Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 131271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
“I’m not. I promise you.”
She scoffs. “Drayton promises don’t mean much to me.”
Her words leave me reeling, my stomach knotting as I try to understand what she’s saying. I fight against the instinct to defend myself because this dispute is clearly rooted elsewhere. “Riley,” I say in a low, careful tone, “that doesn’t sound like Hayes. He’s not like that.”
“Oh, come on, Shawn.” Her voice is sharp, her eyes blazing as she jabs a finger in my direction. “You’re telling me your golden-boy brother didn’t view me as a way to one-up you? That he wasn’t gloating over breakfast this morning. Give me a break.”
“I’m serious,” I insist, my voice rising slightly. “Hayes doesn’t play games like that. If he was with you, it’s because he really likes you, and whatever happened between you two left him down. He was…” I don’t know how much I should say to betray Hayes’ trust. “What happened between you?”
“Nothing,” she says quickly, but I don’t believe her. No girl gets so wound up about nothing.
“You kissed?”
“You know, because he told you. Bet you had some laughs over your Lucky Charms, didn’t you? Hayes gets to third base. Maybe Shawn can hit a home run.”
“Jesus, Riley.”
I drop my head and take a deep breath. Not only have I kept secrets from my brothers, but Hayes has done the same, and now we’re in a situation where we want the same girl.
“I just… I wanted to test how far you’d go. I wanted to confirm that you haven’t changed… that I’m right about you and tell you to stay away from me.”
“This is all a big misunderstanding,” I say. Riley scoffs, folding her arms across her chest, but I press on. “I don’t remember when Hayes was last with a girl. He keeps his personal life close to his chest, always. So close that me and Jacob thought he might still be a virgin.”
She blinks quickly, and a few droplets flick from her long eyelashes.
“I can’t believe you thought this was a setup. I can’t believe that’s what you think of us.”
“That’s it, Shawn. Turn it all around. Classic tactics.”
She tries to duck under my arm, but my instinct is to crowd her more. I need her to understand that she’s got us all wrong. Doesn’t she remember that we were good kids? Doesn’t she know that we’d never play games like this?
I duck my head so we’re almost nose to nose, forcing her to look right into my eyes. “Riley. I didn’t know. Hayes didn’t share. You’ve. Got. It. All. Wrong.” I say the last part so she has to consider each word, and her shoulders drop a fraction, but before I can read into it, I blurt out a stupid question. “Did you enjoy it?”
She looks at me, startled. “What?”
“What you did with Hayes,” I say, my voice quieter now. “Did you enjoy it?”
She hesitates for a moment, her lips pressing into a thin line. “Until he made me feel like shit.”
I push my breath through tight lips as the weight of her words settle over me like a punch to the gut. This close, I can still smell her vanilla and rose scent and sense the heat radiating from her body. All my desire for her is still there, magnified even because it’s layered with a need to claim her for myself. Jealousy can be a powerful aphrodisiac. So, instead of pulling away, I lean in, lowering my head until our faces are inches apart.
“Then let me give you something to compare it to,” I murmur, and before she can respond, I press my lips to hers.
She gasps softly against my mouth, her hands coming up to push against my chest, but there’s no real force behind it. After a moment, her resistance melts, and she kisses me back, her lips soft and warm against mine.
The kiss is everything I’ve wanted since the moment she came into our lives again. It’s swelling heat and clawing need. It’s the past and present colliding, fantasies becoming reality. But just as I start to deepen the kiss, Riley pulls back, breathing raggedly as she looks up at me, her expression torn.
“I can’t,” she says, shaking her head. “This is... we shouldn’t. I shouldn’t. You shouldn’t.”
“Riley,” I start, but she’s already pushing away, moving down the side of the pool. “Listen…”
She pulls herself out of the water, and just as I’m about to follow, three other students make their way from the men’s locker room and invade our privacy, and my chance is gone.
All I can do is watch her leave.
11
RILEY
The smell of pancakes lures me from the tangle of my blankets. Dad’s listening to his favorite radio station, singing along tunelessly as though no one in the house is trying to sleep. I sigh and roll until my face is pressed into the pillow, clutching my hands around my ears, but it’s pointless. I won’t be able to get back to sleep, so I might as well get up. I tug a hoodie over my tank top and head to the kitchen, rubbing sleep from my eyes as I follow Dad’s droning through the apartment.