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NINE
Ihad been going stir crazy being stuck at home with nothing to do. My dad was getting a thrill out of watching me search for things to do. Hell, I’d even cleaned the entire house by myself out of boredom. Mom had really loved that one.
Today, Trent had dragged me out of the house to the nearby park with Gemma because I was apparently making him dizzy with all the pacing I’d been doing.
I hadn’t even realized I’d been pacing, to be honest.
“Okay. You two have got to hear this,” Trent said, a grin on his face.
We both looked at him. He’d been sharing stories of dumb shit that had happened at work. Gemma was still down about her pregnancy and the shit her life had become—her words, not mine—so Trent was trying his best to cheer her up all while keeping my mind distracted.
Before he could speak, his smile dropped from his face, replaced with a scowl as he looked at something over my shoulder. Frowning in confusion, I turned to see what he was looking at, and my eyes instantly landed on Seth.
He looked horrible.
His right eye was almost swollen shut, and his lip was busted, a bruise also discoloring his jaw.
I glared at Trent. “Did you do that to him?” I demanded to know. I’d told Trent what had happened the day we got suspended, how I’d caught him kissing some other bitch. I knew we weren’t together, per se, but it still fucking hurt.
Trent was overprotective of me as well. He tried not to step in, but when I was hurt, that was normally a deal-breaker for him.
My older brother shot me a scowl. “Seriously, sis?” he snapped. “Besides working, I’ve been trying to keep you from losing your ever-loving fucking mind the past three days,” he reminded me.
With a sigh, I got up from the picnic table and walked over to Seth. I was nervous as hell, but I wouldn’t show him that. “It’s easier for you to walk,” Seth noted as I drew closer to him.
“You okay?” I quietly asked him.
He just shrugged and shoved his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, a wry smirk twisting his lips. “You care, Bailey?”
I sneered at him. “Don’t be a fucking dick when I’m trying to be kind.”
He laughed—actually fucking laughed. And I hated that he was seriously fucking hot as he did so.
“I’ll be fine,” he told me.
I’ll be fine.
Which meant right now, he didn’t feel fine.
That left a sour feeling in my gut.
Without thinking first, I grabbed his hand, my heart jolting in my chest at the feeling of his rougher skin clasped in mine. He glanced down at our hands before looking back up at me, something flashing in his eyes that I couldn’t quite catch before it disappeared.
“Come sit with us,” I urged.
He sighed, glancing over my head towards the table my brother and Gemma were still sitting at. “Your brother looks like he wants to rip my head from my neck.”
I laughed, though Trent probably did feel like that, in all honesty. “Well, you were the one kissing some random girl,” I blurted before I could stop myself.
He glanced down at me, a hard look passing through his eyes. I almost dropped his hand. “Never claimed we were together, Bailey,” he reminded me.
It was like a punch to my gut.
I swallowed thickly, looking away from him. “Come on,” I grumbled.
I squeaked in shock when he suddenly yanked me closer to him, his free hand lacing itself in my hair before he pulled my head back, leaned down, and covered my lips with his.
Fireworks exploded over my skin, tingles erupting in my lips as I kissed him back, my mind blanking, everything but him ceasing to exist just like it always did when we came together like this.
