Page 94

Again, I concede, and I am hating myself for it. This isn’t me. I detest PDAs. Would rather keep what goes on between us behind closed doors.

Except when he tenderly cradles my face and brings my face near, everyone disappears. The conversations around us fade to nothing. All I feel is him. His mouth pressed on my lips. Side to side. Warm. Wet when he coaxes my mouth open and slides his tongue inside.

Taron kisses along the wall of my mouth. Tangles our tongues. He tastes of salsa and smooth ale. I tremble. Groan beneath the onslaught of his mouth and his tongue. Dig my nails into his biceps when he wraps his arms tight around me.

He deepens the kiss, and I slacken against him. My whimper of need is loud in my ear. His hair is soft in my hand. My fingers trenched in his soft strands, I tilt his head to the side. He opens further for me, his kisses drowning out my moans and sighs.

After what seems like minutes, I break off the kiss and come up for air. My body tingles from head to toe. My face is warm like I’ve been staring up at the hot sun.

Taron runs his finger over my bottom lip. Lingers on my lip ring.

“Fuck, I love this sliver of metal. Feels good on my tongue, baby.”

“Yeah, that cool metal can get a man hard quick.”

The conversation drops to a dead silence. What Dare said is loud, rising above the noise. Before I can understand what is happening, Taron shoves me off his lap, launches across the table and grabs Dare by the front of his shirt. He starts pounding on Dare’s face with his fist.

“Taron!” I grab Taron’s arm. He doesn’t stop beating on my best friend.

I jump on Taron’s back. With barely any effort, he pushes me off him. It’s enough for Dare to regroup and blink away the surprise on his face. He pulls back his arm. Thank God, the guys step in and haul the men away from one another before they do serious damage.

I hurry to Dare, and grabbing a wad of napkins off the nearest table, I put pressure on the cut above his right brow. The skin is split, and he’s bleeding.

Midnight grabs Taron’s arm and shoves him in the direction of the door. “Get the fuck out of here now!”

Without looking at me, Taron leaves. The girls and the six guys who had no loyalty to him whatsoever weeks ago follow him out.

“Dare, we should get you to the hospital.”

“No, B. Get me home.”

He slings his arm over my shoulders. Staggers. Midnight gets under his other shoulder, and the two of us help Dare to his Jeep. He fishes the keys from his pocket and hands them to Midnight.

I snatch them away. “I’ve got this. You have a business to run. Anyway, it’s my fault Dare is hurt. I am so sorry, Dare. I don’t know what came over him.”

“I do. It’s called fucking jealousy, and you better tell him to ditch that shitty green-eyed beast fast, B. Otherwise, he is not welcome anywhere near you again.”

38

Syn

Iam not a confrontational person. Would rather ignore a problem or, like with my mom’s secrets, run away, leaving the ones I care about wondering what they did wrong.

I understand how Taron could misunderstand Dare’s comment about my lip ring. Except Dare and I did kiss, though it was accidental and didn’t mean anything to either of us.

The rest of the week passes by without a text from Taron. I sent him crying emojis. Kissing ones too. Begged for him to take my calls. That we still have our assignments to do. He hasn’t shown up for our sex ed class.

Does he not care?

Oh God, what if he doesn’t?

What if his work in progress speech was nothing but smoke and mirrors for what he came to Dumas for, to make me pay for kissing Grady and ghosting him?

This theory of mine would be fine and dandy if the guy in question doing the punishing wasn’t Taron. Taron has a temper, but he is not vindictive. By the time Saturday rolls around, I ditch my calendar and make an early morning visit to Taron’s place.

They have a bye week. Bye weekend was supposed to be a big party at Blaise’s Montana estate, but we decided to make it a surprise end-of-the-season party for the entire football team and coaching staff, using Blaise’s private jet. Must be nice to have money, but I would never want to walk in Blaise’s shoes. What she went through when she was kidnapped for ransom affects her then, now, and probably for forever.

I make my way to the front door. Cooper told me Jordan and Andy aren’t around. Andy took Lily to Montgomery for the weekend, and Jordan is helping Gwen at her family’s lavender farm. His family is from there, and his older sister is expecting a baby anytime now, so he’ll be hanging around, worrying his handsome head. His sister is having a home birth.