AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A look of utter concentration enters his eyes as he continues to play with the strands. It’s one that turns my mouth cottony. The moment stretches and lengthens until it feels like it could snap in half.
“Easton.” The rasp of my voice is like a gunshot in the strained silence that surrounds us.
He blinks away the thick haze clouding his eyes. “Yeah?”
“What’s going on here?”
Confusion flickers across his expression. “I don’t know.”
With his gaze pinned to mine, his face looms closer. Air gets wedged in my throat, making it impossible to breathe. Just as my eyelids feather shut, someone clears their throat from behind us. My eyes spring open, only to find Ryder standing a few feet away.
I shake my head and blurt, “It’s not what it looks like.”
He raises a brow as a smirk simmers across his lips. “Really? Because it kind of looked like Clark was about to kiss you.”
Then it’s exactly what it looks like.
But there’s no way I can admit that.
“No, he was, ah...”
When my voice dies a slow, tortuous death, Ryder snorts out his derision. “I’m not looking to get in the middle of something. Brooke said you weren’t involved. Clearly, she doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.”
This just keeps getting worse.
“We’re just friends!” I whisper, unable to meet Easton’s gaze. What happened in the hallway was a mistake.
A weird moment that got out of hand.
Unconvinced by my stuttering and stammering, the blond hockey player hikes a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m gonna take off.”
His words have me leaping into action. “No, wait!”
As I attempt to rush past Easton, his fingers wrap around my upper arm, halting me in my tracks.
“We need to talk.” The low cadence of his voice does funny things to my insides.
That sounds like a terrible idea.
“Not right now.” Talking will only complicate matters, and that’s exactly what we don’t need. The best thing we can do for our friendship is walk away from each other and pretend this little incident never happened.
Uncertainty flickers across his face and, for a heartbeat, it seems like he might argue. Instead, he jerks his head into a nod and releases my arm. I feel the loss of his touch the moment it falls away. A mixture of relief and regret spiral through me as I shoot out of the hallway like the hounds of hell are nipping at my heels.
Chapter Four
Easton
A couple hours later, I lift a bottle of beer to my lips and take a long swig. The icy brew does nothing to dull the confusion rampaging through me. And the dark-haired girl with the big blue eyes who parked herself on my lap isn’t helping matters either. The way her nimble fingers drift lazily over my chest should have something stirring south of the border.
It doesn’t.
In fact, the longer I stare, the more she reminds me of a certain someone else who shall remain nameless.
Even though I’m not turned on in the least, it’s tempting to take this girl upstairs and fuck her brains out.
Slender hands stroke over my chest and up my shoulders before long nails scrape the back of my neck. Her tongue peeks out to moisten her lips as her eyelids lower to half-mast. “Wanna take this little party upstairs for a while?”
When I remain silent, she presses closer and nibbles at my throat.
