We were here where no one else could touch us, where the rest of the world didn’t matter, and I still couldn’t let her go. I couldn’t drop my touch from her for more than a moment because I feared that something would happen and this girl who I was so damn undeserving of would disappear.
And for this moment in time, she was mine.
CHAPTER TWENTY
JOSIE
Icouldn't lie and say I wasn't having fun. Even if Carson's little friend had put a damper on our plans. At least, she felt like a damper because Allie couldn't quit watching the two of them together.
And I swear, he was rubbing the fact that he had that girl here in her face.
If he wasn't, then he was really into her because I hadn't seen him leave her side for even a moment since we arrived.
Even now, as we walked down the boardwalk toward the crowd of people, he had her hand in his and was acting like they were some sort of long-lost lovers. I had seen Frankie roll her eyes more times than I could count as Allie tried to not look in their direction at all.
"You want ice cream?" Beck tugged me closer to him, and I pulled my attention away from Carson.
"Is that a serious question?"
"Rollercoasters first, then ice cream." Frankie slung her arm over my shoulders as she bounced on her toes, and it felt so good to see her so happy.
According to Beck, he hadn't seen her smile this much in a long time.
And I knew that it made him happy to her this way. He couldn't hide it even if he tried. If he wasn't touching me and trying to sneak me away from everyone, he was watching her with just as big of a smile on his face.
"Frankie has a weak stomach." Olly grabbed Frankie's hand and tugged her toward the rickety old rollercoaster that looked like it wasn't safe for anyone to ride on. "We all have nightmares from a few summers ago when she lost her funnel cake on us."
"Hardy har." Frankie rolled her eyes but smiled. "I was already feeling
sick, thank you. I have the stomach of a Viking."
"Okay, little warrior." Olly grinned at her and pushed her hair out of her face, and I looked up at Beck. He didn't seem to notice how Olly looked at his sister, but I did. It was impossible to miss. "Whatever you say."
Olly may have been overprotective of Frankie like a big brother, but he wasn't looking at her like a brother should. He was looking at her like someone who cared far more than a brother.
And I was pretty sure that Beck was clueless to it.
"I'm pretty sure that rollercoaster is going to come crashing down any second now." I nodded toward the screaming kids who were being flung around on the hunk of metal.
"Agreed." Allie looked as hesitant about the machinery as I did. "It looks like a deathtrap."
"Oh. Come on." Carson walked in front of us, and I was surprised to see he left his girl standing on her own near Olly. "Don't tell me Allie is scared."
"I'm not scared." She narrowed her eyes at him just as Beck tightened his fingers around mine.
"Then prove it." Carson held his hand out to Allie with a spark in his eyes, and I knew that she was going to tell him to go to hell. I could see it in the way she stared at his hand with disgust, but then she stepped forward, knocking his hand out of the way.
"Let's go."
Carson didn't even look back at his girl as he followed Allie toward the ride with a chuckle.
"Those two seriously need to fuck." Olly tugged Frankie toward the ride behind them, and we followed.
"I've been telling Josie that for weeks. The tension between the two of them is enough to give me a chubbie."
I laughed at Beck's words before Carrie scoffed. "You all do know that I'm standing right here, right?"
"Oh shit. My bad, Carrie. Maybe they'll let you join." Beck was so serious as he said it. "But I don't know if I'd want to. I think they have some hate-fucking to do."
I smacked my hand into Beck's chest, and he caught it with a grin. "Well, they do."
We followed Allie and Carson into the line, and neither of them spoke as they climbed into the rollercoaster together. Beck and I climbed in behind
them, followed by Olly and Frankie, and I wasn't surprised when I noticed Carrie still standing by the gate. She looked pissed as she typed furiously on her phone, but I didn't care.
"This ride is completely safe. We've been riding it since we were little,"
Beck reassured me as he tightened the metal bar over our laps.
"I don't think that means it's safe. That just makes it old."
He chuckled and leaned forward and ran his nose over my neck. "You're cute."
"You're just trying to distract me from this deathtrap you've put me on." I opened my neck for him and let him trail his lips over the sensitive skin. He smelled so good. Felt so good. He felt so irresistible now that I wasn't trying to force him away.
Ever since I met him, we had been fighting this push and pull with one another, and I wasn't sure how to feel now that all I wanted to do was pull him in. He was right there in front of me, and all I wanted was to take, take, take.
"Is it working?" His small laugh ricocheted against my skin, and I felt the movement all the way to my core.
"Maybe." I turned my face toward his just as the rollercoaster started forward, but he didn't stop. He lifted his hand and cupped my jaw before running his thumb over my bottom lip. He didn't wait for my permission before he closed the space between us and captured my mouth with his.
I knew we were just two kids buying our time together. I knew that once we returned home, things would most likely be different for the both of us, but I couldn't let that cloud my head. I couldn't focus on what was to come when there he was, right in front of me.
He grinned at me as the rollercoaster started picking up speed, and I laced my fingers in his as my body jerked to the left from the fast turn we just took.
I couldn't stop smiling as we sped over the track and my hair whipped into my face. I clutched Beck's hand in mine as he laughed, and I couldn't stop staring at him. The rest of the world was speeding past us, and all I could care about was him.
When the ride finally slowed, my heart was racing and my stomach was still doing somersaults. But my hand was still in Beck's, and I couldn't calm down even if I wanted to.
He pulled me all over the boardwalk, showing me things from his past that he had loved, and I loved watching this side of him. Here, with just me
and his friends, he was the carefree Beck that didn't give a shit what anyone else thought of him.
It was just me and him and these people that he loved. He wasn't the rich Clermont boy that so many people depended on, and I wasn't the girl he was supposed to hate.
"I swear to God, if one of you don't get me a caramel apple soon, I'm going to faint." Frankie was walking in front of us and the sun was setting over the ocean.
"She is so dramatic." Beck wrapped his arms around my shoulders and ran his nose over my neck. I hadn't gotten quite used to him touching me so much, but it was nice. Nicer than it should have been.
"I am not being dramatic." Frankie spun around and stared at her brother.
"I haven't had one in, like, two years, and I've been thinking about it the entire trip."
"Fine," Beck grumbled before placing a kiss on my shoulder and letting me go. "Let's go feed you before you become a monster."
Frankie smiled before locking her arm with her brother's. "We'll grab Josie one too."
"Of course." Beck winked at me just as I took a seat on an old bench next to Allie. She had barely spoken since we had gotten off the rollercoaster, and I was dying to talk to her to see what was going on in her head. But we weren't alone, and there was no way in hell I would let Carson or Olly overhear us.