Don’t Let Go

26. Aurora

26

Aurora

“Sleeping beauty’s awake!” Chloe sang, shoving a cup of beer into my face. “Time to catch up.”

I took a sip and stuck my tongue out. It was warm and tasted ten times more bitter than it did when the party started. “That’s nasty.” I put the drink on the messy table and caught sight of my left arm. It had a giant handprint bruise around my wrist where Paolo grabbed me. He was tired of me not sleeping with him, so he was going to force himself onto me. I blinked back tears as I remembered how scared I was trapped in that pool house.

Chloe took my arm and gingerly touched my bruises. “Paolo?” she hissed his name like he was a monster. I guess he was.

“Yeah. A little going-away present, I suppose.”

She arched a perfect brow. “Oh?”

I shrugged, putting on the red leather jacket on my lap. It was Chloe’s, but she didn’t care if I borrowed it. “I’m sick of his shit. He attacked me, and Tyler came. I knocked Paolo upside the head with a wine bottle and then broke up with him.”

Chloe laughed, shaking her head. “Damn, I wish I would’ve seen his face.”

I patted the couch and myself for my phone. “Yeah. He swore he’d kill me and my family. So there’s that.”

Chloe handed me my phone. “Relax. He’s more bark with no bite. Your mom is a rock star with the mafia. I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”

Paolo also threatened Tyler and brought up his dead parents. That couldn’t be a coincidence, but maybe I was overanalyzing things.

“I hope so.” I rubbed my eyes and saw the time on my phone. It was past three in the morning. “Shit. I need to get home.”

Chloe hiccupped. “I’ll drive.”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “No. Stay here. I’ll call a rideshare. Where is everyone?” I glanced around, but I couldn’t spot Gabs or Maria anywhere.

She gestured at the party. It’d thinned some. There were people scattered on the floor passed out and more probably upstairs humping like bunnies. “Somewhere…”

“Great. Helpful. Stay here and sober up, then drive home.” I stood and glanced at my phone as I beelined toward the front entrance. At least I didn’t have any missed messages.

My only company outside was empty cars and crickets singing. I tried not to think of the scorpions and snakes that lurked in the brush. Now wasn’t the time to visit the ER, considering it was thirty miles away.

A Palo Verde tree stood tall by the street. I leaned against it and ordered my ride. It was a good distance away. No one around here seemed to want the job of driving across the city in the middle of the night.

The tree was covered in yellow flowers; a light breeze showered them all over me. I picked them out of my hair and cursed under my breath. My baby sister had horrible allergies to plants, and I should’ve been paying better attention to my surroundings.

“That makes you look like a princess.”

I spun a one-eighty and found Tyler. He looked handsome with his tousled hair, and the dim light brought out a shine in his dark eyes. His gaze was locked on my lips.

“Hey. What’s up?” I flashed him a friendly smile.

He gestured toward his phone. “Waiting for my rideshare. You?”

I pulled another yellow flower from my hair. “Same.”

“Allow me.” Ty gently removed what was left of the pesky flowers. He held the last one in the palm of his hand. “Make a wish.”

“That’s dandelions, silly.”

He was all serious as he motioned to the flower. “Not in Arizona. Here it also includes these. Now make a wish.”

I chuckled. “So bossy. Let me think.”

This was crazy, yet I was caught up in it. A world where I could wish on more than dying stars. I’d take anything to make life easier.

I closed my eyes.

I wish Paolo would forget about me. I wish the mafia didn’t have such a hold on my family. I wish for one moment life didn’t have to be all doom and gloom.

I blew the flower away and slowly opened my eyes. Tyler tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “Maybe we should step away from this tree.”

A laugh escaped me. “Yeah. I don’t want to give Lizzy a sneeze attack.”

“No. We do not.” His voice was smooth, like silk.

With a quick look around, I saw we were alone. I didn’t feel like myself. I felt bold and wild.

“What if for a moment you weren’t Tyler and I wasn’t Aurora?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Then who would we be?”

“Anyone else.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him again.

He held on tight, hugging me to his chest.

I didn’t want the moment to end. It needed to go on forever.

Finally, there was someone who made me feel like I was more than just a toy, a cleaner, a sister, a daughter, a simple Phoenix girl with wanderlust.

For that second, I became beautiful, desired, and valuable.

“Don’t let me disappear,” I whispered against his lips.

He kissed his way along my cheekbone and murmured into my ear, “Never. I’ll never let you go.”

We kissed again until our heat could light the bushes on fire, making this whole place go up in flames.

A car honk made us jump apart.

“Sorry to interrupt, but are you Tyler?” the guy in the blue Corvette asked.

“Yeah.” Ty rubbed the back of his neck as he opened the back door. “You wanna ride with me? We are going to the same place, after all.”

My lips burned for more. Each nerve tingled, aching of his touch.

I looked around. There wasn’t another soul in sight. “Why not?”

I slid in next to him and canceled my ride.

Maybe we couldn’t live in that moment forever, but for a few heartbeats, I wasn’t myself. As for right now, I was just a dreamer in a car with a cute boy.