I wasn’t weak. I didn’t need this shit.
But God, she felt good.
“You dance?” she said in my ear.
“No.”
“You are right now,” she pointed out.
And I stopped, realizing we’d been turning in a slow circle.
“I think I like this dancing even more than ballet,” she told me.
And the corners of my lips turned up in a smile. If only Kincaid could see me now…
But then I saw people approach the other side of the pond, walking up the incline, looking at us.
“We have to get out of here,” I told her.
No one could see her with me.
We got back to the car and sped off, and I drove her home, knowing her father would be calling the police station soon if he hadn’t already. She was probably supposed to be home over two hours ago.
“They’re probably pretty mad,” she said as I slowed the engine outside the hedges of her property.
I killed the lights and crawled down the driveway—the gates open—and rounding the hideous fucking fountain to her front door.
I braked, pressing in the clutch, and put the car in first again, sitting there. She hadn’t needed help to the door that night I took her out driving, so I assumed she was okay.
But she just sat there, her face turned down a little.
“When will I see you again?” she asked in a timid voice.
I didn’t know how to answer that. I was busy tomorrow night, and I’d be going back to school a couple days after that.
I would see her again.
Or…
Maybe. I didn’t know.
Jesus, why was she asking? Were we in a relationship or something? Was this a date?
I knew this would happen. She’d have expectations.
Yes, I wanted to see her again. She was mine. In our secluded, secret little world, she was mine.
I wanted to watch her dance, and I wanted to steal her away a thousand more times to feel her excitement and fear and live through how vulnerable and sweet she was, but…
I wanted to keep her happy, pure, and innocent, too. I didn’t want to ruin her.
The more time we spent together, and the older she got, the more this would turn into something else. We’d eventually fuck, and she’d make demands I couldn’t fulfill.
When she found out who I was, she’d run.
“Is it because I’m blind?” she asked, her voice cracking. “Is that why you hide yourself from me?”
I glared over at her, resenting the shimmer of tears in her eyes as she tried so hard to hold back the little tremble of her chin. So sweet. So sad.