Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series, стр. 28
Cue melting.
He grabbed a jacket and his car keys, not noticing how my eyes followed him around the room.
“Come on!” His words called me out of my daze. I had to practically run out of the door and down the stairs to keep up with him. I suddenly regretted my own choice of a long maxi dress as I nearly slipped on the dark green hem. As March had dawned, the coming spring had made me want to throw the skinny jeans out of the window.
It wasn’t until the BMW pulled onto the dual carriageway that Tye visibly relaxed, leaning into his hand that was propped on the driver door. It was a physical relief for him to be out of the city his dad was now in.
“Do you want to talk about it or not?” I asked eventually, trying to keep my focus on the road and not on him.
“Not yet,” he shook his head, concentrating on the traffic. “He shouldn’t have come.”
We didn’t speak again until we had parked up on the seafront of Exmouth. Spring had just sprung and as I climbed out of the car, the sun had some warmth for the first time that year. I basked in it for a moment.
We made our picnic on a bench on the promenade overlooking the breaking waves as they fizzed on the flat yellow sand. Exmouth was far from the most upmarket of towns, yet it certainly had an old-fashioned charm, something so fifties about its character.
“Do you want salami and cheddar, or pastrami and gruyere?” I held up two bagels.
“Posh, princess. Most people say ham and cheese. Pastrami every time,” he smiled, the first one of that day as he relaxed into using the familiar nickname. “How was the run?”
“Long,” I winced, stretching my right leg out as it crossed over my left to make the point. “It was our first ten-kilometre race since before Christmas and my body could feel it.”
“Feel it?”
“Yeah – sore legs, sore arms. Sore everything.”
“You need to try a different kind of exercise. Change is as good as rest, isn’t that what they say?”
“So they do. I can’t afford the gym though. What kind of exercise would you recommend?”
“I can think of one suggestion,” he winked at me, making me laugh around my bite of bagel and sending shivers of excitement across my skin. “See, this is what I like,” he leaned back on the bench and tipped his head into the sunlight.
“What?” I admired his handsome profile in the glow, his words having taken me by surprise.
“Escape.” He gestured to the world in front of him, as if it were clear enough without an explanation. “That’s what uni is for me. It’s what you are for me,” he sighed as if it were a hopeless thing.
“I help you escape?” I was still confused.
“Yes.”
“Tye?” At my soft pitch, he looked at me. “From what?”
He paused again, drawing out the moment and looking down at his bagel as he took another bite. His left hand dropped onto his leg and I saw an opportunity. I shuffled slightly closer on the bench and took his hand in mine, feeling his warm palm against my skin. His gaze shifted to our hands. I felt the nerves in my stomach freeze when he didn’t pull away. As if the little people in my stomach had all frozen in a game of musical statues, waiting to see what would happen next.
“Tye, what do you need to escape from?”
He looked up to my eyes this time and the resistance cracked on his face.
“Alright,” he lowered the bagel, temporarily forgotten. “My dad has always been intense. Always. He wants to keep his whole family close as it’s not exactly what he had growing up. Unfortunately, that transpires into wanting us all to stay as close as physically possible and go into his business.” He clutched my hand, our fingers lacing together perfectly. “I’ve never wanted that. Neither has Isabella.”
“Your sister?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, keeping his eyeline on the waves as they sizzled across the sand. “Whenever he talks about the future with the company, Isabella and I have just never committed to anything. Stayed quiet or said nothing at all.”
“What changed?”
“I applied for university,” he sighed as though this was a great catastrophe.
“You make it sound like an ungodly sin.”
“To my dad, it probably is,” he tilted his head as he watched the sea. “To say he lost his shit over it would not be covering the event in detail. He was furious. For the whole of last year, he would act out. It’s why I fell behind in my revision. Couldn’t keep up with all the drama he caused. It’s almost like he’s going out of his way to cause it, so that I’ll give up and come home.”
“But he let you go in the first place?”
“My mum insisted he did. She, well… she sort of made a deal on my behalf. Something I never agreed to.” At his words, I squeezed his hand, unable to offer words that could bring any more support than this action. The fact he hadn’t pulled away gave me more happiness than I can describe. “She told him to let me go to uni, complete my education and then afterwards I’d come back to the business.”
“Whoa,” I turned my gaze out to the sea too, my jaw dropped in amazement. “Did she mean it?”
“No. My mum’s not like that. She just thought he would get used to the idea in time and give up. Well, he’s showing no sign.” He shook his head. “Every time we talk, he’s now looking for that commitment. ‘When are you coming back? We’ll put