I didn’t even realize I’d stepped toward him until Ty gripped my forearm.
“Not here. Not now,” he said.
I glanced at his hold, then back to Cal. Ty was right. There was much to say. This thing between Cal and me was left open and jagged, but this was not the place to try and even it out.
“Raul’sgothisfacein the pie toss contest at two. I think I’ll sign up,” Nick said.
Michael chuckled, but it dropped when Jamie joined us. He didn’t wear eyeliner every day, but today, he and Asher were decked out.
“Did you eat?” he asked Jamie, gripping his hand when he gave Michael their shared phone.
“Caramel popcorn.”
“That’s not eating.”
Jamie jerked his arm free. “I’ll eat later,Daddy.”
Nick and Asher hid their laughter as Michael scowled. I should laugh. I should be normal. Before yesterday, I would’ve laughed. Today? I had no fucks to give forappropriatebehavior.
“Quit that shit.” Michael seethed.
“Why? You act like him sometimes.”
“Cal? You good?” Nick asked, ignoring their bickering.
I nodded, lying.
The spot just under my ribs on the left side was still sore, but breathing was much easier today. They should make shirts forsurviving a run-in with Jack. Though I wasn’t sure I’d survived yet.
Thankfully, Nick left me alone in the face of my lie. I wasn’t ready to talk. There was too much thinking to be had.
Once I’d picked my lung off the floor yesterday, I’d lifted my head to an empty basement.
I’d kissed a guy.
A person with a dick.
A very hard dick I’d had pressed against my own very hard dick, and the moment had been—perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
Washing in with the same tide of clarity had been anxiety. And not for any of the reasons I might have welcomed. Like someone finding us.
No, in those heated seconds with Jack stealing my common sense and the world around me, he’d also fed the starved parts of my body and soul I hadn’t realized were so needy, filling me with new ideas, cravings, and—lust. Thick. Wanting.Thirstylust. Something I’d never felt before, and so yeah, I’d freaked out at the intensity of it.
I wasn’t pissed about the punch—I’d been asking for it—but did he regret it? Any of it?
Answers weren’t here. They weren’t anywhere except with him, and he might not even want to see me.
With a sigh, I turned from my friends, turned from the noise I was too distracted to decipher, but didn’t make it far at all.
Jack stood at the booth across from us. His pale face was as blank as ever, fringed with dark bangs as we stared at one another.
This moment had plagued my mind since yesterday. I’d hoped to have been able to read something in his expression today. More hatred, maybe nervousness, or the hunger that had been clawing at my insides. I wanted to kiss him again. In fact, I hadwanted to kiss him again yesterday too. Even wheezing on the ground, I’d wanted to man up, get to my feet, push him against the storage room wall, and kiss him until my lips fell off, kiss him until shit made sense again.
This normal indifference wasnotwhat I wanted to see. How could he stand there, as cold as ever, when I was boiling? Indifference couldn’t have found its way on my face if it tried.
Ty bumped his shoulder, and Jack lowered his eyes, but before either of us could flee to safety …
