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“Don’t be ridiculous.” Jeremy’s eyes were cold as his lips formed a cruel smile. “You’d just be another puck bunny to him, you know that, right?” He’d raised his voice, so everyone surrounding us could hear. The enthralled crowd was growing now, and it felt like the entire party had gathered to watch.
“It’s not like that. I…” I pursed my suddenly dry lips as I tried to come up with an explanation. A part of me wanted to take back what I’d done so I could abate Jeremy’s anger and defuse the situation. But there was no going back now. I’d kissed Reed Darling in front of everyone, and Jeremy still hadn’t got the message. I needed to double down if he was ever going to leave me alone. “We’re together.” I blurted out before I could think better of it.
“Together?” Jeremy spat. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Uh—” I didn’t know what to say. How had I gotten myself into this situation? I was standing in front of our resident hockey bad boy, and I had just claimed we were in a relationship in front of a crowd of stunned students from both our schools. I really should have taken a moment to come up with a better excuse for kissing him. Reed probably thought I was a complete psycho, and so would everyone else when he revealed that I was lying. I couldn’t bear to think of the smug look that would light up Jeremy’s face when Reed denied it was true. I wished I had a moment to talk to Reed. To beg him to play along, just for now.
But then I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist, and I was pulled against the hard planes of Reed’s chest. I went stiff as he held me tightly to him.
“Surely you’re not that stupid, Hoffman.” Reed said. “She shouldn’t have to spell it out…”
I slowly looked up at Reed, and as he caught my gaze, his hard expression softened. “Violet’s my girlfriend.”
My body relaxed into his grasp, and I was so overcome with gratitude I felt like I could kiss him. Again.
“You don’t do girlfriends.” Jeremy scoffed.
“I do now,” Reed replied.
Jeremy was going red in the face, and his chest swelled up like he was preparing to launch himself at Reed. I tensed because I was right in his line of fire.
Reed must have noticed because he eased himself in front of me so I was protected. “I hope you’re not going to start a fight here, Hoffman,” he said. “You don’t want to get banned from bonfire nights, do you? Although, maybe I could take one for the team and kick you out myself.”
Jeremy’s eyes narrowed on Reed before he finally seemed to put a leash on his anger. He moved his attention to me. “You’re not seriously dating this jerk, are you, Vi?”
“Yes, I am.” I moved out from behind Reed, and his arm instinctively found my waist once again as I stood next to him.
“What about us?” Jeremy demanded.
Reed seemed to tense slightly against me, like he was holding his breath as he waited for my response.
“There is no us, Jeremy.”
“You’re really going to throw away everything we have for five minutes of fun with a Darling Devil? I thought you were better than that.”
Reed tensed again, but this time, I could see it was because his hands were clenched. He looked like he was about to step toward Jeremy, but I gently placed a hand on his chest to keep him close. The irony of Jeremy’s comment hadn’t escaped me. He’d already thrown away everything we had for a bit of fun with Heather, but in his eyes, I was the villain. I might as well embrace that fact.
“What can I say?” I slowly turned and smiled up at Reed. “I guess I’ve finally found the kind of hockey player whose jersey I want to wear.” It was such a low blow, and I knew I’d struck close to home when I glanced at Jeremy and saw the hurt in his eyes. A flicker of doubt shot through me as I wondered if I’d gone too far. But it disappeared a moment later when Jeremy’s shocked expression returned to one of anger and disgust.
“Don’t come crying to me when this Devil breaks your heart.” He shot me one last scathing look before abruptly turning to leave. His fury filled the air, sizzling with such intensity that even the nearby bonfire seemed dim in comparison, as he stormed away.
What the hell had I just done?
11
REED
What the hell just happened?
One moment Violet was telling me I had absolutely no hope with her, the next she was kissing me and pretending to be my girlfriend. My arms were still wrapped snugly around her body as the two of us watched Hoffman march away. I felt a familiar urge to punch the guy in the face. But there was a time and a place, and with Violet between us, it was definitely not the time.
I wasn’t quite sure how I’d ended up in this position or at what point I’d decided I was going to go along with Violet’s charade and pretend we were together. Now that I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t really considered it at all. It just seemed like the natural thing to do. I certainly didn’t regret it. When Jeremy had questioned her and insulted her and I saw the panic in her eyes, I would have done just about anything to help her. Pissing off Hoffman was just a bonus.
It was obvious she’d only kissed me to make him jealous, and yet it had been impossible not to get caught up in the moment when her lips were against mine. I could still feel the lingering warmth of our kiss. It had ignited a fire within me that had been dormant for far longer than I cared to admit. Even now I could feel the sparks and embers crackling contently because Violet remained within my grasp.
“I’m really sorry you got caught up in that,” Violet murmured. I reluctantly allowed her to disentangle herself from my arms, but I couldn’t stop myself from touching her altogether, so I took hold of her hand.
She glanced down at our interlocked fingers in confusion.
