Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

W e Aren’t Sleeping Together

Ruby

Ruby: I think your definition of slow and my definition of slow are very different.

Macklin: Patience is a virtue, and I don’t want your brother to murder me.

Ruby: Speaking of virtue. Mine is still intact.

Macklin: That’s a good thing.

Ruby: I’m horny.

Macklin: You want to kill me.

Ruby: Can’t we sneak away somewhere?

Macklin: I have a game this weekend.

Ruby: And I have a meet. Why don’t we sneak off during the day?

Macklin: What do you have in mind?

Ruby: We leave Riverside. Go somewhere where we can be alone. So you can seduce me.

Macklin: You’re giving me blue balls.

Ruby: We can remedy that.

Macklin: We need to go slow.

Ruby: Why do you have so much self-control?

Macklin: Years of experience. Be ready at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. I’ll meet you at the bus station.

Ruby: What will we be doing? Do I need clothes?

Macklin: Stop messing with me. It isn’t nice. And yes, you need clothes. Warm clothes.

Waiting for morning to come was brutal. I really wish Macklin would tell me where we’re going today. He messaged again this morning and told me to be at the bus station since he didn’t want us to be seen leaving the hockey house together. Which is why I’m waiting in front of the bus station. Only Macklin is nowhere to be seen. There’s a chill in the air and I zip up my black bomber. I’m wearing a pair of ripped jeans, and my knees are exposed, which in hindsight wasn’t such a good idea, because I’m shivering.

I text Macklin.

Me: Where are you?

He answers in seconds.

Macklin: Meet on the platform for Saugatuck.

Me: Are you crazy? That’s like 3 hours away.

Macklin : Exactly why we’re going there. I got you a bus ticket. Get moving.

Gah, he is so frustrating. I thought we would spend the day in the city, not go to some remote town on the beach in this weather.

I walk up to him on the platform, but he doesn’t look my way. He’s wearing a thick flannel shirt that looks more like a jacket and medium-wash jeans. He’s also wearing a baseball cap and it’s tilted forward over his head. It’s then I realize he’s being incognito.

He walks past me but as he does, he slips me the bus ticket. Then he waits off to the side. I understand the stakes are high and no one can find out what we are doing, but I feel like this is overboard.

The bus arrives and I get on. I take a seat next to a window and put my purse on the seat beside me. When Macklin gets on the bus a couple minutes later, he takes the seat beside me.

“I can’t believe we’re going to Saugatuck,” I tell him.

“The place is unbelievable, Periwinkle. Trust me.”

How could I not? This guy has never steered me wrong.

The bus leaves the station and heads onto the highway. “It’s going to be a long drive.”

“That isn’t a bad thing,” he says, and he lifts my hand and places a kiss on the back of it. His lips touching my skin causes an immediate reaction in my body. It turns me on so much. It blows me away how his small touch can cause so much chaos inside me.

I swallow hard.

“We aren’t sleeping together today, Periwinkle. Sex is something we need to build toward,” he says.

“And how will we be building toward that today?” I ask, feeling impatient.

“For starters, we are going to touch like this,” he says. He laces his fingers with mine and brings my hand to his mouth to kiss it again, but this time he doesn’t stop; he turns my hand and continues peppering small kisses inside my wrist. Who knew such a simple thing could be so sexy? My breathing picks up. I unzip my bomber. I’m wearing a tight white cropped top underneath. It is a scoop neck which shows a little cleavage. “Is this turning you on, Periwinkle?”

“More than I’d like to admit. I don’t understand. I usually don’t feel this kind of. . .” I can’t describe what it is exactly, but it feels overwhelming.

“Heat. I can see your breathing picking up. Watching your chest rise and fall like this will be the end of me,” he confesses, and hearing him speak so openly about us being together sends a thrill through me.

“This feels crazy, Macklin. We won’t be able to go back to being how we were before,” I state. “I shouldn’t be saying this because I don’t want to give you second thoughts, but something is shifting between us.”

“I feel it too, and maybe I’m willing to risk the consequences,” he declares.

“You mean fighting with Hayden? Or do you mean facing Abuela?” I ask.

He blows out a breath and pulls away from me.

“I haven’t thought this through,” he hesitates. “I can’t say no to you, but maybe I should’ve.”

“Don’t go getting cold feet on me now,” I warn him.

“Let’s just enjoy our day. We can’t force this, Rubes. It’s should happen organically.”

Would now be a good time to tell him that his small touches made me wet? Probably not.

“Let’s watch a movie, I brought my iPad,” he suggests. I don’t know what’s happened, but he’s shut down on me. I am pretty sure it’s my fault, but the way he makes me feel is overwhelming.

We decide to watch a spy movie. It used to be our thing when we were younger. The Jason Bourne movies were our favorites. He sets up the iPad between us and we start to watch a movie. I lean in and about halfway through the movie, I yawn. Macklin leans in too so we are leaning on each other. Then he places his hand on my thigh. “Is this okay?”

“It’s perfect,” I reply. But that isn’t true because I want more touching. More being close to him.

“This can’t lead anywhere. You and me,” he states.

“I’m a big girl, Mack, I know.”

“Okay.” We go back to watching a movie. After the movie Mack whips out some peanut butter and jam sandwiches he made, and we eat breakfast and start another movie. When we are three-quarters through the second movie we arrive to Saugatuck.

We disembark from the bus. “I forgot to ask if you’ve been here before. I didn’t think you had been, but I wanted to make sure.”

“This is my first time,” I tell him.

He takes hold of my hand. “I like having your firsts, Periwinkle.”

Then we head out and take a cab. I don’t know where we are going, but I would basically follow Macklin to the ends of the earth.