Taking Mine (24 page)

I finish off the episode of Family Feud, allowing Steve Harvey to draw out a closing as a family celebrates their win in the background. Procrastination is a vile character trait, and I fight it as I pick up my notes, forcing my brain to kick into gear. The rest of the night goes by slower and much less successfully than the beginning did, and I catch myself fighting more and more sighs as the morning approaches.

There's a rustling of covers from the bedroom, and I know Justin's awake. His footsteps, loud as usual, announce his arrival as he makes his way to me. His eyes squint against the light and he runs both his hands over his face.

“Lilly, it's four in the morning.”

“No point in going to sleep now,” I say.

“You need to at least get a nap in before class or you're going to fall asleep while you're taking the exam.”

I try really hard to stop the yawn before it escapes but fail miserably.

His sleepy face takes on the domineering mode he goes into when he's determined to get his way. “That's it, you're done,” he says, closing and stacking up my notebooks, easily dodging my attempt to stop him.

“Justin, let me go through it one more time, please.”

“If you don't know it by now, Lilly, you're not going to. You need sleep.” He pulls me up by one arm, catching me as I start to lose balance, and shoulders me to him.

“You're ridiculous,” I say as he deposits me on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, well, I can say the same about you.” He lifts my shirt over my head and pushes me onto my back.

I huff. “I can undress myself.” But I make no attempt to move as he pulls my yoga pants down. The next thing I know I'm flipped on my side, covered head to toe in blankets, just how I like it. Quicker than I thought I could be, I'm halfway asleep in moments. I'm about to give up the fight, letting the comfort lull me to sleep, when I remember something. “Alarm,” I say, words barely pushing past my lips.

“Don't worry, I got it covered,” he says, placing a kiss on top of my head. “Sleep.”

And with that last demand, I relent, falling into darkness.

MY LIDS ARE HEAVY
as I force them open, something startling me awake. Sunlight filters through the small window on the opposite wall and it takes a second before I realize that sunlight means I'm late. Really late.

“Fuck,” I cuss as I struggle from Justin's grasp.

He sits up, alarmed by my panic. “What's wrong?”

“I'm late,” I yell as I fly off the bed, picking up the clothes from yesterday and shoving myself into them. “I thought you said you set an alarm?”

He checks his phone on the end table. “It's dead.” Confused, he follows the power cord. “It must have come unplugged.”

“Just great. Just fucking great. How come the one day in the history of ever you don't wake up at the break of dawn is the one day that I need you to?”

“You still have time if you hurry.”

I skip brushing my teeth, fixing my hair as I exit the apartment, not bothering to bring my backpack.

“I'll drive you,” he says, keys in hand, following me down the stairs in nothing but his pajama pants.

The cold burns my skin, the yoga pants and t-shirt doing very little to protect from the wind. “It'll be quicker if I run.”

“It's too cold, Lilly. Let—”

“I don't have time to argue with you. I'll see you after class, alright? You're going to be late to your own exam if you don't hurry.”

He stops at the bottom of the stairs and watches me jog across the parking lot. “You're so hardheaded,” he says, his voice muffled by the wind in my ears.

“Yeah, and you're an asshole who doesn't double-check his alarms.”

“Love you, too,” he yells.

And my heart stops beating for all of two seconds, long enough for me to pause and wonder if it'll ever pick back up again or if I'll drop dead in the middle of the crosswalk. It's meant as a joke, a ribbing, but it sets off a whole new level of emotions inside me that I don't have time to analyze.

I stop in the middle of the intersection and look at him. He's still standing on the bottom step, leaning his forearms against the railing, smiling like a jackass. I flip him off and he tilts his head back, laughing. I can hear it even though we're almost a football field away from each other. A car horn honks, and I flip him off, too, done with people at this point of this craptastic morning.

Whitticker gives me an irritated look as I enter the auditorium but hands me the exam, holding up five fingers to let me know I've lost precious time already. Kaley raises her eyebrows at me as I take the seat next to her with only a pencil in hand. Taking a deep breath, I write my name, calming the racing of my heart as I begin. A hundred questions and a short answer determine my fate. I smile as I read the first question.

I think I've got this.

AS I’M EXITING THE BUILDING,
I catch Justin leaning against one of the pillars outside. His back is to me as I walk up.

“You have no right to throw that at me.” I can vaguely make out a woman’s voice on the other side of the phone. Not wanting to intrude, I take a step back…until I hear my name. “Lilly has nothing to do with it.” Another pause before he says, even more irritated, “Yes, but you’re putting me in a bad spot.”

He waits a few more beats before throwing his hands in the air. His body is poised to turn around when I take my final steps toward him. His eyes widen slightly as he takes me in.

“Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later.” He ends the phone call and pockets his cell phone.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to overhear.”

His motion is stiff as he shrugs, and I can tell he doesn't want to discuss it. “Did it go well?”

The test was brutal, but overall, I feel relief. Sweet, unparalleled relief to know I'm done with Whitticker. At least for now. “I really just want a shower and a nap.”

“Your wish is my command,” he says.

We walk across campus in silence. Since we’ve been together, I’ve noticed more than a few stares aimed at us. Or him, I’m not sure. I’ve never been particularly observant, but now it’s hard not to. I find myself paying close attention to the way the wind dances across the front of Justin’s shirt or the check pattern on the blanket a couple is sitting on. Or my nails. Yes, my nails. They’re frayed and ragged around the edges. Somehow, I've missed how absent-minded I am. I don’t know if it’s a psychological thing or what, but I feel like I see things so much more clearly with him by my side. Including myself.

Justin gives me a cursory glance, confused by the stupid grin on my face, and throws his arm over my shoulder.

“You’re beautiful,” he says.

And next to him, I feel beautiful

The first thing I do when we're back in Justin's apartment is brush my teeth and shower. Turning on the faucet so the water can warm up, I start to peel off my clothes and shove a toothbrush in my mouth. Living in an apartment building apparently means always waiting five minutes for the water to get hot. Justin stands in the doorway and strips his shirt off.

“My mom wants me to go home for Thanksgiving,” he says.

Other than the little bit Justin's told me about his dad's drinking and his arrest, I know very little about his home life, but I've gathered that he hasn't been back in a while. I'm not quite sure what he wants me to say, so I spit the toothpaste from my mouth. “That's good, right?”

“Depends,” he says, holding the shower curtain back for me, getting in behind me. “Would you come with me? My mom wants you to come with me to visit her.”

“Is that who you were arguing with on the phone?”

“Sort of,” he says, cupping my neck between his hands. “Stop avoiding the question.”

“I heard my name. Was it about me?”

He runs his hands up into my hair and I tilt my head back into the spray of the water. “I tried to explain to her that you have a lot going on right now and I wanted to be here with you.”

I open my eyes. “You told her about me?”

His smile is genuine. “Of course.”

I pour shampoo into my hands and begin massaging it into my scalp, but he forces my hands away, taking over.

“So, would you be interested?”

“You make it sound like a job application.”

“Technically, in my mother’s eyes, you’re kind of applying for future daughter-in-law material,” he says, half grimacing and half smiling.

“That’s not at all daunting. Sure, I’d love to be scrutinized by your mother.” In a mock motherly tone, I continue, “So, Lilly, what do your parents do for a living?” I switch voices and say, “Oh, I don’t have any, but my brother is known to dabble in trade smuggling. It’s actually a family affair. You know, just paying the bills.”

He huffs out a laugh and runs his hands through my hair, expelling the remaining soap. “When did you become such a drama queen?”

I bite his arm, and he hisses through his teeth against the pain.

“What was that for?”

“I'm not a drama queen.”

“Right, ‘cause inflicting physical pain isn’t dramatic at all.” I make a move to do it again, but he blocks me, spinning me around and pinning my back to his front. “I’ll let my mother know that my girlfriend has come down with some sort of rabid disease and she won’t be able to make it.”

“Make sure it sounds fatal.”

His laughter tickles the hairs on my neck, and I try to squirm away. “I texted Kip. He thinks it’ll be a good idea to get you away for a few days. One weekend, that’s all I’m asking.”

I lower my guard, defeated. “If this doesn’t sound like a setup, I don’t know what does.”

He bites my neck and I yelp. “I’ll set you up.”

“Oh my God. Never say that again.”

He evil-villain laughs as he picks me up and pins me against the shower wall.

“
STOP POUTING
.”

I glare at Justin as he puts my bag in the back of his Jeep. “I’m not pouting. I’m worried.”

“Kip’s explained everything to them. They know what they’re doing. Kip just needs a little more time to talk to Jimmy.”

I already know all of this, but it still doesn’t ease the weight in my stomach. Kip talked with Dan and Ethan separately, explaining what we found and our suspicions. They both agreed to keep it between us before making any rash decisions. That means doing a lift while Kip attempts to set up a meeting with Jimmy. That’s an entirely different worry all in itself. Neither Kip nor Taylor has ever met him in real life, and now that we know he’s most probably a drug lord or something, it’s that more daunting.

“Plus,” he adds as he shuts the back of his Jeep. “We made a run and it was fluff.”

“And they're grown men, Lil,” Kip adds for extra emphasis.

“And I’m a grown woman. Yet you had a conniption fit when I went.”

He thumps me on the forehead. “Which I had every right to, considering we had no idea what we were getting into. Still don’t.”

I roll my eyes and hug him bye. His point is valid, and I know there’s no argument to be won.

“We should get there around four. I’ll text you when we arrive,” Justin says.

Kip releases me and slaps Justin’s shoulder. “Drive safe, wear your seat belts.”

Justin does the same to Kip and says, “Will do.”