Rock Bottom (Dawson Family 6)

The wind blows my hair into my face, and when I shake my head to get it out of my eyes, sparkling stars catch my eye.

“Look!” I call, pointing to the sky. “A shooting star!”

Dean stops next to me, tipping his head up as well. “I think I missed it.”

“Just wait. Sometimes there’s—oh, another!”

“Wow,” he breathes as two more tiny golden lines streak across the sky. “There’s a meteor shower tonight. I’d forgotten about it.”

“I didn’t even know we were supposed to have one.”

He closes the distance between us and puts his arm around me. “You’re freezing.”

“This helps.” I lean in as he envelopes me in his arms. I bring one hand up, resting it on his firm chest. We stand there, watching the sky, and it’s as if the whole world stands still. Dean slowly runs his hands up and down my arms, doing his best to keep me warm.

“It’s so beautiful,” I whisper as another gust of wind blasts us. Dean tucks my hair behind my shoulder.

“Yeah, it is.”

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” I start, looking from the sky to Dean for a second before watching for another shooting star. “How far away space is? I mean, obviously it’s far, but when you think about it…it’s just crazy.”

“And we’re on some big floating ball.”

“Yes! It’s almost like a mind fuck,” I laugh.

“It is. Do you believe in aliens?” His lips curve into a half smile.

“I wish I didn’t because it kind of freaks me out, but I can’t deny that there isn’t life out there.” I sweep my hand out at the sky and shiver. I bring it back against my body, and Dean holds me closer. “And I don’t think they’re Independence Day aliens who are going to come and invade earth. Humans have kind of ruined this planet. Why come here, right?”

“I actually think the same exact thing. It’s…it’s almost narcissistic in some ways to think we’re the only intelligent race in the whole universe.”

“Yes! And you know something really trippy? If they are out there, do you think they’re looking at the same stars we are? Maybe there are two aliens doing the same thing we are, right now.”

“That is trippy.”

I’m shivering, and by now Dean has to be cold as well. The wind blows again, hitting us with a dusting of snow.

“Your skin feels like ice.” Dean runs his hand up my arm before slipping it over my shoulder. His fingers sweep along the line of my spine, and he presses his palm into the small of my back.

“It is cold,” I comment, turning my head to look at him, and the moment his blue eyes lock with mine, something passes through me. It’s not the pure lust-fueled heat that I felt before.

No, this time it’s…different, and I cannot explain it to myself even if I wanted to.

I left with the intentions of hooking up with a stranger, of having primal feel-good-while-it-lasts sex. Yet here I am, delicately pressed against Dean’s chest, watching stars fall around us. My heart skips a beat and my lips part, realizing that if we were in a romantic movie, this would be the part where Dean kisses me. Where we go back to his place and have said primal sex, but when the morning comes, we both know it’s something more.

Only, it can’t be. Because I started this with a lie, and it has to end that way. I could come clean, tell him that I didn’t graduate top of my class from Cunt University and that my name is actually Rory. That I moved here after my life went to shit back in my home town and it’s actually been really nice being somewhere new where people don’t know me as the weird girl who got in trouble for bringing a wooden stake to school in the sixth grade because I thought the new janitor was really a vampire.

Even if he didn’t run away screaming, it would ruin the mood, wouldn’t it? He wouldn’t be holding me like this, standing here in the bitter cold so I can look at the stars.

“You’re trembling,” he says softly. “Do you want me to get my coat?”

Not leave, but get his coat so I can keep watching the fucking sky. Stop being so irresistible, Dean.

“No, I…I…I’m ready to get out of the cold.”

“Are you sure?” He tucks my hair behind my ear again. “You didn’t have too much to drink, did you? I can drop you off at your place if that’s what you want.”

Mother. Fucking. Hell.

Leave it to me to find the perfect guy and completely screw it up.Chapter 10Dean“No,” she says, full lips parting. “I didn’t drink too much.” She’s shivering in my arms, and the cold is starting to get to me too. I have jeans and long sleeves on. That dress looks amazing on her, but she had to be cold the moment we stepped outside.