I turned so I was on my back again. “You turn everything into an argument.”
“You just don’t like hearing the truth.” I said nothing. We lay in silence for a while longer until Gray spoke again. “So . . . the date?”
“He kissed me.” My heart was racing as I waited for his reaction.
“Where?”
Despite myself, I laughed. “On the lips.”
“Which ones?”
“Gray!”
I heard him snigger as he turned to lie on his back again.
“He wants to go out again.”
“Tell him you’re busy.”
“Why?” The silence stretched, and I was sure he wouldn’t answer before I heard him move as he was sitting up.
“Because I told you to.” Gray stood and walked away from me. At the edge of the pool, I saw him looking back at me. “Just do it.” He couldn’t see me clearly in the shadows, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t waiting.
“Okay.” My voice floated across the decking, no more than a whisper, but he heard it. I saw his head jerk in a nod once before he disappeared into his house. Staring up at the night sky, I wondered why I agreed before I closed my eyes, too afraid toquestion myself further, knowing that, unlike the stars, the answer wasn’t that far out of reach.
* * *
Quinn, age sixteen
“Jett, I need to talk to you.” I watched him finish his push-ups, his toned golden skin on display — he never cared that he walked around shirtless in front of me. To Jett, I was no more than another member of his family. I liked that about him. Actually, I loved that about him.
“So, talk.” He grunted as he started doing sit-ups.
“Didn’t you do all of this already?” I demanded as I watched him effortlessly go through his exercises.
“Yeah, but I need to be fitter.”
“You’re going to burn out,” I chided as I slipped down onto the floor and held his feet. “What?” I asked when I saw his raised eyebrows. “I always help.”
“You do always help, Queeny.” He grinned as he resumed his workout. “What’s going on under that mass of black hair?” he teased me.
My hair had always been wild and untamed, but when we hit high school, I knew I had to put more effort into my appearance. The boys were easy — they grew into their looks — but I needed to exfoliate, buff, wax, and straighten my hair to look as effortless as they did. “Ash kissed me.”
Jett stopped his sit-ups and leaned back on his hands as he considered my words. “You kiss him back?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I stared at him. I didn’t have an answer. Ash kissed me, and I kissed him back. “I dunno. ’Cause I thought he wanted me to?”
“Don’t be stupid, Quinn. A guy kisses you, doesanythingwithyou that you don’t want, you knee his balls, kick his face in and then tellus, and we’ll beat the fuck out of him.”
“You going to beat Ash up?” I asked him mockingly.
“Do I need to?” Jett stood and wiped his neck with a towel and waited until I shook my head. “So, you wanted him to kiss you?”
I bit my lip. Ash had started paying more and more attention to me. I couldn’t say that I didn’t like it. I saw the way they were with girls, and I had been envious. They weren’t like that with me, of course — I was their friend — but it stung when I heard them say pretty things to girls who didn’t deserve it.Ideserved it. Jett had already had sex with two different girls, and Ash almost had sex with Carlie at a party the other week, but she chickened out and only gave him a hand job. Is that why he kissed me? He thought I was more of a sure thing than Carlie?
