“Come on, Kenna. One last weekend together before—” He cut himself off, not able to say the words that were really going through his head. Turned out it didn’t matter, because she was nodding, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, and shit, he wanted her to be his. Wanted to reach up and pluck her lip from those confines, then lean in and suck it into his mouth. He wanted so much from her, but he couldn’t focus on that. Not when one thought echoed in his mind, even as he watched her stroll up the front walk, tossing a wave over her shoulder before she escaped inside.
One last weekend together before everything changes.
Afew days later, Mac tossed things into a couple boxes with no rhyme or reason as to which one they landed in. All the necessities she’d need for the dorm had already been purchased and were stowed away in the closet, ready to be transferred to the back of Will’s car when it was time to head to Starkville. They’d agreed that leaving on Monday morning would be enough time. It’d give them a couple days on campus before classes officially started on Wednesday.
But now, after Hudson’s plea to Mac the other night, she wanted to leave…tomorrow. And she still hadn’t approached Will with the idea.
“What the hell are you taking your bunny slippers for? This isn’t summer camp, Mac.” Will breezed into their bedroom before flopping onto her bed and reclining against the pillows. “You look dazed as hell. Do you even know what you’re throwin’ in there?”
“Yes.” No, she really didn’t. In fact, she didn’t remember much of the past two days as she’d sat and worried over how she was going to ask Will for this. Yeah, her sister owed her a favor. And yeah, when it came right down to it, Will would do anything for her. But when Mac shared thewhyof what, no doubt, would be the five W questions that shot from her sister’s mouth, she knew what she’d get. Suspicion. Worry. Anxiety. Resentment. And some of those would come so fast and so fierce, her sister wouldn’t be able to stop them, or even put a name to them.
But Mac would.
She’d watched Will nurse herself back after the devastation she’d gone through last year when her boyfriend, Finn, left without a word. No phone call. No note. Nothing but an empty trailer on the wrong side of town and a whole lot oftold ya so’s to face all on her own.
But Hudson was nothing like Finn Thomas. Mac just hoped her sister would be able to see that.
“Dang, what’s got your panties in a twist?” Will asked, dipping her magazine down enough to peek over the top. “You’re stewin’ on something over there.”
Without sparing her sister a glance, Mac said, “I don’t wear panties. I wear boyshorts, and they’re just fine, thank you very much.” To keep herself busy and stop from just blurting out everything and ruining how she needed to approach this, she spun around and strode to her closet, double-checking that she had everything she wanted from it.
“You’re sure gettin’ an early start on all this.” Will gestured to the boxes on Mac’s bed. “I figured you’d wait until Sunday night to start throwin’ stuff together.”
Mac glanced at Will over her shoulder and bit her lip. This was the best opening she could ask for, and if she really wanted to leave tomorrow, she needed to take it. “Um, yeah…about that…”
Will cocked her head to the side and settled the magazine against her chest. “I hate when you start sentences like that.”
Mac plucked a shirt from the closet and added it to the pile on the bed. She moved her bunny slippers from one box to the other, then to the open suitcase on the floor before nixing them altogether and tossing them back into her closet. All the while avoiding Will’s assessing gaze.
“Mac.”
Blowing out a heavy sigh, Mac dropped her shoulders before shutting their bedroom door to make sure they weren’t overheard. She dragged her feet all the way to Willow’s bed and dropped onto it, sitting crisscross at the end. “Promise to hear me out before you start gettin’ all righteous on me, okay?”
Will shot a glance toward the closed door and then back to her sister, her eyes narrowed. “What the hell did you do?” she hissed.
“Gimme a break, Will. You’re not talkin’ to Nat. I haven’tdoneanything…yet.”
“Yet.”
“I’m gettin’ to that.”
“Well, get there faster.”
Mac rolled her eyes. “Remember how I took care of our pain-in-the-ass sister so you could hang out with your friends at Movie Night?”
“Yeah…” Will drew out the word as she surveyed Mac.
“Well, I’m cashing in the favor.”
“Already?” Will scrunched her brow. “You usually like to hold those over my head for a while and make me sweat about what you’re gonna have me do. Must want something pretty bad.”
Pretty bad wasn’t even the half of it. For days, Mac had remembered Hudson’s expression as he’d stood in front of her under the bleachers, so close she could feel his breath on her lips. His thumbs had caressed her collarbone, back and forth so softly, and she’d only hoped he hadn’t seen how her body had reacted to the chaste touch.
It hadn’t been the first time he’d ever touched her in a way that made her body sing—hadn’t been the most intimate either. But something had been different the other night than it had been a couple years ago—when he’d touched her a hell of a lot more than chastely. When they’d gotten as close as two people could. When they’d followed through on the pact they’d set when they were preteens sharing their first kiss—that they’d lose their virginity together.
While it could’ve been a recipe for disaster for many friends of the opposite sex, it somehow hadn’t been for them. Sure, her feelings for him had only deepened after the fact, but she’d managed to separate those. Box them up and tuck them away, out of the realm of their friendship.
Those feelings were surging to the surface now. But she swore something had clicked between them the other night. As he’d stared down at her, she’d been sure…sosure…he’d been about to tell her what she’d waited for years to hear.
