Page 104 of Their Wicked Secrets: Untouched, Vol 5 of 6

I smile and meet Nico’s eyes. “I think we can handle it from here.”

Nico adds, “We should be fine.”

CHAPTER 32

The Bonfire

Harper

“Are you okay, sunshine?” Nico asks.

We’ve been sitting on his bed, both of us reviewing drug house footage for the past half hour.

“What?” I lift my gaze to his. He’s concerned. I straighten a little. “Why?”

He sets his tablet on the nightstand and takes my hand in his. “You’ve been quiet, and there’s a lot going on. I just wanted to see where your head is with all this.”

Leaning against his shoulder, I sigh. “I’ve never been to the bonfire before. It just seems risky. I know I have to go, and I know I have to stand with Zach, but I don’t want to. It would be different if I was standing with one of you.”

I tug at the fabric of his athletic pants. When Zach approached us in the cafeteria, both Nico and Caden were ready to throw down if I was the least bit uncomfortable. Zach just smirked and acted like it was completely normal for him to talk to me.

So I pretended it was normal. It so wasn’t.

“You don’t have to go tonight.” Nico lifts my hand to his lips and presses a kiss against it. “You could stay here with me and pretend to be sick. What’s the worst thing that could happen? You get kicked off the court?”

“And back down?” Who I was before would have hid. “I can’t hide, Nico. That’s how I got through this so far, but I can’t go back to being that girl. I don’t know that I ever really was that girl.”

“You weren’t when I knew you, Harper.”

I pull away and turn so I can look him in the eyes. “This is something I have to face. I can’t just waste the rest of my high school career waiting for it to be over. That’s what I’ve been doing. I want to enjoy these moments. And spend them with the guys I love. I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

Nico smiles and cups my jaw. “I wish you never had to hide. I wish I’d been here and dragged you into the light and hadn’t tried to keep you my secret.”

Holding his hand against my face, I turn to press a kiss into it. “We wouldn’t be who we are now. We wouldn’t have this.”

And I want this. I want Luke and Jack and Eli and Caden and Nico. Being with just one of them would break me. I’d feel guilty for wanting their friends.

“We’re good, right?” I look at his knee. “I mean...”

Fuck. It feels like he’s not getting enough in this relationship even though we’ve been together more. I glance back at the closed door. His mother hasn’t come up to check on us for a while. But maybe she won’t.

I sigh. “You and I aren’t getting time together as much because of your injury. I don’t want you to feel like you’re an afterthought. Because you aren’t.”

He smiles and tilts his head. “I get even more time with you now, sunshine. We get to rebuild our friendship every afternoon. Do I miss having you ride my cock? Hell, yes, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t working on building who we are together.”

I take his hand in both of mine. “This is such a weird relationship. We started with sex and now we’re building our friendship?” I cock an eyebrow at him and give him a teasing smile.

“If you want to go back to sex, I’m more than willing to satisfy your every need.”

I laugh, but a low burning ache is building inside me. “It’s not like I need sex all the time.”

His eyes darken as he lowers his voice. “You sure? Cause it looks like you could use a little reassurance. Lock the door, sunshine.”

My insides burn, but I look at his leg.

He tips up my chin so our eyes meet. “We’ll take it slow. If anything hurts, I’ll tell you.” He chuckles and rubs his thumb over my lower lip. “I’ll even let you do all the work.”

I shake my head but go over to the door and click the lock. This will help me get out of my head for a while at least.