Dream With Me (With Me Book 4) (19 page)

Dinner is full of conversation.
I’m sure most people would be surprised by how much Jack and Griff talk, but it doesn’t strike me as odd. This is exactly how my older sister, Meredith, is. She’s very quiet and shy—it can come across as aloof—but when she feels comfortable, she’ll talk more. It’s not as if Jack and Griff are super talkative, but they keep the dialogue going.

And we talk pretty much about everything. My parents and where I grew up. It’s no secret that I grew up wealthy and have a very sizeable trust fund, but my parents made sure that my sisters and I were always aware of our privilege and weren’t raised to take things for granted. I tell Jack and Griff how my sisters and I worked from a young age and listen to their stories of working in the auto-shop alongside their dad.

They hear all about my first dog, Biebs, and give me a hard time that I named my dog after Justin Bieber. But, hey, I was young! We all do silly things when we’re young. It’s not like I named my dog after a One Direction member. (That would be my younger sister, Vanessa.)

When I ask to see a photo of their parents, Jack excuses himself for a second. I get up to frost the cake, since it’s definitely cooled down by now, and am halfway through it when Jack comes back with a thick album.

Griff lets out a groan. “Dude. One picture. One. Not the album.”

“Why not the album?” I resume spreading the frosting. It’s only going to take a few more minutes before I’m done.

“Because the album has Griff’s baby pictures,” Jack says.

I drop the frosting-covered butter knife on the napkin and hurry over to Jack. “Let me see! Let me see!”

“I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You,” Griff says to his brother.

“Go frost your girlfriend’s cake,” Jack says. “It’s not like she hasn’t seen a baby’s ass before.”

“One day, I will show your baby pictures to the girl you like.”

“I’m sure you were an adorable baby,” I say. “I’d love to see the pictures. Can I? Pretty please?”

Griff gives a sigh of defeat. “Okay, I can’t say no to you. I’ll frost the cake and make some tea and coffee.”

Griff gets up to do exactly that and kisses the top of my head as he passes me.

Jack watches it all and leans toward me when Griff nears the cabinet by the fridge. “He really . . .” Jack pauses, his gray eyes glinting, “
likes
you.”

“I like him, too,” I say.

“I know you do,” he says, his voice kinder than I expected it to be. Jack looks like a hard man, but he’s obviously got a soft, vulnerable spot for his brother. He straightens and flips the photo album open. “Let’s look at some pictures.”

Despite Jack and Griff’s claims
to not be dessert people, they each eat
two
big slices of cake. We pick up the kitchen, even after Jack tells us he’s got it—it just seems rude to not clean up. But after we bring over our plates and silverware, Jack refuses any more help and pretty much pushes us out the door.

Griff and I aren’t in the mood to join anyone at the bar, so we drive back downtown to Lake Champlain. It has gotten brisker but I’m good in my light white eyelet sweater and jeans. We walk along the sidewalk lining the shore, the stars overhead reflected in the calm waters.

I stop by an empty park bench. Up ahead, the gazebo is decorated in fairy lights.

“Close your eyes,” I say.

After a moment, Griff closes his eyes. And I do, too.

“Now, tilt your head back and open your eyes. Find the first star you see.”

“And what now?”

I don’t look away from my star. “Now,” I say. “Now, you make a wish.”

My wish is simple, but one I hope desperately will come true one day.

I wish for Griff to love me.

I look away from the sky to find Griff’s dark eyes already on me. “Did you make a wish?”

“I did,” Griff says. “It’s been a long time since I’ve wished upon a star.”

“Maybe it’s foolish of me. Wishing on stars. Finding pictures in clouds.”
Hoping that you’ll fall in love with me.
“But—”

“You’re a dreamer, Evie. That’s what dreamers do. They don’t see what the world is, but what the world could and should be. And”—Griff’s hand finds mine—“you make me want to be a dreamer, too.”

“It’s never too late to dream. To be a dreamer.”

“I’m starting to believe that’s true.” Griff kisses me, soft and sweet. “Come back with me to my place, Evie. Let me dream with you tonight.”

I kiss him once more, giving him my yes in each press of my lips to his. And then I whisper, “Yes,” against his mouth, just for him to hear the word.

Tonight, if only for tonight, one dream is within my reach.

And I’m going to grab it with everything that’s in me.

‡

There are cars parked in
the driveway of the house that Griff and the guys live in and more along the street of the house when we arrive. Jamie waves at us from the porch.

“I thought they were at the bar,” Griff says. “But, damn, Caleb’s birthday is May sixth.”

“Tomorrow,” I say. “So someone at the house—”

“Jamie. Definitely Jamie. Hailey would have done something more private.”

“Jamie decided to have a party for Caleb’s birthday.”

Griff shoots me an apologetic look. “We can always go back to your place.”

And have him miss his friend’s birthday party? One of the guys that Griff is tight with?

“No, we can stay. It’ll be fun,” I say. “Although I feel bad that I don’t have a present or anything.”

“Caleb doesn’t care about that sort of stuff.” Griff taps his hands on the steering wheel. “You sure about this?”

“Positive. It’s a birthday party, and there is . . . later.”

His dark gaze turns heated. “I want later to be now.”

“Good things come to those who wait,” I say with a smile.

Griff’s look promises me that he’ll make me pay for that comment
later
on. Perhaps he’ll even make me wait for release for a long, long time. Slow, drugging kisses. Slow, hot flicks of tongue. Slow, sure strokes of his—

“Evie.”

I have to drag my mind out of the dirty thoughts gutter. It’s a struggle. “Yeah?”

“If you keep looking at me like that, there’s not going to be anymore waiting.” Griff’s voice is a soft growl that reaches deep into my core. “And I’ll show you how very bad I can be.”

White-hot desire spears me, and the only thing that keeps me from climbing over the console and straddling Griff is the fact that he’s driving down the street in search of an empty parking space.

“Promise you’ll be very bad later on?”

“Promise,” he says.

Just then, a car backs out of a driveway, nearly hitting us. Griff swerves to avoid bumping into the other car’s fender and then slams on the brakes. We both jerk forward and adrenaline spikes through me. It’s only due to Griff’s quick reflexes that we didn’t get into an accident.

Griff lays on the horn, and the other driver flips us off, then drives away, his wheels screeching.

“Wow, what a jerk,” I say. There’s no response from Griff, so I turn toward him, only to find his attention focused on me.

He looks pale in the darkness.

“Hey,” I say, suddenly worried that Griff got hurt somehow. I don’t like the idea of Griff bruised up. “Are you okay?”

He swallows once. Twice. He clears his throat, then shakes his head. “Evie.”

His voice is hoarse, a hint of a tremor.

“Evie,” he says again, raking his dark eyes over my form. “Are
you
okay?”

“Yeah, it just surprised me. The other driver wasn’t even looking when he backed out!” I look at the road where the car disappeared. “If you weren’t quick—”

“It would have caused an accident.”

Something in his voice makes me glance back at him. Something in his face makes me worried. There’s just something off.

“Griff, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” he says darkly, as he straightens out his truck and starts driving again. “I just . . . I hated that you could have gotten hurt.”

“But I didn’t get hurt, and it was the other person’s fault anyway.”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. And for a moment . . .” Griff’s hands tighten on the steering wheel, his features stark. “For a moment, I thought I didn’t avoid the other car in time.”

“Well, you did,” I say softly.

“I did,” he agrees.

But I can see that he’s still thinking about it and running over what could have happened—and more likely, how he could have even avoided the near-miss in the first place.

“Well, you know,” I say, trying to make things better. “That happens every day, with drivers being idiots, so don’t stress too much about it. Nothing bad happened.”

“True,” he says and falls back into silence.

Luckily, a few minutes later, we manage to find a spot and pull in between two cars. We walk up the street and I see a group coming out of the house to hang out on the lawn, despite the chill of the air. I stop thinking about the almost accident and wave to some people I know.

The guys’ house is on a street that’s been dubbed “Green College Row,” because all of them are properties of Green College. It’s not a place where families and non-college people live. The residents here have to be careful about noise ordinances and other stuff that comes when holding a party, but usually, unless things get too out of hand, it’s a cop-free zone.

And the house that Griff lives in is more careful than most. The times I’ve gone to parties here, there’s always been one or two of the guys sober. Griff has typically been one, and sometimes it’ll be Caleb or Jamie or Nick, depending on who’s volunteered. Keys are always taken, and if someone drinks, a cab is called.

“Griff!” A voice bellows from the lawn, and we both look in the direction. It’s Jamie, who’s crossing the yard, and stops when we reach him. “You forgot, didn’t you?”

“I had other things on my mind.”

Jamie’s gaze slides over to me, his blue eyes widening with recognition. “Yeah, I can see what those other things are. But anyway, glad you’re finally here. Fox is in the kitchen. I’m sure he’ll want a birthday kiss.”

Griff just scowls at his friend.

“Let’s get inside,” Jamie says. “There’s going to be cake.”

“So how last minute was this party?” I ask.

“Not too last minute. Earlier today maybe. Hailey and Caleb are doing something tomorrow night—you know how those two lovebirds are—and well, it’s the last birthday with us all together. We’ve got to do
something
. And, of course, it’s so hard to convince college seniors to party.”

I laugh as we walk up the porch stairs.

“But, anyway, everyone was on board and the Bloomster got a cake that could feed a small army.” Jamie leads us inside the crowded house. “Which, as you can see, will be needed. Everyone’s in the back.”

We follow Jamie to the kitchen, and he was not exaggerating about the cake. It’s four layers of dark and milk chocolate that will be more than enough to feed everyone at this party. On the top are a bunch of candles and tiny hard-shelled, sea-salt chocolate candy roses.
Happy Birthday, Caleb
is written in caramel-colored icing.

I must make a noise because Griff turns to me. “I think I’ve died and gone to chocolate heaven,” I say.

“I thought your favorite dessert was strawberry shortcake,” he says, something I told him during our game of Truth or Strip.

“It is, but . . . look at all that chocolate.” I sigh, already thinking of how rich and decadent that cake will taste. “Just give me a moment to take it all in. Okay. I’m good.”

Griff takes my hand, then we head to Caleb, who’s standing off to one side of the cake with Hailey next to him.

“Oh, hey!” Hailey says, smiling wide. “We were about to light the candles and sing.”

Griff and Caleb do that bro hug and I wish Caleb a happy birthday as Daphne brings over some matches.

“God, this thing is huge,” Caleb says.

Daphne nods. “I know! I still can’t believe we got it in the house in one piece—and without you noticing.”

“I might have been . . . distracted,” Caleb says. “And now I know why.”

Hailey’s cheeks turn pink as she lights the birthday candles. “Please. Like I needed a reason to kiss you, but it was very convenient that you were upstairs and were willing to be . . .
distracted
.”

Caleb waits for Hailey to finish before he wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her to him. “Just remember what I can do with cake.”

And then Hailey’s face goes scarlet.

“Ewwwww,” Daphne says. “I do not need to know about what you’re planning to do with any cake, thank you very much. You’re my brother. And no. JUST. NO. And I don’t want cake to be forever ruined for me.”

But then Nick leans down to whisper something in Daphne’s ear and this time she goes a bright red.

“I live with a bunch of depraved people.” Jamie shakes his head in mock disgust. “It’s up to me to raise the standards in this house for . . . oh, maybe one second.”

Zelda just gazes adoringly at her boyfriend as he goes off to the rest of the house and announces that everyone needs to get ready to sing. It’s pretty adorable how she looks at him—and even more adorable how Jamie looks at her.