Page 136 of Under the Waves
He glared right back. “Wells.”
“Don’t test me.”
“Oh, but you know I love to.”
I sighed. “I’m never going to win with you, am I?”
Jasper all but grinned like a little kid, clearly amused with himself. “No, but I love the way you keep trying to.”
I laughed despite myself.My god, that boy.
“I hope you know I’m never going to stop trying to beat you, Ridge.”
“I surely hope not. It’s one of my favorite things about you, Wellsy.”
I turned away, turning his words over and over inside my head.
Yeah. It was one of my favorite things about you too, Ridge.
Perched atop of my most favorite rope bridge overlooking a small river, I watched as salmon jumped up stream and a trail of butterflies took flight over our heads. The crystal-clear waters gleamed under the sunlight filtering through the pine trees, hues of rich blues and greens creating a beautiful masterpiece. Mosses clung to the tree trunks, covering their chestnut brown oak in a blanket of greenery.
“I’ve never brought anyone here before,” I admitted, letting the words float in the silence between us. This place—this sanctuary, it had always belonged to me. Ever since I was a kid, I knew this place would become a huge part of my life. It was the only place in the whole of town that didn’t make me feel unworthy for simply existing.
I hope they’re all proud of what they did to me all those years ago. I hope that bullying a child, who hadnocontrol over who her parents were and the actions they took part in wasworthit. I hope shattering every part of me made them feel accomplished because at least then it wouldn’t have all been fornothing.
“I am honored you chose to share this place with me, Wellsy,” Jasper smiled, small dimples popping out of his cheeks as the sun made his golden-brown eyes glow like the rarest of gems. “Thank you.”
When I woke up this morning and Jasper was nowhere to be found, part of me couldn’t help but think that my mom had scared him off for good—that she’d managed to ruin the only good thing in my life purely out of her own selfish desires.
What Ididn’tknow was that Jasper hadn’t gone far away from me at all. In fact, he was only in the next room making blueberry pancakes for breakfast. He’d managed to go home and change into a pair of gray sweatpants and a tightly fitted black compression top that didnothingto conceal his muscular frame. And to top it all off, he’d stolen my favorite cap and wore it backwards, a few strands of his messy brown hair falling out from underneath it.
I’d never felt as many butterflies in my stomach as I did when his gaze slid to mine. He didn’t even have to smile, I could see every thought as if it was sown across his eyes. I’d bit down on my bottom lip, concealing a smile before walking up to him and brushing away some pancake mixture that was residing beside his bottom lip. Jasper had watched each of my movements intently, and I didn’t even think hebreathedonce whilst my skin was touching his. Existing around Jasper Ridge was effortless. He made living feel like heaven on earth.
But, of course, the moment ended the second he scooped his hand in the mixing bowl and slathered a handful of leftover pancake batter across my cheeks and the bridge of my nose. I gasped as the cold mixture hit my skin, watching as he steppedbackwards, chuckling to himself.
“You, Poppy Wells, might just be my greatest masterpiece,” he said, glancing at me in a way he’d never done before. My whole body flooded with heat at his words as if someone had lit me on fire. No one did compliments better than Jasper Ridge.
“Yeah?” I smiled up at him before messily dipping my hand in the bowl and splattering his face with streaks of pancake mixture just as he had done to me mere moments ago. “You might just be mine, too.”
The memory had replayed countless times in my head since then. It was the only thing I could seem to think about. Him. Me.Us. Everything that had happened to us since he knocked me out with the surf school door that very first night. Jasper Ridge had stolen each and every thought of mine and refused to apologize for it, and honestly, I never wanted him to give them back. They belonged to him as much as they did to me. I found myself wanting him to own them.
“It’s quiet here. Always has been. It’s one of the reasons I like it so much—it’s close enough to the main trail that I could find my way back in the darkness, but far away enough that not many tourists or locals, for that matter, find it.”
“Like your own secret hideaway,” Jasper mused, still looking at me, never once glancing away.
“Ourown secret hideaway,” I corrected, and the smile that immediately formed on his lips was the best kind of reward. “I—I want to share it with you, if you’d let me, of course—”
“Yes,” he grinned widely, interrupting me. “A thousand times,yes.”
“It doesn’t feel so lonely up here now that you’re here with me,” I admitted.
In one smooth motion, Jasper wrapped his hands around me, pulling me towards him. Now sat between his legs, his arms wrapped around my waist, my head leaning back against his chest, he whispered, “You won’t ever have to feel alone again, Wellsy.”
You won’t ever have to feel alone again.
His words brought tears to my eyes. I knew he meant them too. They weren’t just for the sake of it. Jasper Ridge truly did mean them, andthathealed a part of my heart in itself.
“Neither do you, my Spiderman,” I turned around slightly,smiling softly at him as I rested my palm against his cheek. The warmth of his gaze settled down on me, going straight to my cheeks that glowed purely from the way he was looking at me.