Going Rogue

Seventeen

JESS

I couldn't stop staring at Drew. I watched him from across the kitchen, barely focusing on sweeping. We spent most of the day in bed, snuggling inside our cocoon of warmth. There, we didn't know the definition of winter. Drew slept so soundly. Not one nightmare. No more tears. I could have watched him sleep all day.

Grace kicked the door open unfortunately and demanded we earn our room with a little manual labor, which meant cleaning the private part of the house and the kitchen. And by "we", she just meant me. Drew skated by with the doctors' order for more rest.

Drew had insisted, "I feel better, really. I can help."

"No, no," Grace dismissed him as she busied herself with the laundry. "Like I said, you two can stay as long as you like, so you can get well." I had a feeling she never wanted us to be well. No one liked goodbye, but in the pit of my stomach, I could feel it coming soon.

After my chores upstairs, I finally made it to the kitchen in time to watch Drew read from Liam's copy of the Hobbit. Mia sat by his side, scrawling pictures of mermaids with witch hats. He read so seriously. He read close to the page with a furrowed brow as if the book told him print was dead. Someone shouldn't be allowed to be that cute. I was brought back to last night, to his soft pink lips and the way his green eyes lightened to a blue when they filled with tears.

That was the only way to make Drew cry.

God, I wanted to make him cry again. I wondered if anyone would notice if we slipped upstairs and got in some afternoon delightful groping. My mouth watered at the prospect.

"Hey." A slap to my arm broke me out of my daze. Grace frowned at me and hit me again for good measure. "Now that it's just us. Could you two keep it down? You share a house with people now and I get it..." She threw her hands up to match the dramatic roll of her eyes. "You're young and in love, but the world doesn't fall away and you're not the only two people on earth, so keep it down. No one wants to hear it."

"We'll try to keep it down," I smirked, but winked at her too. "No promises-"

Without even finishing the last word, she smacked me upside the head. "Work on it. Our babysitter is coming over soon and she won't believe that all the creaking is coming from a ghost."

I kept my head down, pressing my chin against my chest and giggling to myself. This happiness felt like I couldn't contain it, like trying to keep the cap on an exploding soda bottle. I glimpsed back up just as Grace was walking away and shaking her head.

I glanced back at Drew just as Dominic slid a small plate of grilled cheese in front of him. With a bewildered look, Drew looked from the food to Dominic and back, unable to connect the two things. It was difficult for him to tear his eyes from the book, but he probably realized he couldn't read in peace until this annoyance was fully dealt with. Dominic leaned against the counter and I immediately knew what he was doing, wearing that smug smile and bedroom eyes.

He was trying to get me back.

He was putting on the moves.

I wasn't worried. Not even in the slightest. A part of me thought Drew wasn't even going to notice. Drew asked, "What's this for?"

Dominic did this noncommittal shrug that was an attempt to seem easygoing but read way more sleezy than he probably intended. "Nothing, just wanted to give you a little treat. You like to read, huh?"

He motioned to the book and Drew blinked. "Um, yeah," he said, still confused because that fact should have been painfully obvious. He literally had no idea where this was going and I was kind of eating it up. It was a relief to know my adorable mate was immune to sleezy pick up lines.