Page 31 of Heartstrings & Horseshoes

Me: Good thing I’m outside then.

The biting fall wind should be cooling my boiling temper—I wouldn’t be surprised if steam’s coming off my exposed skin.

My focus hasn’t left the gymnasium doors since I got to the dance.

I blink, and she’s there. My heart stops.

She’s…beautiful.

Her white hair glows in the moonlight, swept into a high ponytail, exposing her delicate neck. Her dress is stunning. The strapless bodice showcases her narrow shoulders.

The dark night casts shadows on her collarbones and the dip between her breasts. Buttery fabric clings to her body like a lover.

I can’t stop the dry swallow that bulges my throat.

She’s a ray of sunshine in the black of night. The yellow dress compliments her personality perfectly.

My sunshine.

My fallen angel. Just like the day I first met her. I’ll never see the color yellow without being flooded by memories of Delilah.

As she approaches, her pace quickens, racing to get to me. Her ethereal face is marred by tear tracks, eyes red and puffy from crying over that asshole. I should’ve killed him. But I can’t protect my doll if I’m behind bars.

“Connor!” Her sweet, broken voice is music to my ears. She collapses into my outstretched arms.

“Shh, shh, shh. It’s okay, doll. I’m here. Don’t think about him another second. He’s nothing to you.” I gently grip her ponytail and stroke the rope of gold again and again as she cries into my chest.

Despite my heart breaking from absorbing her pain, it’s mended by the way she needs me, trusts me, leans on me. In this moment, I’m overtaken by the delusion I succumb to every now and then. Her being mine.

Would she want me? Does she like me the way I like her? I want her in my arms forever.

“Dance with me.”

Delilah’s silver eyes snap to mine, pink lips parting on a gasp. I hold her by the nape of her neck and press her face back into my chest and rest a hand to small of her back.

And in the yellow glow from the light poles, we dance.

The vanilla scent of her shampoo makes me high, and I find I’m not cold at all. I’m on fire with need for Delilah. My sweet best friend who’s allowing me to hold her in my arms and sway as I hum our song beneath the stars.

We’ve stopped dancing, frozen in time between friends and something more. Delilah lifts her face to mine and I move without thinking.

I kiss her.

Her lips are warm from being buried in my chest and taste like a cupcake. I’ve kissed girls before, but nothing has ever compared to this—so right, so all consuming, so inevitable.

We pull apart from the best kiss of my short life and her eyes are filled with…tears.

How did I fuck this up? What was I thinking? She’s vulnerable and I kissed her. I kissed my best friend. Fuck!

I look away, I can’t bear to see what truth is shining in her eyes.

“Let me take you home,” I quietly offer. Delilah simply nods.

The drive is agonizingly quiet. Charged with all the things we should say but won’t. I refuse to say the kiss was a mistake. But there’s nothing to say that won’t break my heart.

A sharp gasp sends my head jerking to find the threat. “Your hands! Connor, oh my god! What happened to your hands?”

My bloody, busted knuckles grip the steering wheel. Shit. I didn’t clean up before I got to the dance.