I sputter a laugh as we break the kiss and stare down at the mess we just made. ‘Holy crap,’ I say. ‘We’re cursed.’
‘No way,’ he breathes, his palms splayed on my back beneath my shirt. ‘It’s destiny, letting us have a second chance at the night I should have kissed you.’
His words sweep me away from reality and I grab the front of his shirt to pull him in for another kiss. Right as our lips reunite, someone yells, ‘What the hell is going on?’
Our heads snap in the direction the voice came from. At the end of the aisle, the clerk is there, red-faced and angry as he stares at the mess we just made. He’s about thirty or so, with shoulder-length hair, and wearing a name tag on his tie dye shirt that says Ed.
‘We’ll clean it up,’ I say, but Ed comes storming toward us.
‘I’m so sick of you little shits coming in here and thinking it’s funny to trash my store.’ As Ed strides toward us, he presses his finger to his chest as he repeats, ‘My store. Not yours. Mine. I’m going to make you pay for every damn one of those spray paint cans.’
I’m not sure what to do. The guy has this creepy look on his face like he’s out of his mind and it’s frightening but funny at the same time. A nervous laugh leaves my lips as Kayden grabs my hand and tugs me with him as he takes off in the other direction.
The clerk shouts at us to, ‘Get your punk asses back here now!’ but that only makes us move faster and laugh harder.
We don’t stop until we’re safely in the car and driving down the road toward the mountains, the headlights of Kayden’s car lighting the way. I’m still the driver, despite Kayden’s protests, because I want to be the one taking him on this journey.
‘So where are you taking me now?’ he asks as we head up toward the foothills.
‘You don’t know?’ I ask, wondering if he’s serious. Considering the direction we’re going in, it has to be obvious. And besides, we’ve had a few good moments up at this place, which makes it a super important part of our past.
He glances at me with a devious look on his face as he lifts his hand. ‘Actually, I do.’ In his hand, is a can of spray paint, which means he knew where we were going before we even got in the car. I’d be happy about this, and I am, except … ‘Did you shoplift that can of paint?’
‘The guy was a stoned asshole; I couldn’t very well pay for it with him about ready to attack us,’ he says, and when I sigh, he laughs. ‘Relax, Callie. I threw a few bucks down on the floor before we left.’ He draws a line down my cheekbone with his fingertip, eliciting an eye flutter from me. ‘I know you’re too nice to condone shoplifting.’
‘Hey, I can be a rebel,’ I say, half joking, half serious. ‘I’ve drank underage.’
He chuckles at my lame statement. ‘You’re so adorable.’
Gripping onto the wheel with one hand, I aim a finger at him. ‘Hey, mister, I am not always adorable. And I’m going to prove it to you.’ I am?
That gets him to smile, which makes me smile, too, even though I have no clue how to back up my words. Still, I rack my brain for a way to show him the daredevil side of me that I’m not sure I’ve discovered yet.
The idea only comes to me when I pull up to the parking spot at the bottom of the hill. I remember Seth always making jokes about how people would come up here and have sex. I used to blush like crazy when he’d joke about it and then told me Greyson and him came up here once.
I’m not even sure I can go through with it. Yeah, I’m a different person than I used to be. Much stronger and blush less. Plus, there’s no one else up here tonight, so we’ve got the whole place to ourselves.
‘What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?’ Kayden asks, interrupting my dazedness.
I tear my attention from the trees in front of the car and turn in my seat to face him. The headlights are still on and between that and the moonlight I can make out his firm jawline, soft lips, and wonderfully familiar eyes.
‘Callie.’ He starts to squirm under the weight of my gaze. ‘What’s going on? Is something wrong?’
Shaking my head, I swallow my nerves and click the headlights off. We’re smothered by darkness, which makes it easier to do what I’m about to. Or maybe it’s the costume making me feel like someone else, someone who can take risks, be a daredevil. I really don’t care where the feeling’s coming from; I just do what Seth’s always saying and roll with it, leaning over the console and kissing Kayden without any warning. He sucks in a sharp breath as my lips brush his and then he laughs softly when my tongue sweeps across his lip, signaling that I want him to open up.