It’s his. I know.
Even though it has never been directed at me, I’ve heard it before, and without volition, memorized it. And now it’s here.
The voice.Him.
And before I can think anything else, assess the situation or even absorb it, I spin around.
As if a string is looped around my body, and he holds the other end. And he’s tugging it viciously, making me spin like the ballerina that I am.
And there he is again.
A lot closer to me than he’s ever been.
Reed Roman Jackson.
Chapter Three
The first time I saw him, off the soccer field I mean – I’d seen him play plenty of times before that – was my first day at Bardstown High.
It was during my lunch period.
I was trying to find the administration office without having to bother either Ledger or Conrad for every little thing, and despite being given very explicit directions leading to it, I think I took a wrong turn somewhere.
I ended up in a deserted sort of hallway with only a few lingering students in it.
I was trying to find my way back when I stumbled upon an empty classroom.
Well, empty except for two people.
One of which was him.
That was the first time I’d seen him out of his green and white soccer uniform, without sweat dripping from his brows and without a vicious flush covering his features from running across the field.
In fact, it was the first time I’d seen his features clearly and not from a distance.
The first time I’d seen how breathtakingly beautiful he was. How his features, sharp and angled, were designed to make your heart ache as soon as you looked at him.
Heartbreakingly beautiful. That’s what I thought in that moment.
Also, tall.
It was something I’d never realized before, his towering frame.
I remember thinking that Reed Roman Jackson was the tallest guy I’d ever seen. Taller than even my brothers, and my brothers are some of the tallest people I know.
In his white hoodie, something else that I saw for the first time, Reed stood leaning against the wall by the whiteboard and God, the top of his head almost reached up to the edge of it. His head was slightly thrown back, exposing the masculine bulge of his Adam’s apple and the strained veins running down the side of his neck.
Oh, and his eyes were closed and his jaw was tight.
At first, I didn’t get why.
I didn’t get why he’d be standing there with his eyes closed like that, his jaw tight before loosening up and his mouth parting on a quiet breath.
At first, I also thought that he was alone.
But then I heard a sound — a moan — and I realized that there was a girl in the room with him. And she was on her knees, almost hidden by the teacher’s desk, in front of him.
That’s when I knew.
