All The Wild Ones | Wildfire Series

Coin Toss

NESSA

When I stepped into the apartment at the end of the second week of school, I found Beau and Collins in the kitchen. Together.

It was the first time I'd seen the two of them in the same room since we moved in. Voluntarily, anyway.

Beau was leaning against the fridge, listening intently to Collins go on about the seating arrangements in her chem lab, which put her at the same table as a know-it-all freshman. Her back was to him, and the heavy clunking of a knife against a cutting board told me she was prepping dinner, which she did religiously every night.

And because her back was to him, Beau thought he was safe. He was more relaxed than I'd seen in a while. His eyes were glued to Collins in a way that felt way too intimate. Way too private. A slight smile played on his lips as he nodded along to her complaints.

He hadn't heard me walk in. Neither of them had.

"Hey!"

I threw my backpack down, making sure it hit the floor loud enough to make Beau jump in the air.

He cleared his throat. "Hey, girl."

"What's up?"

Collins looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Oh, hi, Nessa. Didn't hear you come in."

Her eyes skated to Beau and back. So quickly that I probably wouldn't have noticed anything if I wasn't looking. I returned her smile, about about to ask what she was cooking when Beau cut in.

"Football boy is in your room. I think he passed out because I called his name a little while ago to see if he wanted anything to drink, and he didn't respond."

A little thrum of anxiety and excitement rushed through me. I wasn't expecting Grayson to be here. But an unresponsive Grayson?

I knew I shouldn't be concerned, but I was, and soon my feet were rushing over old hardwood floors to the door of my bedroom.

Relief washed through me.

Grayson sat in my bed, his entire face covered by a huge unfolded sheet of paper. Was that—?

"Are you reading my birth control side effects?"

He lowered the pamphlet in a whoosh of crinkling paper, revealing an intense scowl and a look of concentration. Without saying anything, he opened my bedside table and plucked my birth control out of the drawer.

Yep, he was reading the side effects of my birth control.

Grayson fiddled with the package for a second before looking up at me.

"Move," he said.

"What?"

He flicked his fingers to the side, and I followed them, inching to the wall of my room.

With a nod of satisfaction, Grayson tossed the packet of pills into the air. They landed in the garbage next to me with a clunking sound.

My brows drawing together, I stared at the garbage for a second. And then I stared at him.

"What the hell?"

With that taken care of, Grayson seemed lighter. Like a weight had been lifted off of him. He grinned at me, getting off the bed to come over and wrap his arms around me.

"Hey, baby. How was your day?"

I pushed at his chest, and the result was the instant reminder of how annoyingly firm it was. "Don't hey baby me. Why did you throw my birth control away?"