One-Eighty (Westover Prep 1)

“I did, too. You should come over a little earlier tomorrow so I can kiss you before you start helping Peyton.”

“Maybe, I will.” She winks at me before ending the call.

***

Piper came over early this morning just like I’d hoped she would. We made out like two people who hadn’t seen each other in years, even though it was less than twelve hours.

I couldn’t convince her to not tutor today, however. I begged and promised all sorts of delicious rewards if she cut the tutoring short, but since Peyton’s test is on Friday, Piper refused, saying that she needed these last couple of days to get ready.

I waited all damn day to get her alone, and I think she knew I was waiting not so patiently because they studied an hour longer than normal, only leaving us two hours to hang out before my parents were due home.

But, I’m an optimistic guy because a ton can get accomplished in two hours.

“Where are you going?” I ask Piper when I walk into the kitchen to find her loading her backpack up. “Were you just going to leave?”

Her cheeks redden.

“What’s this about?” I press my finger to her heated face.

“What we did last night was crazy,” she whispers, her head hung low.

“Do you regret it?”

“No, but—”

I halt her words by stepping in closer to her.

“You were fine this morning when you got here. Where’s this coming from now?”

She holds up her phone, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. Frustrated with spending the day alone while Piper tutored my sister, I got revenge by sending her a line of texts describing in nauseating detail what I wanted to do to her after she was done.

She never responded back, but clearly, she read them.

“We don’t have to do any of that stuff if you don’t want to,” I assure her.

Most of the things I sent were way over the top and an attempt to get her up to my room even if it was to tell me to stop, but she never showed up.

She doesn’t answer me, and it makes me curious. “Unless there’s something on the list that interests you?”

Her face is flaming by now, but I take a step back, giving her some space because she isn’t smiling.

“Piper?”

Once her notebooks and pens are shoved in her backpack, she looks up at me.

“Is this just sex and messing around? If it is, let me know. I’m not saying I’ll be completely turned off by the idea, but I need to know where it’s heading. I don’t want to get hurt.”

The words come out in a rush with barely a breath in the middle.

“No,” I answer honestly. “We can slow things way down. I don’t want you to think that’s all I’m after because it isn’t.”

“Your lips are on mine before I can even speak, recently. The car in the park. Last night on video.” She shakes her. “I feel like that’s all there is to us. You said I was your girlfriend, but—”

I press my fingers to her lips, hating that she’s always going to second guess my motives. I don’t remind her that she instigated the call last night, knowing that it wouldn’t be beneficial to either of us.

“Then we take sex off the table. Let’s just hang out. Watch a movie or something.”

“And that won’t make you mad?”

My head snaps back. “No, of course not. Why would I be mad that I get to spend time with the prettiest girl I’ve ever met?”

She grins now and allows me to lead her into the living room. She holds my hand on the couch, and we make it halfway through the first Harry Potter movie before my parents get home.Chapter 32PiperI woke up this morning with a migraine that even maximum-strength headache medicine couldn’t get rid of.

I called Peyton and told her that even opening my eyes hurt, but I’d be over later if I got to feeling better. She was actually happy I wasn’t able to make it, complaining that her brain is fried, and it needed a break.

I turned my phone to silent and went right back to sleep, the pain in my temples subsiding just enough to let me drift off.

What seems like mere seconds later, my bed dips, and Dalton’s familiar scent fills my nose.

“Hey,” I mumble as my covers lift.

“Peyton said you weren’t feeling well,” he says after pressing a soft kiss to the back of my head. “Is there anything I can do?”

“How did you get into my house?” I know the front door was locked. My parents left this morning through the garage like usual, and I’m the only one who really uses the front door, and I know I locked it when I got home from his house yesterday evening.