She makes quick work of pulling away and starts walking backward.
“But when you’re a few feet away, the fog wears off and it all goes back to normal.”
“Yeah.” I meet her every step back with one forward. “And what’s normal?”
“Normal is you needing power, and me refusing to give it.”
“Trying to pull the old oil and water card, Raven?”
“Nah.” She shakes her head. “We’re both made of the same things, big man.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Problem is, I want to stay out of sight.”
“You think I don’t?”
“Oh, I know you do, but it’s different. You want to be out of sight, but you’re meant to be seen, and me?” She looks left, nothing but dark orchards for miles. “I’m meant to disappear.”
I step in front of her and she doesn’t jerk away when my fingers grip her chin to pull her attention to me. “Meant to or want to?”
She inhales as my hand slides into her hair. A slow blink. A tight grip to my bicep.
She’s ready for me.
“Both,” she breathes against my mouth now lined up with hers. Her stare bounces before mine. “You gonna kiss me again, big man? Right here, where all can see?”
“Again?” I raise a dark brow and hers pull in slightly. “I haven’t touched your lips yet, Raven.”
She goes to speak but stops when my thumb pulls down on her bottom lip.
My eyes meet hers. “At least, not these ones.”
She tenses at first and then, fuck me, a shy-like smile I’d never expect from her spreads and she drops her eyes. That look has my head spinning.
“You ate me out,” she whispers.
“Nah.” I release her, and she looks up as I’m stepping back with a smirk. “I only licked you a little bit.”
Her tongue sweeps over one corner of her mouth to the next, her smile coming right back. Her stimulated eyes track me as I walk backward.
She knows what I’m saying.
That was nothing.
I turn to head for Captain, unable to wipe the smirk off my face.
“Uh, oh.” Captain takes one look at me and laughs. He downs what’s left in his can and tosses it in the back of the pickup we’re standing by. “That look can only mean one thing coming from you, brother.”
My smirk deepens.
I think I’ll keep her.“Rae.”
I ignore Maybell, pretending to be asleep when I heard her walk in the room.
“Come on now, your headphones ain’t in, child, so I know you awake.”
Despite my best effort, I crack a small smile, and one eye pops open.
She grins and walks over, pulling her shawl closer at the center. She sits down on the vacant bed across from mine.
“Is this about my taking off this past weekend?” Or the journal I stole ... “We didn’t exactly talk—”
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. You were here all weekend.” She hits me with a stern expression.
I nod against my pillow. “Right.”
“You know,” she starts. “Lots of girls come on through here. Some stay until eighteen, most take off beforehand, and of course ... some get the boot in they bratty asses.”
I laugh lightly, moving to sit up.
She’s going somewhere with this.
“They like you.”
Neither of us pretends “they” need to be named.
“They hardly know me.”
“But they want to, I can see it. You know, never once did those boys pull a girl who came from here into their world.”
“No offense, but I don’t believe that.”
She scoffs. “Oh, Royce may have a few missed curfews here and there. That boy doesn’t need to know or like a thing about ‘em to, well, you know.” She shakes her head, but not in judgment.
“You love them,” I observe.
“I raised them.”
So that part of the rumor is true.
She tips her head back with a light laugh. “Well, I raised them as much as they let me. Their dad was good to them when he was around, but he was gone more often than not and eventually, they were old enough to be angry over it. The kind of anger a parent can cause never really goes away, it grows like mold from the inside, testing to see if we’re strong enough to clean it out. But they still love him despite his faults.”
“No offense, Maybell, but why are you telling me this?”
“I can’t say.” Her face tightens, the truth of her words causing her concern. She stands. “Might have something to do with the person waiting outside for ya. Call it, intuition.”
She moves to the door and turns back to me.
“I see something in you, Raven. Something I’m not sure you see yourself. Don’t let ... just, trust your gut, child. Trust ... what you know. The rest will come in time.”
She doesn’t wait for a response but leaves the room, and I’m left real fucking confused as to what she’s getting at.
I slip my feet in my boots, taking my time as I lace them up and pull a hoodie over my head.