Breaking the Rules (Pushing the Limits 1.50)

I sigh. “Still doesn’t change how I feel about him.”

“I’m aware. And Echo?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you, too. I should go. Alexander’s waking up. Call me when you get to your next stop.”

“I will.” And then my father is gone. I stare at the phone, thinking about how much things can change in a year.

I lean forward and knock on the windshield. It’s time for Noah and me to move forward.

Noah

I open the trunk of Echo’s car, and she appears beside me, reaching in for a blanket. “We don’t need the tent.”

It’s late, past midnight. Echo changed out of her blue dress and into a cotton skirt and tank top. The type of top that teases me with peeks of her black bra strap. The moment we got in her car, Echo told me to return to the campsite where we jumped off a cliff. Happy as I could fucking be that Echo’s going to be chasing her dream plus be beside me for the next year, I didn’t ask one question. I turned onto the freeway and drove.

“It’s late, baby. I have a feeling neither one of us is going to want to put it up later.”

Echo grabs another blanket and two pillows. “We’re sleeping in the open tonight.”

She has that damned sexy, under-the-eyelash hooded look as she says it, and any room I had in my pants disappears. I twine my fingers with hers and pull Echo close. “You don’t have to do this. Jumping from a cliff—that’s hardcore risk-taking.”

Confronting her mother. Standing up to Hunter. That’s even harder core.

In the moonlight, her eyes shine bright. “I want to look at stars tonight.”

Then stars it is. I release Echo long enough to take the blankets and a pillow from her, tuck them under my arm then reclaim her hand. We leave the parking lot and enter the campsite, heading straight for the path.

The campground is packed with campers. Fires crackle. Children laugh and shout. The scent of hot dogs fills the air. As we walk hand in hand, Echo squeezes my fingers. “This is my boyfriend.”

I turn my head, wondering who the hell she’s talking to then see her making eye contact with a middle-aged couple that has three kids around a campfire.

“He’s got two younger brothers,” she continues, “and he adores them.”

The couple laughs, but doesn’t say anything. As I open my mouth to ask what the hell that was about, she starts again with two guys fixing fishing rods. “My boyfriend just spent hours at an art gallery because he supports me.”

They also laugh because what the fuck else is there to say to that? “What are you doing?”

“Letting you know that you’re the man I want to walk down the street with.”

Her words stop me short, and a tug on my hand urges me to continue walking. “Of all the things I say, that’s what you grab on to?”

“I grabbed on to it all, but that’s the one I knew I could easily fix.”

The moon lights our path. Each time we’ve stayed in a park like this, we’ve played the game where she hides and I hunt, but there’s a silent agreement that the game is over. Neither of us will hide anymore.

When the trees give way to the field we played in days before, Echo changes our direction, heading toward its center. The grass hits our legs, and when we’re far enough in for no prying eyes to see, Echo draws the blanket from me and spreads it out onto the ground.

From the other side, I drink Echo in. She’s a slender goddess in the shadows created by the moonlight, and the way she gazes at me reminds me how much she owns me. It’s a sexy look. One that dances along my skin before the actual touch.

Maybe she is a wood nymph. Maybe she belongs to some long-lost bloodline and being here in this field, in these woods, brings that special spark to the surface.

Or maybe it’s because for the first time since I’ve met her, Echo’s taken control of her destiny. She’s learned how to put herself first while still being the girl I love.

“What you did tonight, for Meredith...” There’s no words. “I’m not sure I could love you more.”

Echo smiles and glances away, too proud of her deeds to accept the compliment. “She’s my friend.”