Sonder

Excerpt:

Rayna kept her eyes on the arguing teens while she noticed a figure climb into the bathtub in her peripheral vision. Her heart was racing as she turned to watch the other teen sit right next to her.

“Hey,” he said as he mimicked how she sat.

“Hey,” she echoed. “How did you know where we were?”

He shrugged. “Ben asked people if they saw you two and some girls in the hallway said they saw Ada drag you in here.”

“Impressive,” Rayna said while failing to keep a straight face. “Guess he really wants to collect his prize.”

He laughed. “Think he’s just really desperate.”

She joined in with his laugh. “Sounds like it might run in the family.”

He scratched the back of his head and frowned. “You think I was desperate earlier? I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”

She bit her lip again as she felt her cheeks heat up. “I told you before I already have protection.”

“And I told you that you got me as backup protection.”

“Have you never heard that too much protection can be suffocating?”

He smirked. “I can leave you alone, but I don’t think you want me to.”

Rayna held her breath as she took in his words. She fought the urge to play with the long chunk of deep purple and black blended hair that rested on the side, keeping her attention on his face. She only noticed how green his eyes were a week ago when they were hanging out in a playground near her old elementary school. They were so intense that she had stopped telling her story midsentence, going from talkative to shy in seconds.

Is this what it’s like to have the biggest crush on someone you can’t be with? She thought while getting lost in his stare.

“What?” He quietly asked. He leaned closer until he was inches from her face. “Is there something on my face?”

She shook her head against the tile. “It’s just that you have pretty eyes.”

His smile grew. “They’re not as pretty as yours.”

“You… you wanna suck my tits?” If his partners wanted crass, then he was happy to be their guy. But the words spewing out of his mouth made his face burn because he’d never been asked that before. His dick? Sure. His chest? That was new. Shane had to scrunch his nose before he broke out into startled laughter. “Why?”

It was June’s turn to scrunch her nose. It looked like she was recovering from her own question.

It was pretty fucking adorable, really.

“What do you mean why?” June laughed. “You, um, you like mine, right?” Shane clocked the creeping insecurity at the tail end of her question and immediately felt the need to speak up.

“Mhm, love them.”

“Yeah? Well, I—” June sucked in a breath of air. “I really like yours too.”