Ryan Hunter

thing, and nothing I wanted to keep up doing any longer. What he made of it was his problem.
    Sometime this evening, my phone went off in my jeans pocket, and when I fished it out, his name and a little letter sign showed on the display. I turned the volume of the music down and flung on my bed to read what he’d mastered after half a day of mulling. Hopefully, he’d invited himself for a round of video games, because hands down, Justin had no idea of how to play cool video games.
    But the text Mitchell actually sent me struck me dumb for the total of ten minutes.
    REMEMBER WHERE WE CAUGHT LIZARDS AND NUMBED THEM WITH YOUR DAD’S MEDS? I’M HERE WITH A GIRL THAT CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN, BUT SHE’S TOO STUBBORN TO TELL YOU SO. JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW.
    The place he described was a small pond in the woods. And the girl he meant was…mine. As the information sank in, it took me a few moment to restart my heart, but then it shot into high speed and was all I heard drumming in my ears.
    Liza wanted to see me. I wasn’t banned to hell any longer. Dammit, why was I still sitting on my bed and staring at that message? I stripped off my tee and buttoned my favorite black shirt, rolling the sleeves up to my elbows. Then I ran some gel through my hair and turned it into what I hoped was an irresistible chaos.
    A grin started to grow on my lips as I raced my car down our street, and it spread wider the closer I got to the woods. Leaving the car parked at the dead end, I hiked the final half mile. Voices drifted to me, and soon I glimpsed two bikes leaning against a tree. In just a few seconds I would see her again.
    Holy shit, I was actually getting nervous.
    And then she was there, sitting on a log with her back to me. Her long, beautiful hair cascaded down her shoulders. My heart wanted to give out, but at least I could make my legs work.
    I had no idea what they were talking about when she asked Tony, who sat mirroring her on that log, “Maybe. Who’s coming?”
    “Andy, Sasha, Alex,” He replied, not looking away from her, though he must have noticed me coming. “He’s with Simone now, by the way. Frederickson will come if he doesn’t have to sit his baby brother—”
    There it was clear to me that he was talking about the planned movie night in two days that I had let Alex talk me into. I didn’t know that someone had invited Tony, too. But it was good to know.
    “And then of course—him.” Tony nodded his chin in my direction.
    Liza jerked her head around so fast, it must have hurt her. Her apple green eyes were huge, and her sweet mouth hung slightly open. Kissable lips was the first thought that came to my mind as we started at each other. Then I realized I should actually say something.
    “Am I disrupting anything?” I asked and went for a half-smile.
    Tony rose from the makeshift bench. “Nope. I was just about to leave.”
    Startled even more, Liza cut him a glance and then hissed, “What have you done?”
    She didn’t know about the text message. That much I figured out. Leaning down to her ear, Tony whispered something back that I didn’t hear, but when he straightened again, he told her in a normal voice, “See you later.”
    His gaze skated to me, too, as he said it, and I gave a subtle nod when he walked past me.
    Liza’s eyes were the only thing currently moving about her. She still had her legs hugged to her chest and her back to me, and I noticed her hitched breathing. Maybe it was mean of us to surprise her like that, but it felt so awfully good to see her again. And that she didn’t run, or shout at me to do so, was definitely a good sign.
    I lifted one leg across the tree trunk and settled down behind her, looping my arms around her beguiling body and pulling her back against my chest . It didn’t matter that she went stiff like a board, she felt wonderful in my arms. “I’m sorry for what happened, but I never meant to hurt you,” I said softly, nuzzling her neck. “And I certainly didn’t have any bad intentions. I swear.”
    Slowly, her body relaxed against mine. “Yeah, I guess I know that,” she drawled. “Susan told me a few interesting things today.”
    I caught my breath. “Did she?” Damn, what had the book lover told her? Probably everything about my fight with Tony, and then some. But what was I afraid of? Liza had a right to know. And if it made her forgive me, like she seemed to have done, I would have to thank Miller the next time I saw her.
    I