Page 89 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Eli turned toward her. “I’m just sad I missed your kissing booth.” He gave Sophie a flirtatious smile.

Well...I didn’t think my kiss thief would flirt with Sophie so hard. But you never knew.

“It’s not too late,” Sophie said. “Scarlett is still taking kisses.”

This never got any less mortifying. I finished the rest of my drink. Here goes nothing. I was starting to become a pro at this.

Eli turned to me and smiled.

But before I could even think of what to say to him, I was being lifted off my feet by someone behind me.

I heard Jacob’s laughter in my ear.

“There you are,” he said as he spun me around. “I’ve been looking all over for you.” He set me back down on my feet.

I’d felt so torn up inside and now seeing his familiar face made me feel off-kilter.

“You’re shivering,” he said. “Here.” He shrugged out of his varsity jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders.

Eli saw the jacket on my shoulders and turned away.

And suddenly I couldn’t even remember why I’d been so worried. Jacob was here at the party. Offering me his jacket. When the kiss thief had literally just said that I looked beautiful, but that I’d look even better in his jacket. There was no way he wasn’t my kiss thief.

I smiled up at him, all my worries about my list of ten guys and Mr. Halifax being the mascot disappearing. It was so easy to get lost in Jacob’s calming presence. “Great game today.”

He laughed. “It was a little rocky. But we made it through. Do you want another drink?”

I stared down into my empty cup. “Absolutely.” I’d downed my second cup almost as quickly as my first.

Jacob grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the bonfire.

I really liked holding his hand. I liked it even more when he kissed me in dark closets. I wanted him to kiss me again tonight. At the party. It would just put my mind at ease. I never wanted to think about the baker’s dozen list or Mr. Halifax ever again. God, Mr. Halifax. My stomach churned.

Jacob filled my cup up at the keg and handed it back to me.

And for a few seconds, we just stared at each other.

His brown eyes were so comforting. If I could just stare at him all night, I had a feeling all my worries and fears over the kiss thief would disappear for good. Especially once he kissed me.

“I feel like you’re about to jab me in the eye again,” he said.

I laughed. “Stop it. You had ice cream on your face. I was just trying to help.”

“In my eye?”

I laughed again and took a sip of my beer.

But I kept staring at Jacob over the rim of my cup.

It was strange for someone to look so familiar yet suddenly feel so different.

Jacob liked me. He’d told me as much. For a few hours there, I’d let my imagination run wild with theories about Mr. Halifax.

But just because my mom had slept with her professor didn’t mean I was destined to sleep with one of my teachers.

My kiss thief couldn’t possibly be Mr. Halifax. Because it was most definitely Jacob.

“What was up with your kissing booth today?” Jacob asked.

I was suddenly embarrassed about everything I’d done.

I liked Jacob. So why the heck was I kissing a bunch of guys on his team right in front of him?

I’d gone from zero kisses to way too many kisses.

And maybe making out with my teacher. No.

Stop it. I hadn’t done that. “I was just helping out the team,” I said.

“By kissing them?”

I laughed. “No. By raising money for them.”

“I have to admit. It made me a little jealous.” He slowly took a sip of his drink as he stared down at me.

The way he was looking at me made my cheeks feel hot. I wanted him to look at me just like that forever. He made me feel desired even when he wasn’t making out with me in a dark closet. I swallowed hard. “Not much to be jealous of. I’m here standing in your jacket, aren’t I?”

He smiled and leaned in a little closer.

My heart hammered against my chest. This was it. He was going to kiss me. I was sure of it.

My eyes fell to his lips. This was how I’d dreamed my first kiss would go. It was never supposed to be in some snake-infested closet with a dark stranger. It was meant to be right here. With him.

I couldn’t even count how many times I’d dreamed of it happening at this party each year. Surrounded by bonfires and laughter and music. The smell of fall in the air and the taste of Axel on my lips.

I frowned.

No, not Axel.

Jacob.

The beer was messing with my head. And an image of Mr. Halifax appeared in my head out of nowhere, chasing away the one of Axel. I took a step back.

“Hey, you okay?” Jacob asked.

“Yeah,” I lied. That unease gripping my chest had come back in a rush.

“Yo, Miller!” one of Jacob’s teammates yelled over. “You’re up!”

I was happy for the interruption. I didn’t want my first kiss with Jacob to happen right after I thought about Axel. Or...would it be our first kiss? Because I’d kissed the kiss thief twice now. So maybe that would make it our third kiss?

Gah. Whatever calmness being close to Jacob had given me for a few minutes had completely disappeared.

I cleared my throat. I really hoped he couldn’t read my thoughts on my face right now.

Because I didn’t want to be having them.

I focused on his handsome face, willing myself to calm back down.

I needed to say something, anything to distract my mind.

“Please tell me you’re not boxing again,” I said.

“Will you be mad if I said I was?”

“Jacob!”

He laughed. “No, I’m not boxing today. I think I’m just up for beer pong. Want to be my partner?”

“We both know you don’t want that.”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want it. I know you know how to play. I remember Coach teaching both of us.”

I laughed. Yeah, Uncle Matt had taught us how to play, sans the beer, when we were little. But there had been a big time gap between then and now. And I’d somehow gotten bad at it along the way. Where Jacob had gotten better. I’d played once freshman year and vowed to never embarrass myself again.

“Come on,” Jacob said. “It’ll be fun.”

It was really sweet of him to offer to be my partner. But... “I’ll make you lose. How about I just watch?”

It looked like he wanted to protest.

“Really, it’ll be fun,” I added.

“If you insist.” Jacob put his hand out for me.

It felt like the sea parted as we made our way through the crowd toward the people playing.

Sophie always insisted that we were popular.

And I always insisted that I was only popular by association.

But I felt like Empire High royalty tonight with Jacob’s hand in mine and his jacket on my shoulders.

Worries about kiss thieves and lists disappeared as I cheered for him. This was what I should have been doing at the game earlier. Instead of manning an exploding kissing booth.

Jacob picked me up and twirled me around when he won.

My breath caught in my throat as he slowly lowered me down. I kept my hand on his chest. And I swear I felt his heart racing as fast as mine. “See,” I said. “Much better that I just watched.” I glanced over at the people dancing by one of the bonfires. “Do you maybe want to...”

“Miller!” his teammate yelled. “It’s winner-take-all!”

Jacob looked over his shoulder. “Nah, I’m done for the night.” He turned back to me. “What were you about to ask?”

But a few of his friends grabbed him and pulled him back to the table.

“Sorry,” he mouthed silently to me.

“It’s okay.” I pointed to my cup to show him I was going to go get a refill.

I wandered over to fill my cup, but stopped at one of the bonfires.

I was pretty sure I’d had enough to drink.

The smoke-filled air seemed even hazier than it had earlier.

I looked around for Sophie, but didn’t see her anywhere.

She was probably off hooking up with Pavel or something.

Liam and RJ were nowhere in sight either.

And I hadn’t seen Axel since the game. I didn’t think he’d ever missed a party.

But there were tons of people here. He was probably just lost in the crowd.

I was good when I was surrounded by my friends. It was when I was alone that I started panicking about my kiss thief.

I pulled out my phone. “I know who you are,” I typed out and hit send.

My kiss thief didn’t respond. Because he couldn’t.

He was currently owning everyone at beer pong.

I smiled to myself. I was growing more and more sure that it was Jacob by the second.

But there were still some pestering doubts in the back of my head.

And when I was alone, the doubts grew louder and louder.

I looked around for Sophie again, but I still couldn’t find her. My gaze fell toward the edge of the woods. I set my cup down on a stump. I knew exactly how to clear my head.

I walked away from the smoke and the music.

Soon the laughter drifted away and I could hear the crunch of the leaves beneath my sneakers again.

The fall air felt crisp away from the fires.

I wrapped Jacob’s jacket tighter around my shoulders to chase away the chill.

I smiled when the smell of grass hit me.

But then I immediately frowned. Why couldn’t I remember what my kiss thief had smelled like that first time?

I kept walking until I made my way into a clearing. I could see my dad’s treehouse in the distance. It didn’t really make any sense, but I felt like I was being pulled toward it. Like all the answers I sought were just sitting there waiting for me.

The yard I was standing in was completely empty and perfectly manicured.

And only one house away from my grandfather’s.

I kicked off my sneakers and socks and then tucked them under my arm.

I loved the feeling of grass under my feet.

It reminded me of playing at Jacob’s grandparents’ house when I was little.

I could really go for one of Mrs. Caldwell’s cookies right now.

But I think turning up drunk on her doorstep in the middle of the night would end up with me being grounded again.

And despite the alcohol coursing through my veins, I knew a freshly baked cookie wasn’t worth it.

No matter how good they were. So I walked in the opposite direction of the Caldwell mansion.

I exhaled slowly as I wandered through the grass.

The fresh air was already helping clear my head.

I made it to the fence of my grandfather’s property and tossed my shoes over before climbing over it.

I jumped down into the plush grass and grabbed my things.

I started humming as I walked up to the treehouse.

There were old pictures of my dad and his friends up there that I loved.

I’d recreated a few of them with my friends over the years.

Like the one of us hanging out at Jacob’s grandparents’ pool.

It always felt like I was living in some kind of parallel universe.

Maybe making the same choices and mistakes that they had growing up.

There were four of them. My dad, his brother Rob, and their best friends Matt and Mason Caldwell. And there were four of us. Me, Sophie, Axel, and Jacob. It was always the four of us. Just like it had always been the four of them.

But we hadn’t felt much like a foursome recently. It was usually just me and Soph hanging out. I missed our lives before high school. It seemed like everyone else around me was looking forward. To college and beyond. And I just kept looking back.

Maybe that’s what happened when you fell in love when you were young. You just got...stuck.

I sighed and looked up at the old treehouse. Yeah, I was definitely stuck. My past was all tangled up with Axel. My whole life had been tangled up in him. And I was having a hell of a time unraveling myself from his grip. I was so tired of going backwards. For once, I was ready to look forward too.

Maybe I was drawn to the treehouse tonight because I needed to say goodbye to the past. To finally take a leap forward. I was just so tired of my heart aching. And saying goodbye to the past felt like saying goodbye to our four. How was I supposed to say goodbye to all I ever knew?

I needed a sign. Just...something. Anything. I stared at the treehouse in the moonlight. And again, I had the oddest sense that it was calling to me. That it had all the answers I was seeking. Maybe I was drunk. But I felt a little magic in the air tonight.

I stared down at my feet in the grass. My father had stood right here when he was my age.

So had Uncle Rob, Uncle Mason, and Uncle Matt.

They’d all made mistakes and come out the other side for the better.

And most importantly, they were all happy now.

They were still a four after all these years.

They’d figured it out. And that gave me confidence that I could figure it out too.

I could leave my feelings for Axel in the past and we could all still be friends.

I didn’t have to let go of the past completely.

I just had to change things up a bit so it didn’t feel like I was drowning every day.

I took a deep breath. So yeah, this treehouse did have answers. It had kept my dad and his friends together. And it could keep me and my friends together too. Somehow. I’d figure it out. I had all night to soak in the old treehouse’s wisdom.

I made my way up the rickety old ladder. I pushed the door in the floor up.

“The sign says no girls allowed,” said a deep voice.

I screamed at the top of my lungs.