She looked away, her lashes lowering like a curtain. She wasn’t sure what to say. There was something tremulous and new forming between them and she wasn’t sure what to do about it.
As if sensing her hesitancy, Cameron gave her lopsided smile and changed the subject. “How was Gavin after the party? You know after the whole attempted sabotage incident?”
"I haven't talked to Gavin since the party,” she admitted.
For days she couldn’t stop thinking of what had happened at the party. They hadn't spoken, much less discussed how he had kissed her underneath the water. It wasn’t a kiss, she reminded herself for the hundredth time. It was just him breathing into her mouth to ensure she wouldn’t drown.
But even as she told herself that she could remember the determined anger on his face under the water as his fingers found the back of her neck and hauled her forward. It had taken no instructions from him, no pantomiming of what he needed from her. She had gasped the moment their lips met, instantly taking in his breath.
The contact—brief and blurry as it was—dragged her back. Not to the party. Not to the pool.
But to that night years ago.
She hadn’t meant to think of it. Had done her best to bury it deep under a hundred excuses and distractions. But she suddenly remembered every second of that moment. The way her stomach had twisted with nerves as Jade clutched her hand, both of them giddy and flushed from seeing Masked Gods live. How the music still pounded through her veins, even as they walked through the bustling backstage with their laminated badges. And how everything inside her had short-circuited when the masked figure of Harbinger stepped out of the shadows and pulled her into a rough kiss that didn’t feel anything like the fantasy she had dreamt. It was raw. Possessive. Like he owned her.
Stunned, with swollen lips, she stared back breathless as the figure ripped away the mask. It wasn’t until it hit the floor and Gavin's face stared back at her that the truth of that stolen kiss sank in.
“What,” she’d gasped, stunned. “What the…?”
His eyes burned like blue flames with something too intense to name as he planted a hand beside her head against the wall. “Did you really think I was just going to stand by and let you get fucked by some masked loser?!”
His eyes narrowed as hers widened in shock. How did he know what she had wanted?
Ebony flinched as he leaned in, stopping only when their mouths shared the same breath. His eyes locked on hers, dark and unblinking.
“You’re my responsibility,” he said, voice low, almost a growl. “Mine to protect. Mine, period.”
After the concert they all rode back with Jade's brother, Gideon. She and Jade had to listen to both guys lecture them on what disease-ridden fuck-boys the band members most likely were. But Ebony could hardly focus. All her thoughts were on what happenedbackstage and how Gavin was acting as if nothing had happened. The boy who cornered her and told her she belonged to him had vanished, like a dream unraveling in daylight. He was just Gavin again, her brother. Neither of them ever spoke of it again. He slipped back into his easy grins and mischievous glances, as if nothing had happened.
But now he was all razor edges and hard glares.
"Really?" Cameron replied, breaking her from her reverie. "He was practically glued to you the rest of the night."
Ebony bit her lip. “He doesn’t really want to speak to me.”
That was a lie. In truth Gavin had tried to talk to her but it wasn't the real him. He just wanted her to dance around the elephant in the room and pretend that they weren't going through something major that he started. Something Ebony refused to do.
Annoyed that her mind was back on Gavin she shifted in her seat. Reaching between them she pushed a button which released a middle portion of the couch making the U-shaped bench one solid bed, connecting them. "I don't want to talk about Gavin."
Cameron looked down at their now shared bed and looked back at her. A pleased smile softened his face. "Good, neither do I."
Hearing the change in his tone Ebony smiled, wordlessly inviting him as he scooted closer to her. "What do you want to talk about?"
"I want to talk about why you invited me out here. Or better yet," he paused, his voice dropping low like a caress as his body heat pressed into her side, close enough to feel and impossible to ignore. "Here's something I've been meaning to ask since the moment I met you years ago. Why the hell do you smell so damn good? When I'm around you all I ever think of is sugar cookies."
He leaned in, mouth brushing over her bare shoulder soft, unhurried, like he had all night to find out.
"It's called dark vanilla," she said with uneven breath. There was something exhilarating and wrong about all of this. He was Cameron, a guy she had known for years, a family friend, one of Gavin's best friends. She shouldn’t be letting this happen but instead of saying anything to stop him she just continued to ramble. "It’s a custom perfume my mother had made for me. Gavin has his own-"
She could've sworn something flashed in his eyes even as he gave her a wide grin. "We agreed to not talk about your brother."
"You're right," she breathed.
For the first time in weeks, she felt the pain in her chest subside. What would it feel like to simply turn off her emotions like a switch, like Gavin? If he could do it, why couldn’t she? Why should she have to live with the mortal wound he caused? And after what she saw in the pool house…it was like losing something she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding onto. She was so tired of caring about what people whispered, about her mom’s judgment, about her dad’s quiet worry. Maybe just for once, she wanted to relinquish the iron control she kept on her life. Maybe she wanted to be the girl who didn’t think so hard. Who didn’t wait for permission. Who recklessly lived and damn all the consequences.
She lifted her arms as Cameron leaned over her, wrapping them around his neck. "Then let’s talk about us, here and now," she smiled.
He hovered for half a second, like he was giving her a chance to pull away. Ebony didn’t. So, he kissed her slow and certain, like he’d been waiting years to cross that line.
