Lacey

My eyes fixed on Adonis and his companion, who was a beautiful star struck redhead girl. Every time she touched his arm and laughed at something he said, I felt pure furious jealousy rise in me.

I wanted to stalk over to her and rip her hand off his arm. I seethed as I watched, unable to do anything about it.

“Here,” Reece said, and I pulled my gaze away from the object of my affection and the girl that was chatting him up. It was one thing seeing him pictured with beautiful girls in magazines, but watching it unfold in front of me was so much worse.

Reece handed me a drink, and I took a sip. I savored the alcohol that would numb some pain. I didn’t want to get drunk, but having a couple of drinks would help ease my pain. The entire purpose of the evening had been to go out and have fun, not watch Adonis flirt with some pretty girl.

There were more girls around the room that had their eyes fixed on him. I took a bigger gulp of my drink.

“I didn’t know Joey was going to invite your brother and Gray,” Reece said beside me.

“Neither did I. I just can’t seem to escape him, can I?” I turned to face my best friend. She gave me a sympathetic smile.

“How am I supposed to get over him if he keeps turning up all the time?” I whispered feeling helpless that no matter what I did I would always watch him from the sidelines unable to get over him.

Reece pulled me into a hug in the middle of the dancing crowd before releasing me.

“Come on.” She pulled me by the hand to in the direction away from the dance floor and Adonis.

“Where are we going?” I followed behind her.

“You came to have fun and I’m determined that you are going to.” She led me through the kitchen, through the back door and into the garden.

There were groups of people everywhere. Reece stopped and turned to face me.

“Forget about him, it’s time to have fun.” She knocked her drink against mine. I smiled. She always knew just how to handle me when I was feeling down.

“No more Gray.” I took another sip of my drink. The alcohol eased the tension in my shoulders and I was feeling a little better. It helped that I didn’t have to watch Adonis hitting on some girl.

Reece and I stood at the edge garden overlooking the vast green lawn where some people were talking and drinking.

A group of guys nearby caught the eye of Reece and she gave them an inviting smile. She could flirt with anyone. I could use some lessons from her. Two of the guys from the group broke away and came over to talk to us.

“It’s not right that two pretty girls are standing alone at a party,” the one with a confident smile said. He was attractive, but he wasn’t my type. Reece’s smile widened as she looked him up and down.

“Then it’s a good thing you showed,” she shot back confidently. The chemistry between the two was instant, and they seemed to only have eyes for each other.

It took me by surprise because he didn’t look like Reece’s usual type. First, he didn’t have any tattoos. His friend gave me a smile, and I smiled back nervously, holding onto my drink. I was inexperienced and not sure what to say to the guy on the first encounter.

“Hi,” he said. He was attractive with midnight black hair that reached his ears, and his eyes were a deep green color.

“Hi,” I said. I felt so awkward.

We did introductions, and I found out that the one Reece seemed to be interested in was Max and his friend was Aiden.

We found a spot on the grass and sat down. Reece sat beside Max and I sat down beside Aiden. Even with some alcohol in my system, I felt nervous and unsure of what to say.

“I think my friend likes yours,” Aiden whispered to me and nodded his head toward Reece and Max.

“I think you’re right.” I nodded in agreement.

“Do you go to college?” he asked, trying to start up a conversation.

I shook my head as I looked down to my drink. “No, I wanted to take some time off before college to decide what I wanted to do,” I explained.

“And your parents let you?” he asked, sounding surprised.

I got that a lot. Most parents wouldn’t have allowed their children to take time off after high school to figure out what they wanted to do next. 

“Yes,” I said.

“I want your parents.” He took a swig of his beer and I shrugged my shoulders.

“Do you go to college?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

“Yeah,” he said.

The conversation flowed before long I realized I was enjoying myself. For the first time that evening, my mind wasn’t on Adonis.

After a while of talking, I looked to discover Reece and Max gone and I was alone with Aiden.

“So do you have a boyfriend?” he asked out of the blue and my eyes shot to his.

“No,” I said. He held my gaze as his mouth widened into a smile. 

“Why not?” he asked, and I felt myself blush under his direct attention.

How did I tell him I was in love with a guy that was out of my league?

“I don’t know.” I gave him a dismissive shrug.

“Do you want to dance?” he asked before he took the last swig of his beer.

“Sure,” I said. He stood up and reached for my hand to pull me to my feet.

I liked him. He was nice to look at and he seemed to be a friendly person, but so had Evan. Still wary, I followed him into the house and into the living room where the party was still going strong. I refused to let my eyes wander to the corner of the room where Adonis had been earlier. I forced myself to look at Aiden and smile as we danced together in amongst the sea of moving bodies.

He smiled at me and I returned it as he stepped forward and set his hands on my hips, pulling me closer to him. I looked up to him, trying to hide my nervousness.

“Can I cut in?” Someone asked, and it took me a few moments to realize it was an angry-looking Adonis. He reached for my wrist and pulled me to him. Aiden released me.

“What are you doing?” I said, trying to pull my wrist out of his grip.

“I want to talk to you.” He spoke through gritted teeth. I could see his anger simmering just below the surface.

“Is he causing trouble?” Aiden asked me with concern.

Not wanting to make a scene, I shook my head. “No. It’s fine. I just need to talk to him,” I said in a calm voice even though I could feel my anger building up.

Adonis led me through the dance floor to the stairs and up the stairs. I pulled my wrist from his grip as we got to the top of the stairs and followed him into the closest bedroom that was empty.

I entered and turned to face him as he closed the door and leaned against it, his stormy blue eyes fixed on me.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked, struggling to keep my temper under control. I’d just been enjoying my evening for the first time and he’d ruined it.

His expression was unreadable and his eyes held mine as he pushed off the door and walked to me. I waited for him to answer me, but he came to a stop in front of me. His eyes searched my face as his hands lifted and cradled my face.

I couldn’t think with him so near.

“You,” he whispered. He lowered his eyes to my lips.

My breath hitched as he leaned close, softly touched my lips with his.

It took a few moments for the reality to hit me that Adonis was kissing me. My brother’s best friend and the boy I’d had a crush on for as long as I could remember was kissing me. His lips moved against mine as his hands cradled my face in place. I gripped his shirt in my hands as he continued his kiss.

All logical thought vanished, and all I could concentrate on was the tingle of my lips against his. My heartbeat sped up and I could hear it echo in my ears. His lips eased away from mine and as his arctic blue eyes held mine, I was so entranced that I held my breath, still struggling to believe what was happening.

His hands dropped to my hips and pulled me closer. Our bodies flush against each other and I had to remember to breathe. This time when his mouth covered mine, the kiss was harder, and I felt the sweep of his tongue against my bottom lip. I opened my mouth and his tongue pushed forward into my mouth to caress my tongue.

I groaned against his lips. Nothing I’d ever imagined came close to the real life kiss I was experiencing. My stomach had a buzzing feeling that vibrated right through me, and I gripped his shirt to keep from falling into a pile of goo at his feet. His one hand reached for the back of my head as his head tilted to the side and angled for a deeper kiss. I followed his lead. There was no doubt about it, he knew how to kiss.

One moment we were kissing, and then we weren’t. I struggled to stay standing on my feet as I tried to figure out why he’d stopped kissing me.

Dazed and confused as I stared at him. He was standing a couple of feet away from me. His breathing was erratic, the kiss had affected him as much as it had me. I’d expected a lot of things to happen if we ever kissed, and none of the scenarios I’d dreamed about were the same as the reality I was experiencing now.

I hadn’t kissed a lot of guys, and I couldn’t help feeling that maybe I’d done something wrong.

“I’m sorry.” He held his hands up as he took another step away from me and it left me trying to figure out what had made him stop kissing me.

He ran a hand through his hair as he dropped his gaze to the floor and when he looked back to me his features were unreadable.

My hand raised and touched my tender lips, which was a reminder of the kiss we’d just shared.

“It shouldn’t have happened.” He retreated to the door and reached for the door handle. He looked back to me once more, giving me a look I couldn’t decipher before he left.

My heart plummeted in my chest, and I felt an actual physical pain. Alone and confused, I sunk down onto the bed and let my head fall into my hands.

An array of emotions hit me at the same time. I felt stupid and vulnerable. Tears of frustration seeped from my eyes. The continuous push and pull. He went from kissing me, to acting like a jealous boyfriend, and now this. I brushed my unwanted tears away with the determination.

He hadn’t been drunk, so he couldn’t use that excuse. So why had he kissed me?

There was a small part of me that wanted to believe that he cared, but his actions just didn’t add up to that. I was furious with him and with myself. I hadn’t even questioned it the moment his lips had touched mine, I’d just gone along with it, not questioning why.

I shoved my hair out of my face. That was it. I would not let him keep doing this to me; it wasn’t right, and I deserved better.

After a few minutes, I got myself together enough to venture downstairs to the party. It took all the courage I could muster to walk down the stairs, knowing that I’d have to face him again.

The party was still going strong as my eyes drifted over the dancing crowd and I didn’t see him, but I found Reece who was watching me. Seeing my expression, she made her way through the crowd to the bottom of the stairs.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking at me with concern.

“Where’s Gray?” I ignored her question.

“He left,” she said, and I felt relieved.

“Tell me what happened.” She led me through the front door and out onto the front patio. There wasn’t much of a crowd.

“After you disappeared with Max, Aiden and I came back inside to dance. We were hitting it off, when Gray showed up and interrupted us,” I told her.

“He interrupted?” she asked with a frown.

I nodded my head. “He was acting like a jealous boyfriend and he said he wanted to talk, so I followed him upstairs.” 

“What did he say?” she asked.

I paused. “He kissed me.”

“Wow.” Her eyes widened.

“Yes.” The slight tenderness of my lips a reminder of the intimate moment between us.

The turmoil in my eyes made her eyes narrow. “But I don’t understand. If he kissed you, why do you look like someone just trampled all over your heart and why did he leave?”

“He kissed me and then... he said he was sorry that he had.”

Reece’s mouth dropped open in shock and then she clamped it close. “What the hell is wrong with him?” She frowned.

I shrugged. I did not know what was going on inside his mind. Once he’d nearly kissed me, and this time he had. Did he feel something for me, but something was stopping him from taking it further? I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to sort out my thoughts. I was tiring of this.

“Is Aiden still inside?” Suddenly I remembered that I’d left him on the dance floor to talk to Adonis.

“Yes. He’s inside with Max.” She looked back to the house.

“I need to apologize to him.” I turned to look back into the house, intent on trying to soothe things with him.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it.” We walked back into the house.

“So you and Max?” I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively, trying to move the subject away from Adonis. He had tainted the kiss with shared with his reaction afterward. 

She smiled smugly. “I like him.” There was a twinkle in her eye and that made me smile.

I wanted to have something special with someone, but as long as Adonis was in my life, it was becoming more and more difficult for that to happen. The initial pain of a headache starting up wasn’t a surprise. My night had been stressful, and I knew the chances were it was going to develop into a migraine.

Aiden and Max were talking to each other with a beer in their hands when we joined them. Aiden smiled at me.

“Hi.” I clasped my hands together.

“Hey,” he said. I didn’t have to worry about our audience because they only had eyes for each other.

“I’m sorry about before,” I said.

“It’s okay.”

He studied me for a moment. “I like you.” He was direct.

“I like you too.” There was something about him that made me feel comfortable in his presence.

“But I can’t compete with Adonis Grayson.” He lifted his hand and rubbed his eyebrow. He’d recognized him. It shouldn’t have surprised me.

“There is nothing going on between us,” I said.

“That’s what you say, but I saw how he acted.” His eyes held mine. “You’re the type of girl I could fall for, but it would be a mistake.”

I held his gaze as I swallowed.

“Because when it came time to choose, he would win.”

I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t.