And my mouth?
Still buzzing with the taste of her.
Everyone would talk. Everyonewasalready talking. I knew that.
But all I could think was?—
Who the hell is she?
And why do I already know I’m going to ruin this?
I didn’t look back.
Didn’t need to.
I couldfeelher still standing there—breathless, stunned, probably questioning every life choice that brought her to that exact patch of sand. Good. She should.
“Damn,” Tristan called as I strolled back toward the truck, his voice rising above the hum of the fire and the bass from someone’s speaker. “That took, what—four minutes?”
“Three and change,” I said, lifting my cup like a trophy. “First to taste the fresh meat. Cheers.”
Xavier let out a low whistle. “You don’t waste time, do you?”
“Why should I?” I smirked, leaning back against the tailgate again like I hadn’t just kissed a stranger and thrown gasoline on the social hierarchy. “Scholarship girl shows up looking like that, what was I supposed to do—be polite?”
Tristan laughed, but it sounded too sharp. “Youknow you just pissed off half the lineup, right? Caroline’s going to explode.”
“Caroline always explodes,” I muttered. “It’s her default setting.”
Truth was, I could already feel the laser beam stares boring into the side of my face. Caroline and her clones in their cream knits and glossy lips, standing in a cluster by the coolers like they were plotting revenge in matching lip liner.
They were pissed.
Good.
Let them simmer.
I drained the rest of my drink and grabbed another from the ice bucket. The burn helped. Not the alcohol—my tolerance was too high for that. The distraction.
Because no matter how chill I played it, how cocky the smirk on my face was, my head was still stuck back at that fire, withher.
Jade.
I didn’t even know her last name.
Well—not the real one, anyway.
“Bryan,” Tristan had said earlier, but the way he’d said it? Like he didn’t believe it. Like it was something paper-thin and temporary.
Didn’t matter.
Scholarship girl. No legacy. No bloodline. Definitely not pre-approved by the Holt family trust.
But hermouth...
I rubbed the back of my neck, jaw tight. That kiss hadn’t been soft. Hadn’t been anything like the girls I usually wasted time with. There was no performance, no fake giggle, no waiting for a phone to be raised for content.
She’d just… let me.
