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“Darn,” he teases, and his hand ruffles my hair as he pulls away. “I look forward to it.”
“Me, too.”
And then I’m slipping my arms around Williams next, careful not to hit any of his bruises. I let him go just as quickly, but he keeps me standing in front of him with two large palms at my shoulders. “We’ll miss you, kiddo,” he says, and his sentiment, layered with the others’, keeps digging their way past my ribcage and into my heart.
I can’t help but wonder if this is what college will be like for us, too. New faces, turning into new friends, letting us into their world one day at a time until it feels like we’re a part of it, too.
I can only hope,I muse, as Addy starts down the line of goodbyes herself, tears tracking down her face even as she laughs through them. It’s been one hell of an emotional morning.
When a few more guys from the team pull into the Masons’ yard, I know it’s only going to get that much worse.
They drag us into even more hugs, even more warm embraces—goodbye,andgood luck,andbest wishes,anddrive safe, andwe’ll miss you,andhave so much fun,grunted and whispered and said at our backs. And I’m breathing through my tears, and Addy is still giggling through hers, and we’re sucking it up andwe’re getting through it, even as Cal and Stacy steal more time, more hugs, reminding us to text them with updates from the road every half hour.
Addy groans and rolls her eyes, but she promises we will.
And then before I know it, I’m standing in front of Jude. My heartbeat in my throat and my stomach at my feet, my breaths found nowhere in between.
The deep gray of his irises contract around his pupils, and his stare deepens further, rooting me where I stand. Memories of this summer flood past my every emotion. The hallway, and the balcony, and his car, and the boat, and the clubs, and the late nights in his room, andlast night—or, early this morning, really. Our soft gasps and rough moans splitting through the silence. The bite of his fingertips at my thighs as he guided me above him, moving me against him.His hand at my mouth, drowning out my sounds as I came.
His whispers offuck,andyes,andcome for me, Little D,will be forever imprinted on my mind.
It’s his friendship, though, I’ve accepted, that will be forever imprinted on my soul.
An ache burrows itself deep in my heart as I rake my eyes over him. His tall, broad form. His dark, run-through hair. The harsh curves of his lips. And his piercing gray stare.
For what feels like my entire life, I’ve been begging for the rush of time—an hour, day, week, year to pass within a blink so I could be free—so I never realized how fast time could fly when you didn’t want it to. It’s been my longest summer in Oklahoma, and yet the shortest of my life.
And for once, it feels like I have something of my own I don’t want to leave behind.
I’m not sure how to do this. How to get throughthisgoodbye, in particular.
I’m not sure Jude does, either.
He glances around us, eyes landing on Addy, his teammates, the Masons, and then back to me. He rakes a rough hand through his hair as his gaze penetrates my own. “Ah, fuck it,” he finally says, and then he’s stepping forward, his hands at my cheeks framing my face within them, and then his mouth lands on mine.
It’s a sweet, soft, teasing kiss.
A light sweep of his lips.
A press of his mouth against mine.
Before it deepens further, his tongue slipping inside and taking over.
A sigh escapes my lungs and fills his, and his resulting groan tips my lips into a smile, the shape of it formed perfectly against his own. And then he drags his tongue deeper, pulling meindeeper.
And we’re hands, grasping and pulling. Mouths, licking and sucking and biting. Two hearts racing, conforming, harmonizing.
Jude tips my head back, kissing me harder and then softer again, deeper, and then deeper.
And I don’t know how you can mark your territory when someone isn’t entirely yours to begin with, but that’s exactly what he’s doing.
Like when we pull apart, his name will be tattooed somewhere on my skin.
His teammates shout their approval, and I can hear Addy giggling in the background, Cal’s harumph ringing through it. Cicadas buzz in the humid summer heat, sunlight melting against my body, Stacy sniffling through her quiet laughter.
And all I can think is—
I’m going to miss this, all of it, so fucking much.