Page 65 of Unleashed
The ridge appears. The view opens. And just like that, I'm a teenager again with the wind in my hair and the boy I love beside me and the whole world stretched out below.
We dismount and tie the horses to the old post. The same post, still here, still standing, with our initials carved into the wood.A + H.I trace the letters with my fingertip, and something in my chest pulls so tight I can't breathe.
Ace drops down on the dirt at the edge of the ridge, legs stretched out, hat beside him.
I sit down next to him. Not too close. Not as far as I should. When really, we shouldn’t be sitting on the damn ground in the first place. But we never cared then. I don’t care now.
"Still the best view in the state," I say quietly.
"Second best."
I look at him. He's not looking at the sunset. He's looking at me. Of course he is.
I hold his gaze. My heart is hammering. My palms are sweating, and every instinct I have is screaming at me to either run or close the distance, and there is absolutely no in-between.
"Don't, Ace."
"Don't what?"
"Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you still—" I stop myself.
"Still what, Goldie?"
My throat closes. I shake my head. Goldie. The one nickname I didn’t want him to say, the one that means everything to me. It’s who I am.
"Say it," he says. It sounds just like a dare.
"Like you still want me. Like I never left, and we just carry on as normal," I whisper.
The words hang in the air between us.
"And what if I do still want you? What if I never fuckin’ stopped?" he asks.
"Then you're an idiot."
"Been called worse."
I blow out a shaky breath. “Ace, I didn’t come here to hurt you all over again. My being back is temporary. For work. It’s an important job, kinda a make-or-break scenario here. I have to make it, otherwise all this pain was for nothing.”
He nods, glancing down at my lips.
"Temporary," he mutters.
"Are you dating someone else?" he asks.
I don't deny it. I can't. Not here. Not on this ridge where we never lied to each other. Not with the sun going down and his eyes on me and the sound of his voice doing things to my composure that should be illegal.
But I can’t tell him the full truth either. Because this might be what keeps the gap between us. The one we need right now to survive.
"It's complicated," I whisper.
"It's always complicated with you."
"That's not fair."
