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It shouldn’t surprise me to know she’d found out. It did make me wonder, however, what else she knew about it. “You think you’ve got it all figured out, huh? You think you can stroll into town, take one look at things, and understand how everything works. You have no idea—”
“No,youhave no idea. You have no idea what it’s like in that house.” Brianna’s voice softened, and she turned her head, looking away as she added in a whisper, “I can feel it. I’m losing myself.” The vulnerability in her words told me she spoke the truth, and it was a truth I could feel in my soul.
Twelve years ago, I’d lost myself, too. I wasn’t much older than she was now when I’d made a mistake I could never come back from.
Yet another reason why I shouldn’t care who she was here with or know what the touch of her lips felt like. There were countless reasons why Brianna should remain firmly at arm’s length… but as I stared at her in the darkness, as she continued to look down, almost like she was ashamed of what she’d just admitted to me, I felt myself inching toward her.
I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to shield her from the horrors the world held, the terrors in Eastcreek. I wanted to reach for her, pull her in close, tilt her head back, and feel those lips on mine again.
“Hey,” I whispered, lifting a hand and setting my fingers under her chin. After forcing her to look back up at me, I told her, “You’re not losing yourself. You’re stronger than that.” I should pull back, stop touching her chin and put some distance between us. We stood way too close.
But I didn’t do any of that. For some strange reason, this girl made me weak.
Brianna stared up at me through her eyelashes. She could’ve pulled away, too, but she didn’t. She remained exactly where she was, letting me hold her chin as she whispered, “Why can’t things be easy?”
“Because nothing good is ever easy,” I replied, knowing I was seconds from once again crossing the point of no return with her. I shouldn’t. I couldn’t. Who knew what Alistair would do to me if he found out I’d dared get a taste of Brianna for myself, let alone what that little psychopath Gareth would do.
I couldn’t pull myself away, though. I was trapped, caught in her web, and I could feel my top half inching down, getting closer and closer to her as the seconds ticked by. The night breeze was the only thing keeping my body from combusting. It was wrong to want Brianna on so many different levels, but when did I ever do what was right? When did I ever let something being wrong stop me?
Answer: never.
So, I mentally said,Fuck it, and did what I so desperately wanted to do. I brought my mouth down to hers and kissed her.
It wasn’t like the kiss at the wedding. We were more than two strangers bonding over our dislike of big, fancy weddings and all the people that flocked to them, so much more than that. It was a hell of a lot more complicated.
Brianna stepped closer to me, leaning into me as she surrendered to the kiss. She didn’t pull herself away from me, didn’t slap me and demand to know what the hell I thought I was doing. All she did was kiss me back, her lips melding to mine.
Sweet, soft, supple, delicious in every way. Her lips were just as I remembered them, and that was why, after the first few moments, the embrace grew harder, fiercer. It became less tentative and more certain. The hand I held beneath her chin swept back, tangling into her hair, while my other hand fell to her side, fingers digging into her hip and pulling her lower half closer to me.
It’d been so long since I’d let my guard down, so damned long since I’d let someone else in. For the longest time, I’d thought I was broken. After killing my brother, after standing from afar, unable to claim who I wanted… I’d resigned myself to the grave I’d dug for myself.
Now, things were changing. It was like I’d come back to life thanks to a breath of fresh air in the form of Brianna Dent. Of course, it was only fate that Brianna would get so entangled with Alistair and Gareth that she reeled me back into the fray, too.
It felt like the kiss lasted forever, but in reality, it was probably more like a minute, if that. I was the one who pulled my mouth off hers, breathing hard. Brianna had stolen the air out of my lungs and then some, and here she stood, unaffected, like she wanted to steal more.
“You should get back inside before your date starts to wonder,” I muttered, hating how envious I came across. I let go of her, taking a step back to put some space between us. It was perhaps one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do, at least in recent memory.
Brianna stared at me, her lips puckered, and then she turned to walk away. I watched her go, because what the hell else was I supposed to do?
Chapter Eight – Brianna
My head spun as I walked away from Rick. I didn’t know what had gotten into me, why I’d been so eager in kissing him back, like I wanted to relive our little moment at the wedding. Things were complicated enough already; I didn’t need to add possible feelings for Rick—Gareth’s freaking uncle—to the mix.
That was why, as I walked away from him, I didn’t look back. I couldn’t. The thought of glancing over my shoulder and seeing him watching me go might make me want to turn right back around.
I headed around the school, to the main entrance, walking inside while my thoughts raced a mile a minute. I tried to come up with an excuse to tell Neo for why I’d been gone for so long, but all I could seem to do was replay the kiss in my head. I was starting to think I had a thing for older men.
Older men and psychopaths.
I walked through the cafeteria, passing the refreshment stand, and headed right into the gym… though I didn’t make it far, because near the door, Neo and Gareth were in a heated argument.
“She’s here with me,” Neo was busy saying, posturing and acting all, well, manly in the face of Gareth’s masterful sneer. “Not you. You’re her fucking stepbrother anyway, why do you care who she’s here with? Unless you got a thing for her.” He paused, matching Gareth’s glare with one of his own. “Do you?”
“I’m only concerned that she’s wasting her time with a brain-dead meathead like you,” Gareth shot back. He wasn’t as muscular as Neo, and he was an inch or two shorter than him, but if words came to action, I think I’d put my money on Gareth. Behind them, the game went on like normal; they were lucky everyone there was busy watching the game and not the two seniors bickering over… me.
They were bickering overme—ridiculous.
I decided to break up the conversation before it turned physical. If Neo laid a hand on Gareth, I didn’t doubt the latter would use it as an excuse to kill him. “Sorry about that,” I spoke, wearing a smile as Neo’s eyes flicked toward me, momentarily forgetting about Gareth. “Gareth,” I pretended it was the first time I’d seen him tonight, but in reality, I’d watched him stroll in and take a seat on the opposite side of the gym, so he could watch Neo and me throughout the game. “Why are you here? You don’t like basketball.” I made sure to stand close to Neo, which Neo seemed to appreciate.
