Gavin shook his head but smiled. “Only about three stations ever seem to come in, and Leave It to Beaver usually seems to be playing on all of them.”
“God, I have so much to teach you,” she said. “Food, water, shelter, a bathroom just next door. We’re all set here.”
Gavin stretched out next to her, hands folded on his stomach as he looked at the drop ceiling overhead. She couldn’t be that far off: There wasn’t much else he’d want right now. He had Delilah, some snacks, and a locked door. What else could there possibly be?
“Hmm,” he said, playing along. “What about guns? A giant baseball bat?”
“Well, yes, of course. But even with just this, we’d be good.” Delilah grew quiet for a moment before she added softly, “We’ll always know this place is here in case we need to come back.”
And there it was: the elephant in the room. This wasn’t just pretend anymore. House wasn’t a secret they could hope to keep from the rest of the world. They were talking about running away, running for their lives, if he wanted to get technical.
Along with that realization came the slow, creeping feeling he’d had earlier, the dread that had clawed at Gavin’s stomach when he’d seen the scorched side of Delilah’s house.
Gavin closed his eyes but nodded anyway. He knew for as much as Delilah hated this town or how uninvolved her parents were, they were still her parents and Morton was still her home. Of course someday she might want to come back.
“We have to leave, Lilah. Tomorrow. It’s not safe here anymore.”
He heard Delilah swallow. “I know.”
“We need to figure out how far away we need to get, and we need to just go. We can’t wait until we have enough money.”
Delilah took a deep breath, like she was readying herself for something big. “All the money’s gone,” she said. “All of it. It was my first thought when I saw the flames.”
Gavin rolled to his side and looked down at her. “I don’t care about the money. I thought I’d lost you. That was my first thought when I saw what happened.”
Delilah’s fingers played at the fabric of his shirt. “Where should we go?”
“I don’t care if we’re living in a box under a bridge somewhere. As long as I’m with you, I don’t care about the rest.”
It was one of the few times they’d been alone like this, without the threat of a bell ringing or having to be home for curfew. Gavin knew there was so much more going on—the need for a plan, the reality that tomorrow they would be running for their lives, for God’s sake—but right now, with her breath on his neck and her hands making fists around the hem of his shirt, the alone part was the only thing he could focus on.
He could kiss her where no one could see them; he could touch her in places he’d never seen before. He wanted to care about the bigger things—the terrifying things—but at that moment, the reality of Delilah beside him was all he could think about: her lips, her hands, her body stretched out on the mat.
As if Delilah was thinking the exact same thing, her grip on his shirt tightened. He bent to kiss her, slow at first. Always some teeth, always some growl, and then he would suck her lips and tongue and her tiny, gasping sounds.
She pulled his shirt up and off, and with a little smile, he returned the favor.
He could kiss her all day, he thought, his eyes closed as her teeth dragged along his jaw. He could get drunk on the taste of chocolate still on her tongue and the heat of her skin along his entire body.
Gavin exhaled against her neck, his brain slanting at the soft smell of her skin. “Where do we stop?” he asked, moving to kiss her slightly swollen bottom lip. His hand slid beneath her, and with only a few fumbling attempts, he managed to unclasp her bra.
It took nearly a minute before she answered—because she arched into him and made a quiet, pleading sound when he pulled the straps down and off her arms—and in that time he continued his gentle assault: lips to neck, to collarbone, fingers spread across her chest.