They move to the next song. It’s a slower, sensual beat, and his voice wraps around the words in a way that has me shiftingin my seat. It feels like he’s singing directly at me, and he hasn’t taken his eyes off me once.
“No freakin’ way, man,” Ryan says from beside me, elbowing me to get my attention, but I don’t acknowledge him.
I can’t.
Mike is singing tome,and my cock is throbbing in my pants.
The song ends, and Mike looks away for a second, long enough to make it all come crashing down.
I stand up too fast, bumping into the table and knocking Ryan’s beer over. He protests, but I don’t turn around. I don’t look back.
I have to get out of here.
Chapter 7
Before
Jason takes me to the back of the school, in a corner of the parking lot, darker than the rest. My heart has been racing since I left home, unable to calm down.
I don’t do this.
I’ve never given Nate any reason to think I would sneak out of the house while he’s asleep, and if he knew where I was right now, I don’t even want to know what he would do.
“On your knees,” Jason says, the first thing he’s said tonight, tugging on his belt.
“Um…” I look around, and it really is dark. Thirty minutes past midnight. Not a car in sight. “Shouldn’t we kiss first?”
“I’m not fucking kissing you. Get on your knees.”
Okay. That’s okay. We don’t have to kiss. I never thought I would find a boyfriend at all, living in Rosehill, so if I have to sacrifice kissing, that’s fine.
I fall to my knees in the gravel of my high school parking lot.
Now
What was that?
I try to tell myself I imagined it.
Mike wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at the girl behind him. The pretty blonde with the big boobs.
But that doesn’t stick.
I can’t do this again. I know exactly where it leads. And I tried so hard to prevent it. I stayed away. I pushed down thesefeelingsI’ve had for him, but still.
Look where I am.
Pacing my bedroom, my heart pounding and my hands shaking, and my stupid dick still thinking he’s some sort of option.
He’snot.
The front door slams shut sometime early in the morning, startling me awake. I don’t even remember falling asleep, but I must have at some point. Exhausted from my shift, and bar hopping with Ryan, and seeing Mike—
I drag myself out of bed, determined to get this confrontation over with. We both know there was a moment back at the bar, and if he’s gonna say something about it, it’s better that he does now, while I can beg him not to tell anyone.
I stumble out of my bedroom door, still half asleep, and run into the last thing I ever expected to see.
Mike against the wall at the top of the staircase, his lips attached to another man’s. I should leave, go back to my room before they see me standing here.
