My Sweetest Escape (45 page)

was resting against his shoulder. I wrapped

our legs together, and he danced his fingers

up and down my back.

“I know. I miss him, too. When we first

met, I thought he was trying to pick me up.

I’d gone to this stupid frat party with my

friends, and they were all wasted and going

home with other guys, so I didn’t have a

ride, and he just came up to me and said

he’d take me anywhere I wanted to go.”

Dusty kissed the top of my head.

“He used to do that. Go to parties and

rescue girls. He told me about it, and I

accused him of trying to pick them up, or

take advantage, because that’s what I

would have done. I told you, I was kind of a

dick back then.”

“Well, he did rescue me, and in a way,

him offering me a ride at that party led me

to you. So he kind of picked me up for you,

in a twisted way.” I looked up at him.

“He always did have good taste.”

We both smiled and shared a soft kiss

that might have led to more, again, but I

stopped it.

“It feels wrong, still, to be this happy

with you.”

“I know, Red, but it’s going to take time.

I have these moments in the middle of the

night when I have this horrible fear that

everything with you was a dream and I

wake up and then you’re right there beside

me. I never thought something as good as

you could happen to someone like me. I

don’t deserve this, but I’m going to take it,”

he said with a kiss on my nose, “and savor

it—” he moved down to the corner of my

lips “—and savor it, and savor it…” The

kisses went lower and lower until I was the

one doing the, um, savoring.

“Brett asked about you,” I said to

Hannah on Friday as we had lunch after our

class. Pam was ramping up the intensity in

preparation for our first test, and everyone

was on edge.

If any class had driven me to drink, it

was that one.

Hannah choked a little on her frozen

caramel Starbucks thing, and I banged her

on the back.

“You okay there?”

“What do you mean, he asked about

me?”

Wednesday night had been my first

production night, and I’d finally had to fess

up to everyone at Yellowfield and tell them

what I was doing. The reaction had been

stunned at first, but then ecstatic when

someone—named Dusty—had given them

my blog address. Renee was mad at me for

the second time that week for not telling

her. Apparently, she’d thought I was doing

something nefarious and had been trying to

figure it out for a while.

It had been fun to hang out with the

other people who made the paper happen,

and Brett had casually asked, while we were

struggling to get the layout right for our

section, if I knew if Hannah was seeing

anyone. Well, it was more like he asked if

Hannah and I hung out with a lot of guys,

and I sort of got the gist reading between

the lines.

“And?” Hannah said, grabbing my hand

and gripping it so hard it cut off my

circulation.

“Ouch, let go, crazy girl. I told him that

you weren’t seeing anyone, but that we

hung out with a lot of guys.”

“Great, now I sound like a slut.”

I shook my head.

“No, it makes it sound like you have a lot

of interest. I played it that you were

hanging out with, but not dating, these

guys. Which is true. You hang out with

Hunter and Mase and Paul and Dusty all the

time.”

“Yeah, except every single one of them

is taken.”

I grinned.

“Brett doesn’t know that.”

“Yeah, well, just…” she sputtered.

“Easy there. He’s really cute, by the

way.” Brett was even more adorable than

Hannah had let on. I mean, he had a bow tie

on and glasses and everything. Plus, he’d

made a
Star
Wars
joke, a
Breakfast Club

reference, and he loved Muse. So he was

good in my book. He’d also been so nice to

me and had gone out of his way to help me

figure out what the hell I was doing when it

came to the paper.

“I think he’s coming to battle of the

bands, just to watch.

Dusty’s coming with me, but if you

wanted to happen to show up, that would

probably be a good idea.” I wasn’t going to

tell Hannah that Brett had asked if she was

going. That would just make her nervous

and not want to go.

“I guess I can go. I’ll have to check my

schedule.” She pretended to open an

imaginary date book and flip through some

pages while muttering to herself.

“Uh-huh, if I move that to Sunday and

that to next Tuesday, but then I’d have

to—”

I smacked my hand down on the table.

“Hannah.”

“I’m looking!” She closed the pretend

book. “Okay, I can do it.”

“Good, because I was about ready to

smack you.”

Saturday night turned out to be

fabulous. The bands were much better than

I’d anticipated, and with my shiny press

pass around my neck, I got to chat with

them before and after and rushed home to

write my article in the wee hours of the

morning while Dusty tried to distract me

with his tongue.

It was also a good night for Hannah, who

rocked the red dress from the frat party,

and Brett definitely noticed. Poor guy. He

got so nervous around her that he dropped

the can of soda he’d been holding, narrowly

missing the dress. I thought she was going

to blow up, but she just laughed it off. No,

more like she giggled it off. It was a giggle I

hadn’t heard her emit before, and I knew,

beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she liked

him, too.

“Congrats on your matchmaking

success. Maybe you should write a column

about that,” Dusty said while we were

making breakfast at Yellowfield on Sunday

morning so everyone else could sleep in.

“Yeah, since I’ve had so much

relationship experience to draw from,” I

said, dumping a panful of bacon onto a

plate covered in paper towels.

“You can do anything you set your mind

to, Red.” I looked at him suspiciously.

“You’re not buttering me up for more

oral sex, are you?”

“I should hope we aren’t at the point in

our relationship where I have to give you

empty compliments to get something out of

you.”

“Do you smell that?” I said, sniffing.

“That is your pants burning, you liar.” I

smacked him with the spatula and he dived

at me and we slid to the floor and rolled

until he was on top of me.

Someone cleared their throat and we

both looked up to find Renee’s grumpy face

staring down at us.

“No sex in the kitchen. I’m adding that

to the rules.”

Dusty climbed off me and helped me up.

“Bacon?” He held the plate out to her

like a peace offering. She snatched a few

pieces and started munching them.

“I’m watching you,” she said, going to

the coffeepot.

“So,” I said, grabbing a piece of bacon

for myself, splitting it in half and giving one

piece to Dusty, “I hear they have this thing

now, where on the day you were born

people have celebrations and they give you

presents and stuff. I’ve also heard rumors of

cake, but those are still unconfirmed as of

this time.”

My birthday was the following Friday

and I was getting antsy, because I knew

they were planning things behind my back.

Renee looked at me with an

almost-believable innocent face.

“I have no idea what you’re talking

about.” I definitely didn’t miss the look she

shared with Dusty, so I went for him next.

“What?” he said, his face a similar mask

of innocence. “I, too, have no idea what

you’re talking about.”

I glared at both of them and grabbed the

plate of bacon and ran away with it, and

they both chased me until Dusty caught me

and got it away from me.

“No fair,” I said as Renee held the plate

out to Darah and Mase as they came down

the stairs.

“No bacon hoarding. That’s another

rule,” Renee said.

“We should really write these down,”

Darah said. “Yellowfield House Rules.”

We spent the next hour writing down

the rules, some of which were good, like

putting down the toilet seat, and some of

which were ridiculous, like no bacon

hoarding.

I looked around at all of them and I

realized that, like it or not, this was my

family now. I couldn’t even imagine living

alone anymore. When I’d been with my

parents, I’d been surrounded by siblings

and noise and chaos, but I’d always felt

completely alone.

But here, in this house, I’d found people

who had taken me in, no questions asked.

They liked me and wanted me around, and I

wanted the same thing. And it was in those

moments that I heard Nathan’s voice the

loudest.

Friday night I was kidnapped from

Yellowfield House by Dusty. Big surprise.

He’d tied a blindfold around my head and

had made me use his iPod blind, which is

harder than it sounds. He drove and drove,

and I was wondering where the hell we

were going, but he wasn’t giving me

anything.

“Come on, Dusty.”

“I swear, if you take that thing off, you

will receive zero birthday sex.” I sighed and

left the damn thing on, and he laughed.

“Yeah, well, I’m going to remember this

when it comes time for your birthday, so

just keep that in mind.”

“And we’re here,” he said, slowing the

car down and then parking it.

“Can I take this thing off yet?”

“Nope. Stay there.” He got out and

opened the door for me, and I took his hand

as he led me to whatever he was leading

me to.

Someone opened a door for us, and we

stepped inside some type of building. The

smell was familiar, and the sec ond Dusty’s

hand was on the back of my head removing

the blindfold, I knew where we were.

“Surprise!” Everyone yelled as the

blindfold dropped, revealing that we were

indeed at Bull Moose.

Even though I knew where we were, I

was still shocked at the amount of people.

The Yellowfield contingent was here, as

well as Megan, Jake, Hannah, Brett, a few of

my new buddies from the paper and

someone I hadn’t seen in months.

“Matt?” I said, and he smiled at me, and

our entire relationship came flooding back.

“Hello, Jos,” he said, coming and giving

me a hug.

“Oh, my God, I haven’t seen you in so

long. You came all this way?”

“I’d never miss your birthday,” he said,

giving me a better hug than he had when

we’d been dating. “I miss you, too.”

“I miss you.” I couldn’t help but miss

that part of my life, because even though I

didn’t love him, I had, and you couldn’t let

go of something like that, even months

later.

“You look good. Different, but good.

Thank you for inviting me.” He said the last