“Stop it,” I murmured, lowering my gaze.
“Stop what, White?”
I was caught up in his movements. Even the most banal gestures like wrapping his hand with a bandage drew me in.
“Quit acting like that around me. It’s not cool.”
“What’d I do? Although I was dying to be that pole.” His giggle was more than explicit. He was messing with me. Like he always did.
“James!”
On the surface it looked like I was angry at him, when I was really angry at myself. I didn’t budge, not even when he took off his T-shirt.
“Suit yourself, Snow White.” James shrugged nonchalantly and started winding the wrap around his other hand.
“I’m going home.”
His blue eyes darted.
“I can—”
“No, I have my bike.”
James suddenly came up to me, an inch away from my face.He does that with everyone, June.I held his gaze steadily just so I wouldn’t be distracted by his perfect body.
“What are you waiting for?” he whispered, sending a chill down my spine.
Something invisible froze me, something strong between us, and I wondered if he felt it too. I should’ve used double my usual strength to acquiesce to what my brain was saying, because my body didn’t want to listen to it. I got up on my tiptoes and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. The contact with his warm skin made me shiver, while his all-too-familiar scent dug a hole in my stomach. I watched him bite his lower lip.
“You were great.”
For a few moments, I caught a glimpse of peace in his chronically agitated gaze.
His narrowed eyes relaxed and traveled down to stare at my mouth. I turned around so he wouldn’t see my cheeks turn every color of the rainbow.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
“And I’m not talking about that R-rated dance, but the fact that you took that kind of risk for Will. You did something important for him. It was stupid, but it was meaningful.”
“It’s not like that, James.”
“What do you mean?”
I turned around to look at him.
“I did it for both of you.”
>> <<
My mom interrogated me like crazy to figure out where I’d been the night before.
I could barely manage to convince her that I was at Amelia’s, and that I needed to talk to someone because what she told me freaked me out. She pretended to fall for it, but I already knew that she wouldn’t let me go out that night even if someone tortured her.
“Come on, we haven’t seen each other in forever!”
It was nine p.m., and I was still on a video call with Amelia and Poppy. I was stunned when Ari joined us. I was under the impression that Amelia had been keeping her distance from Ari after she and Brian broke up, but it seemed I was wrong.
“I told you, Amelia. I can’t go out. Especially not tonight.”
