“Till ten. Yeah. I would offer to see you after, but I’m guessing you’ll be sleeping by then after a day with this one.” He pointed back at Bailey and gave me an apologetic smile. He knew how much it took for me to keep up with her. Between my anxiety and her antics, I was either running after her or panicking about her safety. It was endless and exhausting.
And while Mark didn’t mind helping me with things like a ride or bringing over some food for us to hang out, he wasn’t sure what to do with Bailey. Not that I blamed him exactly, but it felt strange that the guy I was dating couldn’t understand what to do with her. He wanted his own kids, at least that’s what he’d told me, but the look of fear that came over him anytime Bailey needed anything more than a snack made me think he wasn’t quite ready for them yet.
He kept the conversation going, telling me about work and things going on in town. He was an officer now, working under my dad, but was currently running to take over for my dad. He wanted to be the sheriff, and I was helping with it. Dating the current sheriff’s daughter looked great to the town, and he was using every opportunity to show us off together. He went on about it all, my mind wandering the moment he started about the logistics of everything. I’d heard so much about the sheriff’s life growing up with my dad, that listening to it now was like white noise. It wasn’t Mark’s fault, but no part of me could tune into the ramblings.
By the time we made it to the country club for the dinner, Bailey was humming in excitement. I jumped out to help her out and was already five seconds behind her flurry of excited movements.
“Thanks again,” I said, leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. I liked Mark.
Mark was fine, and fine was the exact reason we hadn’t made it past a quick kiss here and there.
He seemed fine with it, and I definitely would not be the one pushing for more. I knew he liked me. The constant reaching out and taking me out was obvious. He had made it clear he would respect me and let me make the first move towards anything more physical, which was nice, but it meant we had been dating for months with nothing past a make-out session.
I should have known Bailey was going to bolt, but part of me was too preoccupied thinking about everything I had to do this week, and everything about Mark.
“Bailey!” I yelled, already running after her as I waved back at Mark. She made it inside seconds before I did. “Bailey!” I yelled, running down the hallway. I knew the crew would be in the banquet hall, looking over the place Scout was holding the wedding, and I knew Bailey knew the entire place well enough, but I still needed to catch her.
I turned the corner, slamming hard into someone’s chest.
THIRTY-THREEDAISY
Arms reached out, steadying me.
I didn’t know it was possible to happen twice in my life.
That moment when you look at someone and the world around you shatters. This time, though, it was memories flooding back in. Like a movie playing so fast, I couldn’t get the entire story, but felt each scene with the same heightened emotion I felt when it happened in real time.
Every kiss. Every fight. When I said I loved him, when he said it to me, and the feeling of my heart breaking under the weight of the words.
The first night at the party that I kissed him.
Anger and heartbreak rushed in, ready to knock me over.
It was like a day had gone by since the last night I saw him, not six years.
“Kye?” I asked, not quite believing he was standing in front of me, touching me. I knew he had been back in town plenty of times, but we had managed not to run into each other. I had avoided the crew when he was around and he managed to not come around the diner when I was there.
“Daisy,” he said, sounding as surprised as I was.
Another wave of heartbreak washed over me at the sound of my name, my eyes already threatening tears.
He stepped back fast, shoving his hands into his pockets, but not taking his eyes off of me. He looked different. We had both grown up, but unlike me, he had gained plenty more tattoos, from what I could tell. His mess of blonde hair hadn’t changed, though, still as unruly as the look in his eyes. Every part of him had filled out, muscles more defined, jaw sharper, every deadly part of him harsher now.
He hadn’t seemed to have lost any edge to him. Something about him was still feral.
I had wondered if that would ever die. If the wild part of him would ever be quiet enough to live a normal life, but I could tell it hadn’t.
I guessed that should be expected when you raced cars and cheated death for a living.
“I wasn’t expecting you here so soon,” I said, breathless.
“You thought I would miss my sister’s wedding?”
“No, but I assumed it would be a last-minute stop on the way to your next race. I didn’t think we would see much of you this week.”
He smirked. “Not this time. I haven’t heard the end of it for cutting it so close to Fox and Ash’s wedding. I’ve become a lot better at planning over the years.”
“I see that. A week early? I’m almost impressed.”
“Would it get you all the way impressed if I say that I am helping plan and set up everything for the wedding?”
“It would make me say that I know your friends’ hectic lives and I assume you got as guilted into it as I did.”
“Ahh, they are good at that. You look good,” he said, looking me over, but his eyes didn’t linger. It should have been a kind thing, the gentleman’s thing to do, but I smoothed out my dress, wondering if I looked as chaotic as I felt. “How are you?”
“I’m good. Busy, but good. You?” I asked, hating each word. The small talk was not anywhere near what I wanted to say. Then again, anything I had to say was a conversation I didn’t know if I was ready to have. He had left, and I still struggled to accept it. Worse than that, I was struggling with the feeling that jumping into his arms seemed like the most natural thing to do. I had never spent over twenty minutes with Kye without touching him, and apparently muscle memory would not let me forget that.
It had been six years.
Six years without a word.
I had to hear about him a lot. Ever since I became closer to the crew, I heard the updates about him constantly. How well his races were going, how ridiculous his stunts were, how good he was doing. I stayed away when he was home, though. He was a superstar and his friends were proud of him, so I tried to never ask them to stay quiet. I had become used to the updates, but seeing him now was something different.
“Busy, but slowing down finally.”
“Wow, never thought I would hear that from your mouth.” At the word mouth, he looked at mine, and I was too aware of how badly I wanted to run my tongue over my lips. As soon as I thought about it, it was a battle to stop.
There was no way I could already have these thoughts about him.
