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My mouth dropped open. “Yes, I have.”
“Hmmm…” He thought about it for a second. “I call bullshit.”
“I totally have.”
“Alright. Then prove it.”
I shrugged. “It was with this guy from another school.”
“You mean the guy you just made up?”
“I’m not making him up. His name was Joseph, and he was the best kisser. We actually made out a lot. We couldn’t get enough of each other.”
“Right…”
“Stop with the snide comments. I’m not lying.”
“Like I said, prove it.”
“I just did. I told you his name was—”
“I said prove it, not make up lies.”
“How am I supposed to prove it then?”
I never expected what came out of his mouth next. Never in a million years did I imagine one of the most popular guys in our school would challenge…
“You can prove it by letting me kiss you.”
Chapter Two
—Christian—
“Are you for real?” she asked, completely caught off guard by my challenge.
I knew she was full of shit. I’d been asking around about Kinley McKenzie since middle school when she walked into my science class with a turquoise backpack. It was the first thing that caught my attention about her.
What girl in the sixth grade didn’t have a pink or purple backpack? So naturally, I was instantly drawn to her, being that turquoise was my favorite color. I was going to ask her to be my science partner, but that fucker Jax beat me to it, and they’d been inseparable ever since. His head was so far up her ass, I was surprised he could still rail as many chicks as he did on a monthly basis. Supposedly, they weren’t into each other.
Although I couldn’t blame him if he was into her. She’d never been touched by anyone, and every guy at our school wanted to try to get with her just to say they were her first. On the other hand, I was drawn in by her ability to still smile despite all the shit she was going through with her mother.
I’d heard enough to know that her past wasn’t anything that I’d experienced with my two loving parents, but I’d still been affected by my best friend Julian being dealt a shitty hand at life. Making both of us grow up way too fast. The amount of times Julian had shown up at my house after being beaten by a foster parent was unreal.
To see the pain in his eyes, knowing he was trying to be strong for my parents who had to watch him go through so much bullshit because he was part of the system. They loved him like a second son, and my father being a lawyer had to get involved with the courts to constantly change his housing environment. Not that it mattered. He went from one shitty situation to the next. My parents wanted to adopt him, but Julian refused, saying they did enough for him.
My mom did the only thing she could. She made one of our guest bedrooms into his room, just so he’d feel like he had a home to come to when he needed it. I hated seeing all the shit he went through. He didn’t deserve it. He was a good person, a great friend, someone I could count on no matter what. We were seven the first time Julian showed up at our house with a bloody nose from his foster dad.
At first, I didn’t understand what had happened or why it was happening to him. By the time I was ten, I realized the severity of what he’d gone through, and I started having night terrors that he’d be beaten to death. I had to go to therapy. Julian didn’t know that, though. My parents thought it was best, and for a while, it helped. My therapist said I was suffering from associated trauma, and it was normal to have the fears I was facing.
From that point forward, I made sure to do whatever I could to help my best friend. Fearing if I didn’t, I’d lose him.
The sadness in Kinley’s eyes mirrored Julian’s even though she was smiling at me. It was like staring into my best friend’s eyes, sparking this need inside of me to want to be there for her in any way I could. It was immediate, the desire to want to help her.
Protect her.
The second I saw her start walking into the woods alone, my feet moved on their own. I’d developed a protective quality to watch over those I loved, and there was a gravitational pull to protect Kinley at that moment. I was surprised Jax had left her alone long enough to get lost in the woods. He was by her side all the time. It was really fucking annoying, and since we were by ourselves for the first time since she’d walked into my science class all those years ago, I was going to use it to my advantage and kiss her.
Be her first kiss.
