As we get farther and farther away from Baymont High, I stop catching the wind between my fingers and settle back in my seat. I’m a little tipsy and my head isn’t right, but I try to focus as I look over at him.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I ask him.
“Driving,” he answers without looking away from the road.
“I know that, but you’re going the wrong way.” I gesture vaguely behind us. “The school is back there.”
“You don’t say?” he says lightly.
“I don’t want to be late for my last class.”
“Which one is it again?”
“AP psych.”
“Ah.” He waves me off. “You don’t need to go to psych class. You want to know about abnormal psychology? Just spend the day with me.”
I smile. “Very funny, but I’m serious.”
Finally, he looks over at me. “We’re not going back to school, Aubrey.”
“But I have class. And my stuff’s there. How will I do my homework if I don’t have my books?”
“I’ll have someone collect your stuff for you and drop it at my place after school. We’ll grab it before I take you home.”
“I don’t…” I don’t really know what to say to that. I’m not used to having help with anything anymore, and he has help with everything. “Don’t you ever do anything yourself?”
“Sure,” he says easily. “Right now, I’m kidnapping a girl I know from school with no help at all.”
“My apologies. That’s terribly impressive.”
“See?”
I grin and shake my head, but I don’t fight him. I never get days off anymore, so a stolen hour with him… there are worse things in the world.
To my surprise, he drives me to his house. I follow him around back, tagging along as we move past the pool I nearly died in a week ago.
I shoot it a dirty look and maintain my distance, staying behind him since I feel safer there. He stops to raid the bar, looking at different bottles before deciding to grab rum.
“This’ll do. You want anything else?”
“Bottled water?”
He rolls his eyes, but grabs me a cold bottle of water out of the mini fridge.
Once he has the alcohol shoved in my purse, he grabs my hand and takes me through his backyard. He keeps going until we get to the edge of the cliff, then he hauls me to the steep stairs that lead down to the beach.
Uncertain, I fall back a step. “Wait, we’re going down these?”
“That is the way to the beach,” he says dryly.
“Is there another way?”
“Sure. I can push you. You’ll get there a hell of a lot faster, but I make no promises about the condition you’ll be in.”
I roll my eyes, muttering as I walk closer to the steps, “Some spoiled rich boy you are. You don’t even have an elevator down to the beach?”
“I am an endless disappointment,” he says solemnly.
I crack a smile, but it fades quickly as I place my hand on the railing.
Thankfully, there is at least a railing to hold onto, but I’m not comfortable walking down this staircase. I wouldn’t love it completely sober, but with a little alcohol in my veins, it’s a big fat no.
I go anyway.
We make it down safely, but as soon as my sandals sink into the sand, I begin to question my footwear choices. I grab onto Dare’s shoulder to keep myself upright as I wobble on one leg, reaching down to pull off my sandal.
He glances at my hand on his shoulder, then back at me as I gracelessly tip over. I laugh, my nails biting into his shoulder, but I still lose my balance and fall on my ass in the sand.
“My god, have you never imbibed alcohol in your whole life?” he asks, amused, as he turns to look at me sprawled on the beach.
It doesn’t occur to me until his gaze travels up my legs that they’re spread and he can probably see my panties.
I shift my weight and move my legs to block his view, then climb to my knees. He offers a hand, I expect to help me up, but rather than help me stand, he plants that hand on his hip, then grabs my other hand and plants it on his other hip.
I look up at him, on my knees in the sand at his feet. I don’t know how he looks even more handsome from down here, but all the amusement in my body dissipates, replaced with a strangely sensual heat.
A faint smirk tugs at his lips, hinting at the thoughts playing through his mind. “You look good down there,” he murmurs. “Maybe you should stay for a while.”
Heat travels through my belly as I think about what he means.
I drop my hands and break his gaze, pushing myself up off the beach without help.
Strangely, I feel a little more sober as I stand up.