Page 97 of Run
A strange warmth washes over me as I’m reminded of the nights we used to text each other goodnight from our neighboring houses.
“Goodnight, Ethan.”
CHAPTER 32
ARI
The smell of detergent and cologne, mixed with just a touch of man stink, invades my nostrils as I draw in a breath. My face is buried in Ethan’s pillow, my body face-down in his big bed. I lift my head slightly and stretch all my limbs, feeling the joints separate and crack, before dropping my face back down as memories of last night and this morning come flooding back.
This isn’t my first wake-up of the morning. Ethan woke me earlier to tell me he was going for a run and then into the basement for a workout.
That was actually the third time he woke me up. Well, the third time intentionally. He woke me twice in the night—once peppering kisses all over my face and roaming his hands all overmy body, and another time by nuzzling my neck and lifting a leg, sliding into me on my side.
He was insatiable all night. Pleading, desperate, starved. Like he was afraid I was a mirage.
He also woke me up one time while mumbling and jerking in his sleep. When I felt him thrashing around at my side, I rolled over and ran a hand over his sweaty forehead, kissed his temple, andshushedin his ear, and that soothed him enough to return to deep slumber.
A door closes loudly in the main part of the house while I sit up, slinging my legs over the side of the bed before pushing myself into a standing position. I shuffle my feet toward the door, looking down at myself and seeing the T-shirt of Ethan’s that I’m wearing goes to my mid-thigh and covers me enough, then fling open the door and almost run into Fonz.
“Cheese and rice!” His hand flies up to his chest. “You scared the shit out of me.” Then he gets a good look at me. “Wait, no,nowyou’re scaring the shit out of me. Have you looked in a mirror?”
“What?” I pat my hair and feel the bed head matted up on the back of my skull and the tendrils sticking out at the sides.
Fonz grins, and that turns into a full blown smile. “Glad you guys found your way back to each other.”
I smile back at him. “Me too.”
Unlike me, Fonz is freshly showered and wearing sweats and a hoodie. He points toward the end of the hallway. “So, I guess you still being here explains the wholePoltergeistsituation going on out there.”
I tilt my head at him, and he waves me forward.
When we get to the end of the hallway, where the dining room branches off to the right and the living room branches off to the left, I see there are chairs strewn all over. Every few feet thereis one situated, with its back facing this direction. “I mean, it’s kinda cute,” Fonz says from beside me.
I huff out a breath as he continues to explain what I already know. “He wanted to make sure that if you got out of bed on your own, you could make it to either the kitchen”—he points toward the entryway to the right—“or the living room”—he points toward the couch in the room to the left. “And he wanted you to be able to stop and rest, if need be.” He waves his hand around at all the chairs.
I put a hand over my mouth to cover my giggle.It is so friggin’ cute.
“Come on.” Fonz offers his elbow to me. “I bought donuts.”
We make our way to the couch where I plop down in the center and Fonz sits on my left. Before I can even get settled we hear Ethan’s footsteps bounding up the stairs.
“Holy shit, it sounds like a herd of elephants.”
“I never get used to it,” Fonz immediately replies.
Ethan comes around the corner, sweaty and out of breath. His eyes find mine immediately and his face lights up. He’s wearing a pair of gym shorts and a tank top with big armholes that show off his entire sides. Swaggering over to me, he leans down and cups my face with one hand, gives me a peck on the lips, and says, “Morning, Red,” before kissing the top of my head and falling onto the cushion beside me.
“Awe, you two are so cute I could just vomit,” Fonz chides.
“Nip it.” Ethan leans forward and scoops the Tim Horton’s box off the coffee table and flips the top open. He grabs a Boston cream donut and hands it to me, picks up an old fashioned one and gives that to Fonz, then takes a peanut one for himself and drops the box back on the table.
All three of us settle back and kick our feet up onto the coffee table.
“So,” Fonz says around a swallow, “I take it the party went well?”
I nod. “It was so fun. Knox and Lizzie have a beautiful property.” I suck some pudding out of the center of my treat. “And they had the outdoor decked out with heaters and lights and music. It was really magical.”
Ethan leans over and, with his thumb, swipes a glob of pudding off the corner of my lip before plunging that thumb into his own mouth.
