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Tim shrugged and then reached out to ruffle my hair, like he’d always done. “Not sure. Can we have sibling bonding time tomorrow, though? Halloween celebrations before I have to go out? We can watchHocus Pocusand stuff our faces with popcorn?”
“Hey, hands off my hair,” I said, smoothing my hair down while giving him a warning look. He just grinned back at me, and I couldn’t help smiling. “That sounds good to me. I missed you both… It would be nice to do something all together.”
“We missed you, too.” Tim gave me another quick hug before collapsing back onto Joseph’s bed. “Are you going back to school the day after tomorrow?”
“Yes, but not until the evening. My train leaves at six twenty.”
“That’s great. We can have the whole day together, then me and Joe’ll drop you at the station, won’t we?”
Joseph nodded, glancing over at me with a smile. “Yeah. I have some things to do for Dad in the morning, but I’ll be around in the afternoon.”
We made our arrangements, and then I slipped out of the house with the excuse that I was going to see my friends.
As soon as I was out of sight, I sent a text.
Me:Surprise! I’m back in Alstone for a couple of nights. Are you free?
While I waited for a reply, I carried on walking, pulling my jacket more tightly around me as the cool autumn breeze chilled my skin. As I cut through the alleyway that led to the ponds, my phone chimed, and when I read the message, I couldn’t hold back my smile. Tapping out a quick reply, I increased my pace.
It wasn’t long before the low roar of a motorbike broke the silence around me. Leaning back against a tree facing the road, I waited, butterflies in my belly.
The motorbike pulled to a stop, and I breathed in shakily. No matter how much time passed, he still affected me so powerfully. He was the boy I wasn’t allowed to love, but I’d given him my heart anyway.
Zayde Lowry pulled his helmet off, hanging it on the handlebar before swinging his leg over the seat and moving to stand in front of the bike. He leaned back casually, folding his arms across his chest.
I took a moment to drink him in. His deep brown hair was tousled from the helmet, and his light eyes danced with rare amusement as I just stood there mutely, wondering how exactly I got lucky enough to call him mine.
“Uh…what?” I said eventually when my brain finally processed the fact that he’d actually spoken.
“Come here.” Unfolding his arms, he crooked a finger at me.
When I reached him, he pulled me against his chest and tipped my chin up. Then he lowered his head to mine.
“Good girl,” he murmured against my lips. “I missed you.”
Winding my arms around his neck, I met his icy gaze, which held a hidden warmth that I knew he only shared with me. “I missed you, too, so much.”
He lowered his head and kissed me, slow and deep, like we had all the time in the world rather than a few stolen moments. The smooth metal of his tongue barbell slid across my tongue, sending a shiver down my spine, and I pressed my body into his, tightening my grip on him as he deepened the kiss.
When he finally pulled back and released his grip on me, I smiled at him helplessly.
He studied me for a moment, and then his full lips curved into one of his rare smiles.
I melted into him. He was so beautiful. At first glance, you’d see a sexy-as-sin, tatted-up bad boy wrapped in leather, with icy eyes and a hard gaze. But when he smiled…
His icy exterior thawed, and it was like the sun coming out.
TWO
When I pulled up outside the house I shared with Caiden Cavendish and Cassius Drummond, I saw Caiden’s younger brother Weston balanced on a ladder, screwing something into the wall above the front door. An electric drill was draped over one of the rungs, and a long piece of wire was hanging out of the wall.
“What are you doing?” I stared up at him.
He glanced down at me, screwdriver in hand. “Adding extra cameras. Remember? We talked about this. If those fucking Hydes think they can egg our house one more time, they can think again.”
“Dickheads.” A spike of guilt punched through me, like it did every time the Hydes were mentioned, but I was good at ignoring it now. What I had with Fallon had to remain a secret. Caiden, Cassius, and Weston were my best friends, my family, but they would never understand, and there was no way my dad would accept me if he knew. If I went public with Fallon, we could lose everything. And I’d never do that to her, anyway. She had even more to risk than I did.
I could still remember everything about the moment I’d found out about Fallon’s family and how fucking sick I’d felt.
