“Do you want to cry on your birthday too?” interrupted Amelia sharply. She was cold, thorny, and biting.
“James and I only went upstairs for a second. Quit making a tragedy out of it. Besides, does it look like I’m crying?”
“Well, you will,” declared Ari, coming to Amelia’s aid. She gazed at Poppy through narrowed eyes before walking away.
Ari swayed in front of me and William holding a glass of something.
“Hey, Will.”
For a moment, William was distracted by her sexy strut.
“Huh? Hey,” he mumbled, as I took advantage of his distraction to score another goal.
“Um, what did you want to talk to me about, June?” Will was serious, and I mentally prepared my speech, something I always did when I wanted to start an important discussion.
Let’s be friends.
I put the controller on the table and looked at Will in the eyes.I like you, but there’s a part of you that . . .
Maybe it would be better to postpone the conversation because of the full moon?
“No big deal.” I downplayed my earlier statement, shrugging.
It was actually that I didn’t know how he would’ve reacted, and I was too scared to ruin Poppy’s party.
“Wanna play another game?” he suggested, pointing at the TV.
“I better go to the girls,” I refused, standing up.
“Okay. I’m gonna find Jax.”
But before I could take a step, Will grabbed my arm.
“Wait.”
And he said that to give me a peck on the lips. Softly, like I liked. But I couldn’t make it feel right.
It was that off-rhythm melody that threw me. It seemed like he was searching for confirmation, not a gesture made from the heart.
“See you later?” he asked, struggling to pull away from my lips, while his thumbs made small circles around my cheekbones.
I felt like I was bursting into flames when I imagined the feeling of James’s fingers on my face.
That morning in the school bathrooms, he didn’t grab my cheeks violently or softly. Just intensely.
My eyes were fixed on Will, when James’s voice broke the spell. “Wanna shoot some hoops, Will?”
“Right now? No, I’m looking for Jax,” he answered. “I’ll ask him to make me something nonalcoholic,” he added before nodding at me. I felt James’s dark eyes on me.
“Can I talk to you for a moment, Hunter?” I asked, intentionally avoiding his gaze.
“Do I look like I wanna talk?” James said in a surly tone, and when I turned around I caught him with his arm around Sammy.
Okay, got it. You can’t talk because you’re busy burning your brain cells and banging half the world.
“I just wanted to talk to you about Will. It’s fine,” I murmured. It seemed like I’d just said the magic word.
“What do you want?”
