Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 80643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
But I know there’s a parachute, too.
That I will be able to safely land.
It’s him.
Noah isn’t someone who pulls me away from my freedom. He’s someone who’s with me in it.
And I’m breaking every promise I’ve ever made with this kiss. He sighs into my mouth and I want to clutch against him like this forever, joining my body with his.
This feeling.
I promised I’d never want one person only.
Broken.
I promised that no one could ever mean enough to me to make me consider upending my future.
Broken.
And I promised myself, when I met Noah, that nothing could ever make me lose this game with him. But the game isn’t something I want to win. It’s something I want to fucking play forever.
“You’re allowed to be scared,” I tell him, wrapping my arms around him to keep him close. “But I want this. I want you so fucking badly, all of the time. And you know it’s real.”
“I’ve been hurt too much. I can’t believe anything is real.”
“Then I’m going to show you.”
Noah’s smile is like light breaking through a storm.
His lashes flick downward, and when he looks back up at me, he’s in disbelief. “Is that right, Torin?”
I stand up, reaching down an arm to help him up. “Yeah. Watch me.”
I walk toward the edge of the roof, not close enough to fall, but enough so that I can get a complete, sweeping view of all of Red Row below and everyone on it.
I take Noah’s hand beside me, holding it firm, and I give him a nod.
“Torin…” he says, confused.
“Get ready, baby,” I whisper to him.
He glances down at Red Row.
“Torin,” he repeats.
And then I fucking scream.
“Everybody listen the fuck up!” I shout at the top of my lungs, cutting through the sound below. Heads start to turn, and I do it again, even louder this time. “Up on the roof! I need every single person on Red Row to get your eyes on me, right now. Look. Up.”
Group after group of people turn their heads to finally locate us.
Noah’s squeezing my hand like he’s holding on for dear life, and I love how it feels.
Once I have everyone’s eyes on me, and nobody is talking amongst themselves anymore, I’m satisfied.
My heart pounds in my chest as I scream again.
“Noah Vancliff, this perfect man at my side, is my boyfriend. If anyone, literally any single one of you down there has a problem with that, you can take it up with me. Do you hear me? Loud and fucking clear? Noah belongs to me. Now go have fun at this block party and turn that fucking music up.”
I hear an excited roar from the side of the lawn and I look to see Oliver jumping up and down, pumping his fist in the air.
“Fuck yeah, Torin!” he screams back. “Say it from your chest!”
And then the whole goddamn street screams for us.
I get a rush that rock stars must get when they’re on stage in front of thousands of people, and I’ve never felt anything close to it in my life.
I turn to put my hands on either side of Noah’s face and kiss him, and the crowd claps and cheers for that, too, before everyone erupts into their own conversations again and someone turns the music up.
“I know you want to kill me right now,” I say against Noah’s lips. “Just save it. Hate-fuck me later if you have to, but God, I don’t regret doing that.”
“Torin, you are absolutely fucking crazy,” he says, pulling back to look me in the eye. “And that’s the most romantic thing that’s ever happened in my entire life.”
“Get used to it.”
“Holy shit.”
“I’m so into you, Noah.”
“I’m going to pass out. We need to get off this rooftop right now, because if I go down, I’m going down hard.”
I kiss him again. “Let’s head downstairs.”
“Holy fuck. You called me your boyfriend.”
“It felt weird for me, too,” I tell him as I help him through the window. “I never thought I would want to use that word for anyone, but I needed to make things crystal fucking clear.”
“Pretty sure you accomplished that.”
As we walk down the staircase in the house, I keep my hands on him at all times, clutching at his waist, his back, his shoulders. I’m always like this with him.
I can’t leave him alone.
And I don’t think I’d ever want to.
Right before we walk out the front door, I stop him for a second, resting my forehead against his.
“I think you should know that I probably have no clue how to be a good boyfriend,” I tell him. “I might be possessive. Tell me to fuck off if it ever bothers you.”
“No. I want to be yours.”
I grip his hips. “Fuck, that… is extremely hot, Noah.”
“And I’m glad the whole campus knows you’ve claimed me.”