So fuckin’ hard I could cut diamonds with my dick, I’m goddamn sure of it. I—
Joss grips my jaw, cutting off wherever the hell my thoughts were about to descend. He takes a shaky breath. “We should leave.”
I nod. He’s right. However this plays out, I don’t want it to happen in my dad’s backyard. But…the thought of it ending makes my heart thud with a different emotion. With dread. I don’t want it to end. I want to kiss him and kiss him and kiss him until my lips fall off.
“Hey.” Joss is still holding my face. He strokes my cheekbone until I meet his gaze and his smile is ethereal under the light of the summer stars. “I’ll make you a deal: if you can ride home without that wood pole-vaulting you off your bike…we can do this all night long.”
12
JOSS AND KAI
JOSS
I’ve never ridden a bike with a boner before, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. The journey home is long enough that I have time to calm the fuck down.Shouldhave time. Except, I spend the whole ride watching Kai propel his own bike, so I have no fucking chance.
The bar is busy. We stash our bikes and slip in the side entrance. Molly intercepts us before we reach the door that leads upstairs, wide-eyed and animated, which I’ve fast learned is her baseline. “Joss, you have to help me.”
She grabs my arm and drags me further into the bar, but I resist. I like Molly. I’ll help her bury a body if that’s what she needs, but I’m not leaving Kai, and he’s stopped dead at the end of the bar.Fuck that.
I tug Molly back. “Slow down. What is it?”
Molly spins around and skips into my personal space. She cranes her neck to whisper in my ear, but I’m too tall.
I bend down.
“I’m on a terrible date,” she hisses. “Pretend you’re my brother or something and our grandmother just died.”
On instinct, I raise my head to scan the bar, but she yanks me back down.
“Don’t look! He’ll see.”
“What’s so bad about him?”
“Can I tell you after? I just want him to leave.”
“Is he a fucking weirdo?”
“No. I just…crap. Imayhave given him the wrong impression, okay? On Tinder. I asked to see his…you know, to see if it made me—oh god, don’t make me spell it out. Just get rid of him,please?”
“All right, all right.” I placate her with a hug. Then pull back. “Why me, though? Kai’s more believable as your brother than I am.”
I twist around.
Molly digs her nails into my arm, forcing my gaze back to her. “I’m not asking Kai to come into the bar. He hates crowds.”
My heart flips. “They trigger him?”
Molly nods and I see something in her round eyes that tells me I’ll do anything to get this exchange done with so I can get back to Kai.
I don’t need to look at him to know it. But I do it anyway, and he’s exactly where I left him, gaze distant, shoulders tight. Teeth digging into the bottom lip I claimed as my own a half hour ago.
Shit.
I turn back to Molly. “Where’s this dude?”
Her expression brightens. “You’ll help me?”
“Of course. Just get Kai out of here, okay? Tell him to go upstairs and wait for me there.”
