“Let’s go.” Decision made.

“Yeah?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Sounds good. We should go to the back. It’s easier not to set off the alarm there.”

Ryan led me to the backyard and pulled the hidden key from under a plant. Unlocking the door, he keyed in the code and returned the key a second later. I slipped inside, and he turned the system back on.

I rolled my eyes. “Tom’s parents must be geniuses.”

“Eh. They’re no Robbie Malcolm, but I’m sure they do okay.” He gestured to a picture where a couple stood with one of the older living former presidents. “They go golfing with that guy.”

And I was reminded that Portside was not Schilling, Arizona. Cripe’s sakes. They knew one of the presidents.

Yeah. So not Schilling, Arizona.

Ryan chuckled. “We aren’t any better. We use the fake frog, though the alarm system is the real backup.”

“Yeah.” I joked. “Remind me tomorrow to tell my parents to install infrared security system. I’m thinking we could use a handprint machine. Fuck the fake frog.”

He laughed, leading the way inside.

As we walked toward the kitchen, a different feeling settled over me. We were alone. I’d wanted to get away, but maybe I hadn’t thought this through.

I hadn’t been thinking anything through, not for a whole month.

Ryan nodded toward the kitchen. “You want a drink? I know where they keep the good stuff.”

My stomach rumbled.

He heard and flashed me a grin. “Or something to eat?”

“You know where they keep that stuff too?” I teased.

“I can make an educated guess.”

I ended up sitting on a stool by the island while Ryan scored leftover pizza. He popped the pieces into the microwave and pulled out two glasses.

I lifted an eyebrow. “You and Tom must be close.” He acted as if this were his house.

“Since second grade.” He ducked down to pull out a bottle of whiskey. “He won’t care. Trust me.”

“You bring girls to his house often?”

He laughed, pouring some lemonade to mix with it. He took a sip before pushing it my way. “No, but he brought a girl to my place once. More than once. My family was on vacation, and he asked, so since then, it’s a given. If one of us has an empty house, it’s an open invitation if we want to use it.”

“You’ve done that before?”

“I haven’t, no.” He looked at me, his eyes darkening.

Our gazes caught and held, and I felt a tickle at the bottom of my stomach. It was a good feeling, a thrilling one, and I held my breath for a moment because I didn’t want it to go away. The knot next to it relaxed, and maybe this was what I’d wanted since Ryan texted. I wanted to be around him. I could sleep.

I could feel normal, just for a while.

He took his glass and gestured to mine, the pizza in his other hand. “Let’s head downstairs. Feels weird going anywhere else.”

I followed him down to a large sectional couch that formed half a square. It looked like one large bed, and Ryan crawled onto it, scooting to the rear. He placed his glass on the back of the couch, which looked like it had been made for that purpose. I hesitated, but he patted the spot next to him, picking up the remote.

“I can grab us blankets and pillows too, in case.”

It felt so weird, but it also felt so right, and that made it even more jarring. For whatever reason, I was becoming addicted to this boy.

When I still hesitated, he lowered the remote. “What’s wrong?”

“This.”

“Us?”

I shrugged. Yes, but I felt stupid saying it. “I don’t know.”

He frowned and tilted his head to the side. “We’re hanging out.”

Okay. I nodded. I could do that. Hanging out. “You’re right.”

“That’s it.”

I nodded again. “Yeah.”

“So.” He looked at the spot next to him, and I climbed onto the couch, scooting to sit beside him.

After that, no words were needed.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk, but Ryan put on a movie and seemed content to eat his pizza, watch the show, and sip his drink. When mine was emptied, he went upstairs for refills, but the same thing happened. He returned to the couch, scooted back, and started the movie again.

It was my second movie of the night, but I couldn’t remember either of them. The only thing I remembered was relaxing. That was it. Willow, my family—they were all pushed to the back of my mind, and I felt everything start to unravel inside me.

I fell asleep during the movie, scooting down to lay next to Ryan. And at some point, I felt him get up, but he came back. He placed a blanket over me, and I curled into it, once again falling asleep.

When I woke, he was on his back beside me, one of his hands on my side.