez, who hadn't even experienced the way I'd let him down time and time again. The way I'd never, ever be enough.

"I just…I don't want to go back there yet," I said, and maybe something in my voice gave me away, because there was a sharp intake of breath from Cruz, and then the tires were squealing as he pulled away from the curb. We drove into the darkness, and I didn't question where we were going. Instead, I lay my head back and closed my eyes, somehow trusting him to keep me safe, against all logic and reason.

When I opened my eyes again, we were next to a creek, with trees swaying in the breeze on the far bank. I stared around me curiously, before turning my gaze to him to find he was already facing me. Part of his face was thrown into shadow, but I could make out that half smile curving over his lips, and an unexpected warmth in his eyes that made my heart skip a beat.

"I can see why they're both obsessed with you," he murmured, his hand coming up, one finger brushing down my cheek.

I shivered. "W-who? Where are we?"

Instead of replying, his gaze searched mine, his finger sliding from my cheek to my jaw, and then around the back of my neck, tugging lightly.

"Micah," he said. My breath stuttered at the clear intent in his eyes.

"Yes," I breathed in response to his unspoken question, not even knowing I was going to say the word until I'd already spoken it. This was something I'd never contemplated before…or had ever let myself contemplate before, not with him, or with any other man. Until Grayson… Even seeing him in the shower—my dick had been on board with that, but the rest of me had resisted. But right here, right now, with Cruz looking at me like that, it felt like everything in me was aligned. It felt inevitable.

"Fuck. Yes," he confirmed, leaning in and closing the distance between us, our lips sliding together.