I wasn't going to last much longer, but it was good. We'd had a lot of long nights and far too many full days out in the sun not to give in to the need to sleep, even though it felt too early to do it.
He closed the door and climbed up into the bed next to me, dropping down on his back and lifting his arm. "Come here and lay on my chest."
"Nowhere I'd rather be." I moved up and snuggled into his side as a yawn left me. "I'm not going to be able to keep my eyes open."
"Good. Sleep here with me tonight. I'll make you breakfast in the morning." He kissed the side of my head, and I couldn't seem to respond. He didn't need to make me breakfast. He was supposed to sneak out in the middle of the night and leave my heart whole and protected, but he wasn't going to do that.
Maybe I needed to?
*
I woke the next morning with far too much on my mind. The clock beside the bed read 4 a.m., and I knew that I needed to head back to the house to think things through for a while. I would be leaving in a few days, and my heart ached in my chest at the thought. I was working so hard to protect myself, and yet if I was being honest, at all, I knew I was without a leg to stand on anymore. I wasn't falling for Brody. I'd already fallen for him.
After slipping out of the bed quietly, I dressed and closed his door behind me. The house appeared to be quiet, and the deep sound of someone snoring caused my lip to lift in a smirk. The guys were all so cute in their own way, and having met them over the summer would most likely prove to be a life-long friendship with each of them.
I snuck down the hall and stopped as I reached the kitchen and realized there was someone standing by the window, looking out toward the lake.
"Clay?" I turned and smiled as he glanced my way.
"Hey, Cora. How are you?" He walked over and gave me a friendly hug. "Did you leave the oaf in there asleep?"
"Yeah." My heart constricted as I glanced back down the hall. "Tell him that I needed to get back to my own bed?"
"Sure, but that's a weird message to leave him." He chuckled. "Is your bed so much better than his?"
"It's far safer." I laughed, but the sound fell flat. "Anyway, I should be going."
"Cora." Clay reached out and gripped my wrist likely. "You know that you don't have to care about him just because he cares about you. He's a big boy. If you don't want this thing between you-”
"What?" I smirked. "Why would you think that?"
"I don't." He crossed his arms over his chest. "But I can tell you that he does want it. He's not stopped talking about you since you guys bumped into each other at your cabin the first day."
A smile lifted my lips. "You know he had some hot little number pressed to my car, trying to convince her that the car was his?"
He smiled. "That sounds a lot like my old friend, but not so much like my new one."
"What's that mean?" I gripped my keys in my hand as emotion raged deep inside of me.
"It means that people can change. Just like you might be a great girl today, and tomorrow you could make one mistake that ruins everything. People make mistakes. All of us. You included."
I nodded. "I agree with that. I've made plenty of my own and certainly have suffered at the hands of a few mistakes made by others around me."
"Right, but on the same token, people who live their lives full of mistakes and bad choices can change in a heartbeat, too. It just takes the right person coming into their lives, and they want to be someone different. Not for themselves, but for that special someone. You know what I mean?"
Tears burned my eyes. "I think so. I'm just not sure that's me. I'm honestly terrified of letting someone like Brody into my heart. It wouldn't be a fling that I could just discard as summer fun, Clay. It would be so much more."
"Yeah. It would be fucking amazing." He smiled and touched my shoulder. "You would be amazing for him, and man, do I think he would rock your world, too."
I chuckled and let a few tears roll down my cheeks. "Alright. I'm going home. I need to think things through a little more. Tell him to call me when he gets up?"
"Absolutely." He winked and let me go without another word.
I drove down the few blocks to our cabin with indecision rushing through my heart. I knew what the right answer was, but it seemed like a huge risk to take on someone I didn't know that well. I'd been straightforward with Brody over the fact that I really wasn't a fling-type of girl. And, I wasn't. I wanted long-term again, but I knew I wouldn't be much good at it until I could process everything that had happened with Brandon.
"Or maybe that's just an excuse." I growled and pulled into our driveway. My phone sat in the cup holder beside me, and before I chickened out, I reached down and grabbed it to call my mom.
She answered on the first ring, which was a little surprising seeing that it was so early.