Page 11
The tide kissed the tips of my toes, cool and persistent, like it was trying to pull me in. Seagulls cried somewhere in the distance, their cries carrying on the wind as waves crashed hard against the cliffs. The sunset was long gone beneath the surface, the full moon bright and high in the sky, illuminating Peter and Nicola’s figures in the surf, their laughter drifting faintly back to shore.
I let my eyes fall shut, inhaling the ocean breeze, shivering as a gust cut through me, and for a second, I allowed myself to disappear into it.
I smelled him before I heard him.
Cedarwood and amber.
It was so distinctly him, it made my chest ache.
I thought at that point, I could pick Jackson out of a line-up with my eyes closed.
“What’s got you so quiet?”
“Just thinking,” I said too quickly.
“About?” he pressed.
I shook my head, forcing a small smile. “Nothing interesting.” A shiver ran through me as his eyes burned a hole in the side of my face. Movement flickered in my peripheral vision, and then his bomber jacket settled over my shoulders.
“You’re freezing,” he said as I clutched the collar instinctively, pulling it tighter around me, surrounding myself with him before I finally turned.
“Thank you,” I breathed, biting my lip as he smirked down at me.
God, he was so beautiful.
And not just in the obvious ways, like the way his eyes disappeared when he laughed at one of my jokes. Or how deep his dimples went in his cheeks when he smiled. But the way he’d been since Dad died. Soft. Attentive. Compassionate.
And none of it would ever be mine.
The thought hit like a bruise I kept pressing on. I’d never call him mine. Never know what it felt like to belong to him, or to have him belong to me. Because all he saw me as was Peter’s little sister. I looked away before it showed on my face, fixing my gaze on the ocean as another wave rolled in. Anything to stop him from seeing the way my eyes stung, the way my chest tightened around something I couldn’t have.
“There’s a ridiculous amount of stars out tonight,” he said after a moment, filling the silence, and I glanced at him, at the way the moon lit up his face.
And that’s when I saw it. A streak of light tearing across the sky. “Shooting star,” I breathed, pointing over his shoulder.
“Seriously?” he said, tilting his head back.
“Make a wish,” I told him, already closing my eyes.
I wish you were mine.
It came so easily, it scared me.
“What’d you wish for?” he asked.
“Can’t tell you,” I murmured, opening my eyes. “It won’t come true if I do.”
“Alright,” he responded, stepping a little closer. “Then give me a hint.”
I shook my head. “No hints.”
“Just one.”
“No.”
“Evie…”
“No,” I repeated, smiling despite myself.
