Ground Rules

Chapter Sixteen

Mazey

Several WeeksLater

“Put the goddamn cigarette out!”Cole’s stern voice caused me to jump in my seat. “My girlfriend was in a fucking fire and is on constant watch from the smoke inhalation!”

“Sorry, man.” The poor guy looked at Cole and then to me with a look of fear and remorse in his eye before dropping the cigarette and squishing it with his shoe.

“You know, you were in the fire, too,” I said through a smile.

Cole’s hot grin met me. “But I only care about you.”

I glanced down to the bandages wrapped around his forearms, feeling sick to my stomach over what had happened just a couple weeks prior. Cole had been labeled the Knight in Shining Armor of campus. Word got around about what had happened with Ryan, considering there was a huge manhunt for him after the authorities had arrived at the scene. Thanks to my 911 call, the police and firefighters showed up nearly seconds after Cole had dragged me out of the burning building—talk about chivalry. Although, it was my fault we were there in the first place.

My parents were still disappointed with the reason I had transferred to Noany Bay. No one but Cole knew that I had been there to catch Ryan and to potentially take him down. Once they learned that I had figured out who had sexually assaulted me, and that I was wanting to put a stop to it, which ended up with Cole and me almost dying…well, to say they were concerned was an understatement.

The only good thing that came out of it was that my parents no longer held a grudge against Cole, and his parents didn’t seem to despise my family any longer, although Cole didn’t really care about his parents’ opinion—his words, not mine. And Ryan was locked away on numerous counts. The rape kit matched his DNA, for starters, and other girls were coming forward, and there was a recorded statement of him admitting his wrongdoings from the 911 call, along with the fact that he tried to kill us.

Yeah. Cole and I were definitely popular on campus as of late.

Which was why we were back in our hometown for the weekend, going on our first official date. We were attempting to avoid the spotlight.

“It seems so silly that we’re on our first real date right now.” I smiled as we entered the small hole-in-the-wall movie theater that sat just outside of Pike Valley. We were surrounded by a ton of teenagers, and I felt so out of place.

“Why is that?” Cole asked.

I half-laughed. “Because think of all we’ve been through.” Cole held my hand as we handed our tickets to the ticket clerk, who I was pretty certain was higher than a kite, and opened the door for me. I blushed, and he noticed.

“We have been through a lot, I agree.”

“So, a first date seems so weird, right?”

Cole pulled me back slightly before we could make it down the darkened aisle. He peered down at me at the same time I peered up. “You’re right.”

My brows crowded at the devious smile that covered his features. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Since we’ve already been through what most people have in a lifetime, maybe we could skip to the good part?”

My lips curved slightly as his hands found my waist. He pulled me into his chest, and I inhaled his cologne. “The good part? The movie hasn’t even started yet.”

Butterflies filled me up to capacity because I knew what that look meant. Cole’s eyes twinkled, even in the darkened cinema, and his sexy grin had my entire body sparking to life.

“What do you say we take a walk down memory lane?”

My brows crowded for a split second before I thought about the last time we came to this shitty movie theater. We were with our separate groups of friends. Me with the scholarship bunch, and him with the elite. It had been a total coincidence that we were at the same movie at the same time—or at least I thought. Now, looking back with years of maturity clearing things up for me, I was wondering if Cole had planned to be there the same night I was.

“Do you remember, Maze?”

Cole’s hand fell into mine again as he rounded the corner and opened the side door. He pulled me up the steps, and my heart beat faster and faster with anticipation until we got to the final stair. There was a thin red curtain separating the stairs and where the projectionist sits, which of course, was empty. The teenage worker never stayed up here after the movie started playing—at least, not when we came up here several years ago.

“So,” Cole mused, pushing the curtain back so we were alone. He peered over his shoulder at me. “Do you remember?”

My stomach dipped, and I began sweating. Snippets of kissing and touching from the past started to filter in, and my chest began to heave. “What if I tell you I don’t?” I said, biting my lip.

Cole’s green eyes darkened, and with the shadows from the screen playing down below, it felt as if we were tucked away in a secluded club back at Noany Bay. His steps carried him over to me quickly, and as soon as he reached me, I placed my hands on his biceps, careful to watch for the bandages, and shoved him down onto the empty chair.

A rough gasp left him, and his eyes narrowed. “I know damn well you remember the last time we were up here, baby.”

I hummed, hooking my legs over the sides of him. Our middles met, and Cole hissed before bringing our mouths a breath apart. “Think you can refresh my memory, Cole?”

He growled before taking my mouth. “I love hearing my name on those sweet lips.”

The End