Page 175 of Under the Waves
“Even though I would beat you?”
I almost smiled.
There’s my girl.
“Debatable,” I chuckled as I kicked open my front door with my foot.
“Is it though? You’re just scared to admit I’m better than you.”
I stopped dead in my tracks to look down at her as I said, “Poppy…I’d admit you’re better than me to anyone who would fucking listen if it meant that you would stop looking at me the way you’re looking at me now.”
“And how am I looking at you?” she whispered.
“Like you think you’re losing me.”
“Aren’t I though? This competition determines your entirefuture, Jasper. As much as I love hearing you say sweet things to me, this isn’t something you can brush off doing. It’s everything you’ve ever worked for. I’m just being realistic here. I know you have too much pressure on you at the minute, and I’m the only part of your life that is expendable…so you have to let me go.”
“Youare my future, Poppy. Don’t you get it? You’re not fucking expendable. Not to me. I don’t know what your parents did to make you feel that for one second you aren’t worth fighting for…but they arewrong. So fucking wrong, baby.Everything they’ve told you, all those lies…they’re all fucking wrong because, Wellsy, you are wortheverything.”
Poppy looked at me then as if I’d slapped her clean across the face. The shock of my words was sown across her eyes and the way they’d widened, her lips slightly parted.
“Youcan’tpossibly mean that—”
“I do,” I interjected, refusing to back down. “Every. Fucking. Word.”
“I think I likelikeyou, Ridge,” she whispered after a moment as she clutched onto me, so small and afraid.
“I think I likelikeyou more, Wells,” I admitted as I placed her down on the kitchen island before turning away to fish the medical bag from the cupboard. It’d take more than some flimsy band aids to mend her wounds but I wasn’t about to argue with her.
Not tonight.
My mom was a nurse. She’d know what to do tomorrow.
As I turned back around, I noted the small smile tugged at those rosy, pink lips. “You want to test that theory?” Poppy smirked before wincing a little.
“You bet I do,” I smirked right back at her. “Meet on the waves at dawn?”
She laughed, and the sound echoed like a wrecking ball against my heart that never really stood a chance against that girl.
“You’ll be sorry you ever made that bet, Ridge.”
I took her shivering knuckles in mine, pressing a gentle kiss to her skin as I kept my eyes locked onto hers. “There’s no bet I’ve ever regretted making when it comes to you, Wellsy.”
I wanted to kiss her there and then, to take her lips in mine and show her just how deeply my soul ached for her. Show her how much she waswanted.
But I knew Icouldn’t.
It was my selfish need, and that was probably the last thing she wanted right now.
The best thing I could do was pretend everything was normal when it was so fucking far from the truth. For her sake because for Poppy Wells, I’d burn down the world if only she asked it of me.
“Why did you make that bet with me, Jasper?” Poppy slurred, eyes starting to droop heavily. I lent forward, placing my armson either side of her in case she slumped forwards.
“You know why, Wellsy.”
“Yeah—” she yawned, shaking her head slowly. “But I don’t think it’s the whole truth.”
“Okay, sleepyhead,” I chuckled, earning a small frown from her. “I think you need to sleep it off.”