Chapter TwoTaylor
I waited outside her math class to talk to her. I was still angry, but she’d gotten to school safely, so I had started to let it go. There was something else that mattered more, and that was making sure nothing happened to her in the future.
I didn’t care what she said or thought about Julian. I knew the truth: He was dangerous, and something inside me told me that his story was far from finished.
I leaned against the wall across from her classroom and saw the two of them come out together. They looked tense. Ellie was starting to get on my nerves. Why couldn’t she just mind her own business? I got it—they were friends and she was just defending Kami. But she didn’t have to be so hostile toward me.
Ellie’s smile turned to a defiant scowl as soon as she saw me. I just looked at her blankly and turned to Kami. One look at her and I felt like I could lose my mind in every sense imaginable. Kami stopped and glanced back and forth between us. Since she looked like she was struggling to decide, I stepped forward and said, “Can we talk?”
Kami hesitated, then nodded and told Ellie, “See you in history.”
Ellie nodded, giving me another nasty look, and walked toward her locker.
I wrapped an arm around Kami’s waist and pulled her toward me, resting my back against the wall as I buried my head in her neck and she did the same, melting into me as I inhaled her sweet fragrance.
I had been so scared when she’d told me not to pick her up this morning. My imagination had gotten the better of me. I’d pictured dozens of scary situations I still couldn’t manage to shake.
“Do me a favor, please,” I told her. “Don’t do that again.”
“I didn’t do anything, Taylor,” she said, and I could tell by how sharply she reacted that she was still angry at my brother and me for what we’d said.
“Is it really too much to ask that you not cross the entire town alone?” I asked. What I wanted was to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. “Julian is out there somewhere, and the police aren’t taking it seriously. They think he’s just some emotional teenager, but I know he’s dangerous. And he’s going to come back. This isn’t over, Kamila.” I thought maybe calling her by her full name would help her see how serious I was. I couldn’t understand why it was so hard for her to realize she was truly in danger. The extent of that danger, I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to find out the hard way. I couldn’t let anything bad happen to her.
Kami stepped away from me and crossed her arms. “I wasn’t alone, Ellie was with me.”
“Ellie doesn’t count, Kami. If Julian shows up, what could she do about it?”
“Ellie’s amazing, Taylor! How can you say that about her?” Her sudden outburst caught me off guard, and I tried to explain myself, but she cut me off: “And by the way, I don’t like how you’re treating her. It wouldn’t kill you to be nice once in a while. She is my best friend, you know. That should be worth something.”
“I care about you,” I said, trying to be as stern and serious as she was.
“I’m fine,” she said, stepping back. “You have nothing to worry about. What happened with Julian is over, and the only thing I want is to forget it, but it’s hard when you and your brother can’t stop reminding me of it every second of the day.”
I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. If it was up to me, there would be a whole army following her around to make sure she was OK. But that was impossible, and so it was up to my brother and me. Obviously, I wasn’t thrilled about including Thiago because the farther he was from Kami, the better. But I needed his help. In the end, there was no one I trusted more to keep her safe.
“We’re worried about you,” I said, hearing the urgency in my own voice.
Kami ran her hand down my cheek in a soft caress and delicately kissed me on the lips.
“I know,” she said, and her breath tickled my skin. “And I appreciate it. I really do, and I promise I’ll be careful, but please, relax a little.”
When she put it like that, I couldn’t say no, and I agreed, pulling her in for a real kiss. Her body curved into mine, and I pressed my tongue into her mouth to taste her slowly. I got hard almost instantly and remembered we’d still only done it once. Every pore in my body was screaming to do it again, soon, and she knew it…but she was avoiding it. My hands moved down to her ass, pressing my erection into her, but she wriggled away.
“Tay, no, not here,” she said, removing my hands and smiling at me, blushing.
God, she was gorgeous.
I stroked her blond hair, wishing we could be anywhere else, just the two of us alone, with no one bothering us, somewhere wecould have sex and then curl up to sleep together. Somewhere I could wake up and make her breakfast the next morning.
Sometimes it sucks being seventeen.
“We’re going to be late,” she warned me, kissing me on the cheek. “And today we find out which day we have our human sexuality presentation.”
I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows flirtatiously. “I’m sorry, are you telling me I need to put time aside to work on my sexuality with you?”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “We’ve been working on this assignment for a month and you’re still coming up with new material. Incredible. You’re a child.”
“A horny child who can’t stop thinking about giving it to you again,” I said, unable to stop myself.
