"You promised you could be quiet, Dylan Grace," Luke's voice is rough in my ear, his words a hot caress over my skin, sending another breathy gasp through my lips. "But you really can't, can you?"

He tips his head back so I can see that devilish smirk, before covering my mouth with his own, devouring my soft moans as he thrusts deeper inside me.

When he pulls away, he's still grinning, cockier than ever. "Can you, Dylan?"

My head tips back to lean on the wall he's pinning me against, my thighs trembling around his waist as he thrusts deeper.

"No, I can't," I gasp as Luke withdraws completely, leaving me feeling deliciously warm and empty at the same time.

"Why not?" He demands, his tip pressing against my entrance teasingly.

"Please," I pout, squirming in his grasp.

His hold tightens on my ass as he nuzzles my neck, tongue fluttering against my skin as he says again, "Tell me why not Dylan."

He rubs his erection up and down my center, begging me to just tell him already so he can get back to screwing me.

Unable to take anymore, I do just that. "Because it - you, you're so good Luke. Too good, please."

An appreciative groan at the back of his throat melts my core even more.

"That's right, baby." He flexes his hips, his hard flesh pushing deep inside me.

I cry out at the sweet pressure and Luke chuckles, eyes dark and hungry. "You really do need to be quiet though, Pickle."

He's not wrong. Unlike in his studio over the garage, which is currently being occupied by Laura, Finn and Finn's dad for the Bash this weekend, the childhood bedroom in his parents house has certain limits when it comes to noise control.

I whimper somewhat apologetically, grinding my hips in time with Luke's and biting my lip hard to not cry out even louder.

With a playful wink, his clasps his hand over my mouth as he rams into me again and again, until all I can do is moan and groan and whimper into his palm.

Until he's pressing his mouth to my neck to muffle his own grunting, wild and breathless, and we finally come undone together.

In the early hours of the morning, I snuggle closer to Luke's warmth, running my fingers over his fluttering eyelids as he sleeps. Tracing his nose, his jaw. The little lines permanently etched in his skin from the dimples that I love so much.

Shifting beneath my touch, he doesn't open his eyes as he yawns, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," I answer quietly, letting my fingers scratch over the slight stubble along his jaw, "Great, even."

The best I've been in a long time.

His lips curve gently, his arm heavy as he tosses it over my waist and drags me closer. Inhaling deeply, he nuzzles into my hair.

"Then why are you awake?" A kiss to my head. "Nervous about the Bash tomorrow?"

I shake my head no. Brynn and I have got it covered - I'll be taking a half-day at the center so I can help her set up before the evening celebration begins.

We've decorated the main room and outdoor space of the Recreation Center with brightly colored streamers and so many balloons that my fingers are still cramping from tying them all. The beach is lined in torches and fire pits, tables set up for more drinks and s'mores ingredients. We even had the dance floor cleaned and polished.

The DJ set his booth up yesterday, the caterer dropped off some supplies to the kitchen, and Luke let us use his truck to bring in the photo booth.

All that's left is...

"What about your parents? Nervous about seeing them?"

My hand halts as I consider. I'm not sure why Mom and Dad decided to join Grams and me for the Bash. Other than to check in on me again. "More nervous about what my Mom will say."

"About?"

"What I'm going to do next. She wants me back at school. But..." I trail off, resuming my lazy circles over Luke's skin with my fingers.

He stiffens just a bit. Another guy might panic. Might want me to make plans around him. To commit to them, even if they weren't committed too. Guys like Hunter.

Luke only asks, "But do you want to go back?"

"No." My answer is immediate. School was never my place, never where I felt comfortable. It just seemed like after all the dreams Mom and Dad let go of after Casey died... School was something I could give them, something to make them proud again.

And an escape from facing them everyday, being a part of a family without Case.

"Maybe I'll finish online or something - it does seem wasteful to stop at this point. And that might make her happy enough." A compromise. A new thing for me. "But I don't want to go back there. I went so I could be alone... and as it turns out... it was lonely."

Even taking the nights I spent with Hunter in his bed into consideration, I felt entirely alone while I was there.

The absence of Casey was everywhere; no good reminders of him anywhere.

And Hunter, while exactly what I was looking for, was the sort of boyfriend who only cared about one thing, and it wasn't my sob story.

Luke is quiet for awhile, but I know by his breathing that he's awake. Just thinking. Then his eyes open, intent on my face.

"So maybe online school and then..." He trails off, trying not to look too hopeful, I think.

We've never talked about what happens when the summer ends and I'm done helping Grams. What will happen between us.

We've never really talked about what this thing between us even is, technically.

"And then I don't know, that's why I'm nervous." I answer honestly, meeting his eyes. "I don't have the answers she wants. I have no idea where to start."

Luke tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and my heart flutters, even though it's something he's done a million times before.

And the way he looks at me, not looking for anything at all. No pressure for answers or plans or to be anything or anyone in particular.

He just lets me be Dylan.

Heart feeling full, I murmur, "Maybe that's not true."

"Hm?" His brows raise.

It overwhelms me then, the truth that I've been trying hard to ignore.

I love Luke.

I've always loved Luke. From the very first time we met him and he ran up to us at the beach, inviting Casey and me to play with him. Not just Casey. Both of us.

Through all the years he spent watching over me, to the nights I spent sneaking him up to our treehouse.

From the second I saw his stupid baseball cap sticking out of his truck window the night I came back.

To the way he's looking at me now.

I've probably never loved him more.

The words are so close to the tip of my tongue, but the intensity of his stare is making the sentence harder than it should be.

He knows, doesn't he?

"To start," I say instead, curling into his chest, "I think I'll be staying where it's not so lonely."

He has to know.

An appreciative grunt rumbles beneath me as he traces my spine. Molded together like that, we're almost asleep when I think to ask.

"What about you, Luke?" It's a whisper in the dark, "What's next for you?"

"You know, I kind of stopped planning ahead like that after everything." A moment of quiet, just the fan whirling over our heads. Then, "I try to live in the moment, make the most of every day, and not worry too far ahead into the future. I mean, the future might not even happen. All that time spent planning, when we could've been doing, and something might happen that fucks it all up anyways, so the planning won't even matter in the end, will it? It was a waste of the time that could've been spent enjoying yourself."

"How do you want to enjoy yourself, then?" I prop my chin on his chest, taking in all of his features as his face lights up in a smile.

"I enjoy being Finn's uncle, for one. Being a good son, a helpful neighbor. Being in the ocean." He shrugs before his grin turns wicked. "I really, really enjoy fucking you."

I roll my eyes, feeling his chuckle beneath me.

"No, I enjoy much more than that with you, Dylan." His thumb traces over my cheek, our eyes locking.

The words are right there, practically begging to be said again after all these years, after all the confusion and mixed up feelings. Finally.

But I don't say them, and why I ruin the moment, one so intimate as this, I'm not sure.

"Tell me about your back."

Luke stiffens, quirking his brow again. "There's not a lot to tell, Dyl."

His expression, the wary look in his eye, doesn't convince me. I stare back, waiting him out. After several minutes of stubborn quiet, he sighs.

"It was just something with one of the discs. It hurt like hell initially, but with a couple of injections, a lot of meds at first and now just when I need them... And of course not doing stupid shit that could mess it up again, I'm fine, Dyl. Really. A haunted look comes over his face then. "I got out pretty much unscathed."

As opposed to Casey, I finish the thought for him in my mind.

Wordlessly, I stare at him, fighting against the build-up of emotions inside me.

It's not nothing. He's not fine.

He may not be dead but his whole life plan was to be a professional at doing stupid shit, and now he doesn't even make plans.

My heart aches for him, and I want to find the words to make it okay. Knowing that nothing ever will, I'm sure the three little words I'm holding back might at least ease the hurt a little.

And yet... Is it that I'm too afraid to say them? Too stubborn?

I've said them so many times to him before. Come on, Dylan, just say it, already!

"Try to get some rest, Dylan Grace." And a goodnight kiss to my hair.

Tonight, I'm simply too late.

Some spice, some emotions, possibly some building anticipation for the bash... put in your predictions now yall, you know me. Sh*ts hitting the fan before this story ends! (Which by the way... keeps being pushed out because I keep separating the chapters more than I thought! So enjoy ❤️)