I was shaking the food off my tray before putting it on the counter when Kylie joined me. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Wow, so Clay’s moved back to Davidson. That’s so awesome. I hope he’s okay. I mean after trying to kill himself and all,” she said with false brightness. I shot her a look over my shoulder and then walked out of the cafeteria, deciding no response was better than going all Kung Fu ninja on her ass. Fuck that bitch.

The rest of the day was spent fielding a million and one questions about Clay. You’d think this was the only news worthy event happening at Jackson. Had everyone already forgotten about the junior girl who had gotten knocked up by her thirty year old boyfriend? That seemed a hell of a lot more interesting than the fact that Clayton Reed had returned.

By the end of the day I was ready to bash my head in. “Have you talked to him at all?” Lila Casteel asked me as I headed toward the gym for track practice. I hefted the bag up onto my shoulder and gave her my frostiest smile.

“Nope, but I’ll get right on that, Lila. It’s right behind learning to tap dance and translating the Odyssey into Pig Latin.” Lila looked taken aback but I just didn’t give a shit. I stormed away from her and was glad to have practice to keep my mind distracted.

***

After practice, I grabbed my bag and left before anyone else could stop me, asking questions I didn’t have answers for. If one more person asked me if I had seen Clay and whether he was really coming back to Jackson, I would profess temporary insanity and go UFC fighter on their faces.

I dug through my bag for my keys as I got into the parking lot. When I glanced up, the sight of who waited by my car made me stumble. There went my plans for plausible deniability.

“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath, righting myself, feeling the sting of embarrassment color my cheeks.

“You okay?” Clay asked, coming to my side, making the flash of humiliation even more acute. I waved him away.

“I’m fine.” He jammed his hands back into his pockets and fell into step beside me.

“This thing still lives, huh?” he asked, poking the tire of my car with his shoe. I snorted as I opened the door to throw my bag inside.

“Still kickin’. She’ll outlive your fancy ride over there, I have no doubt,” I said, nodding toward his BMW that was parked beside mine. Clay laughed.

“I’m pretty sure your car could take mine in a cage fight. I bet she fights dirty.” I tried not to get lost in his eyes as they twinkled in amusement. It was way too easy to fall into our old banter. But too much water had run under that particular bridge.

“As great as it is to stand here and discuss the finer points of our respective cars, I’m feeling smelly and sweaty and would really like a shower. I’m assuming there is a reason for your random stalking?” I asked, trying to sound annoyed, when in actuality I was entirely too excited to see him.

Clay’s smile faltered and then disappeared altogether. Jeesh, I hadn’t meant to be so testy. He looked as though I had just told him his favorite dog had run away. But my overly fluttery heart set me on edge. It reminded me of how simple it would be to lose myself in that place where he was my entire world. The world he had decimated.

“Yeah. Okay. Well, I just wanted to tell you that I’ve decided to stay in Davidson. At least for a while,” he began but I cut him off.

“I’ve already heard.” I made a show of checking my imaginary wrist watch. “About six and a half hours ago to be precise.” Clay groaned.

“God, don’t these people have anything better to talk about?” he growled. I lifted my shoulders in a shrug.

“This is Davidson, Virginia. You sneeze in the woods and everyone knows about it five minutes later and then proceeds to talk about it until you’re forty. It’s nothing personal. You just gave these people something to talk about. Be flattered,” I said shortly, closing my car door and leaning against it.

Clay rolled his eyes toward the sky. “I just wish they’d talk about someone that wasn’t me,” he said softly and I felt bad for making light of it. I knew it was hard for him to be the center of attention. He had always preferred to blend into the background. But that was difficult to do after our stint as teenagers on the run. The town would be hard pressed to forget something like that anytime soon. And now that he was back it only served to fan the flames that had only just started to die down.

“Yeah, it sucks,” I agreed, crossing my arms over my chest. Clay looked at me. I mean really looked at me and something flickered in his dark eyes that made my heart pitter patter. Annoying heart!

Slowly, he leaned against my car beside me. Our elbows rubbed together and the familiar tingles of electricity flickered across my skin.

“I just wanted to tell you myself. I know I’ve made things…difficult for you and I’m sure my showing up here makes it even worse.” I wanted to stay angry with him. I wanted to yell and scream about the way he had left me. But it was hard to summon up anything other than stone cold relief that he was here at all. But as always I was able to hide my more vulnerable emotions under a hefty pile of sarcasm and snark.

“Nah. You give yourself too much credit,” I teased, knocking his shoulder with mine. Clay glanced at me through his lashes, the look on his face leaving me breathless.

“Probably. But all the same, I don’t want to make things harder for you.” His voice dropped as his eyes fell to my lips.