I’d been mortified the day Law found me lying in the dirt with sore ribs and a bloody lip. We’d known each other since we were kids, having grown up in the same neighbourhood, but that was the first time he’d seen how truly pathetic I was. Hauling me back to my feet, he’d interrogated me about what happened. I’d been terrified he’d tell my parents. If they knew what had been going on, they would have pulled me out of the school, even if I was already partway through my senior year at the time. Instead, he’d walked me home and insisted I meet him at his place the following afternoon. When I showed up, he’d handed me a set of weights and put me to work.
“You didn’t drag me in here,” I pointed out, meeting his gaze in the mirror’s reflection. “You provided a forceful invitation, but I’m the one who chose to accept.”
“Whatever you reckon,” he teased, before the smile fell from his face. “You don’t want to quit, do you?”
“No.” Shaking my head, I turned to look at him over my shoulder, surprised by how close his face was to mine. “I want to be here.”
“Good.” The right corner of his mouth turned up. “Because I want you here.”
My stomach flipped a crazy somersault, but otherwise I couldn’t move, even though I knew it had to look weird—me standing there like that, so close. His hand tightened around my arm. I wasn’t sure if he tugged me or if I leaned, but somehow, I seemed to be moving towards him. Like he was a star and I was a planet spinning in orbit around him, drawing ever closer, destined to be consumed.
Music cut through the air. Law flinched at the tinny sound. Letting go of my arm, he released me back into the darkness of space.
“That’s Gabi.” There was a strange huskiness to his voice and his eyes were clouded with confusion. “We’ve got a date tonight. I need to answer.” He gestured to his phone, which still blared the opening chords of Dante Sinclair’s ‘Found in You’. Of course, he’d pickthatsong as Gabi’s ringtone. It was the musical equivalent of a hot and heavy make out session. The kind that led to a lot more than kissing. Had Gabi and Law gone beyond kissing? If they had, would I even want to know?
“You go,” I said, nodding eagerly to cover the twisting in my gut. “I’m gonna head off. Thanks for the workout.” Bowing my head, I grabbed my towel and water bottle. I tried not to listen in on their conversation as I jammed my belongings into my sports bag. I didn’t want to hear the tenderness in Law’s voice as he greeted Gabi on the phone, or his low chuckle at whatever she said in reply. Wrenching the zip closed, I lifted the bag over my shoulder and bent to duck under the partially open garage door.
“Connor, wait up a sec.” Already halfway gone, I stopped to look at Law. “I’ll see you on Monday?” The look of wary expectancy on his face surprised me. Did he think I’d freak out about the weirdness that had happened between us? Maybe he worried I thought it meant something more than it did. But I wouldn’t, and it didn’t. I knew my place.
“I’ll be here.” Ignoring the ache in my chest, I forced myself to add, “Have fun with Gabs.”
Without waiting for a response, I straightened on the far side of the door and began the short walk home. A light rain urged me to walk faster, but my limbs were tired from the exertion of the workout and the droplets felt good on my overheated skin. Lifting my face to the sky, I imagined the rain could wash away the desperate longing in my soul and grant me a few moments of peace. Instead, I copped a raindrop directly to the eyeball and swore as I wiped the moisture away. Typical.
I’d been in love with Gabrielle Hannigan since I was old enough to know what falling in love meant. She was the first girl I’d ever had a dirty dream about. The first girl I fantasised about kissing. It didn’t matter that we’d been neighbours since we were both in nappies. It didn’t matter that she would never see me as anything but a friend. I loved her fiercely, completely, and in silence.
The day she told me she was dating Lawrence, her older brother’s best friend, I went home and bawled like a pathetic loser. I’d wanted to hate him for capturing Gabi’s heart, but even the heat of anger was denied me. He’d already done so much to help me. Training with me, talking to me as if he was interested in what I had to say.
I couldn’t control my admiration for Law any more than I could control my love for Gabi. And the reaction my body had when I thought of the two of them together? That was something else I couldn’t control. It was no longer my lips I imagined pressed to Gabi’s, but his. In my dreams, the touch ofhishands made her body come alive. Maybe that’s why I’d found myself falling under Law’s spell this afternoon. Because, over the course of the last few months, he’d become all tangled up in my fantasies of Gabi. I didn’t understand it and tried not to think about it in the light of day, but it had to be the reason why I’d wanted… hell, I wasn’t even sure what I’d wanted.
It didn’t matter anyway.Ididn’t matter. Law made Gabi happy, and Gabi was everything to me. I would die before I messed with that.
TWO
______
LAWRENCE
Gabi was none the wiser as she sat across the table from me. Relaxed and cheerful, she drew slender fingers through long strands of dark hair as she told me about what had been happening at school, and about a local photography competition she wanted to enter. I gave all the right replies. Told her she should enter. That she was a talented photographer and should go after what she wanted. It was all true, but tonight the words felt oily in my mouth. Because she had no idea what I’d almost done. What I’d wanted to do. Gabi had no idea how close I’d come to kissing Connor Clayton.
“I wondered if you’d mind being my subject?” A hopeful eagerness shone in Gabi’s eyes as she waited for me to respond. Except I’d been so busy thinking about the betrayal I’d almost committed I didn’t even understand the question. Some boyfriend I was turning out to be.
“Law, what’s going on with you tonight?” she asked, her brow wrinkling as she reached for my hand. “It’s like you’re not even here.”
Reaching out across the small cafe table, I threaded my fingers through hers. “It’s nothing. I think I probably put in too many hours in the gym today. It’s starting to catch up with me.”
She grinned. “You and Connor both. I ran into him this afternoon after he got home from your place. He looked like a whipped puppy. You guys haven’t started doing some macho thing where you try to outdo each other, have you?”
“No, of course not,” I scoffed, grateful Connor hadn’t said anything to Gabi about what happened—almost happened—between us. What the hell was I thinking? We’d just been standing there, talking, but he’d been so close, and his mouth had looked so—
“Maybe we should call it a night, so you can get some rest.”
My gaze lifted to Gabi’s concerned face. Fuck, I’d zoned out on her again. “I definitely do not want to call it a night,” I assured her. “I’ve barely seen you since the start of the term. I’ve missed you.”
Her smile grew wider and she took on that adoring look that made my chest feel full to bursting. “I’ve missed you, too. But there’s only four weeks left before school’s over for good. Once I graduate, we’ll have all the time in the world.”
“Hallelujah,” I said with a grin.
Lifting out of her chair, she leaned forward over the table to place a soft kiss on my lips before murmuring, “Let’s go for a walk through the park.” The sultry glimmer in her eyes told me we’d be doing less walking and more making out.
