Page 19

With a loud sigh, I pushed the thought of that ever happening from my mind. First things first. I grabbed my phone from my pocket. Had service. I couldn’t be in that remote a place.

Pushing on Carter’s contact, I continued to breathe nice and slow. A speeding pulse and that lingering panic that liked to consume me at the most random times weren’t a good combination. His voice sounded only a few rings later.

“Why the fuck are you calling me at six in the fucking morning?”

He wasn’t a morning person. Carter really did love to sleep. My whole family did. I was the sole morning person in my family, yet another thing that set me apart.

“You’d better be dying,” he hissed in Korean, “or I’m gonna kill you myself.”

“Can you come get me?”

Carter paused, and I could feel his worry from here. His voice was a lot more awake when he asked, “Where are you, Christopher?”

“I shared my location. I’m not actually sure where I am.” I forced a laugh. “Just a lot of trees around me.”

“Gods damnit.” I heard the whooshing of fabric. “Stay where you are. I mean it, Chris. Don’t move a fucking inch. I’m coming to get you.” He hung up before I could reply.

Well, I wasn’t going to stand on the asphalt in the morning sun; that was just stupid. So yeah, an inch or two would have to be sacrificed. I moved to the side of the road and found a downed tree to lie on. With an arm folded behind my head as a pillow, I closed my eyes and tried to nap, or at least, think of nothing. Fine, not nothing. But something other than my hot best friend. Yep. Anything else. Like soccer. Shakespeare. The book I was reading. Literally, anything.

That plan lasted all of thirty seconds. My mind seemed quite intent on tormenting me by replaying every interaction we’d ever had. However, my thoughts mainly circled around that mind-blowing kiss. Not all kisses could be like that. It was simply not possible. But why had the kiss with my best friend been so amazing? Like, seriously? Why?

About thirty minutes after my phone call with Carter, he rolled up in his old station wagon, creeping along like a grandma. That was my first clue that he wasn’t alone. Carter drove like a madman when he didn’t have passengers, but he was too protective to do the same when other people were present. Well, when at least one of two people were present.

Sam leaned out the front passenger window and said, “Get your ass in the car.”

Oh joy. This was going to be a meeting of the Kim siblings. No doubt this was to be the reckoning for making out with Jaxon in public. I hadn’t wanted to have this conversation so soon. Strike that—I hadn’t wanted to have the conversation at all. It had always been inevitable, though. I’d known it, but there was always the foolish part of me that had hoped it wouldn’t happen. But here it was.

Muttering under my breath about nosy siblings, I climbed into the back of the car rather than booting Sam to the backseat. Might as well try to keep in her good graces. I slid on my seatbelt and looked out the window. I tried to ignore Sam, who was literally staring at me, half turned around in her seat, and Carter, who kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

I wasn’t going to be the one to start this conversation. If they had questions, then they needed to ask them. Besides, I didn’t want to give them any ammunition. What if they were worried about different things than I was? What if they had exact questions that didn’t bother me? Then I certainly wasn’t going to offer them anything else.

“What the actual fuck, Chris?” Sam shouted.

And the first shot was fired. Here we go.

I crossed my arms. “I have zero idea what you’re talking about.”

Carter snorted.

Sam snapped, “You full-on attacked Jaxon. In public. Like actual face mauling. It was gross to watch.”

“I didn’t attack anyone.” I really hadn’t. The kiss had been mutual—well, mutually us trying to get Aaron to fall for Jaxon. Not mutual as in we both enjoyed it and wanted to do it again and it was the best kiss in the history of kisses—or kisstory. Sure, it had been fucking amazing, but it didn’t mean anything. Right? Of course. I refused to have an unrequited crush on my best friend. I was just blown away because it had been my first kiss. Nothing more. That was what I settled on in that exact moment, and I was sticking with it.

“You sat on his lap and mauled him.”

I rolled my eyes at her dramatics. “I didn’t. Well, I mean, I did sit on his lap.” It had been a very nice lap. I would be sitting on it again. For comfort reasons. Obviously. “But I didn’t maul him.”

The car stopped and turned off. Carter shifted in his seat so he could see me. “What is going on?”

Shrugging, I replied, “I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re a shit liar,” he retorted. Carter scrubbed a hand through his hair with a loud, put-upon sigh. “Are you and Jaxon dating?”

“Would be about time,” Samantha muttered, and I gaped at her. It would?

“Christopher,” Carter snapped, drawing my attention back to him.

“Nothing, alright. Jesus. The kiss was nothing. Nothing is going on.”