Page 10 of Slick & Spooky

He knows this whole thing is for him. He dragged it out of me by existing.

“Hey,” I murmur into Emily’s ear, my eyes still locked on Knox across the crowd. “Can you do me a favor?”

She leans in, all fake lashes and tequila breath. “Anything for you.”

“Wanna help me make a boy jealous?”

Her eyes sparkle immediately. “That’s literally all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

I laugh, heart thudding loud in my ears as I tip my head toward hers. “Okay then… kiss me.”

“Kiss you?” She laughs, tossing her head back like it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever said, hips never missing a beat. “You’re the only gay guy on the row I haven’t made out with yet! I thought you’d never ask.”

Before I can second-guess it, her lips are on mine.

It’s messy, all teeth and lip gloss and giggles, the kind of kiss girls give their gay friends at parties when they’re three shots deep and feeling bold.

Her eyes stay closed as she gives me even more, pouring herself into the kiss as mine flutter open and find him. Jaw tight, shoulders squared, solo cup crushed in his hand like it’s the only thing keeping him from crossing the room.

That fury and her lips on mine snap me straight back into the memories of him.

I’ve been around. I’ve had sex that was good, bad, and downright mediocre. But Knox wasn’t a hookup. He was a category.

“You don’t have to be gentle,” I’d whispered, already straining for whatever he’d give.

He laughed low. “I really do.”

“Why?”

“Because if I let go, there’ll be nothing left of you.”

He kissed me like he knew the sound of my begging, touched me like memory, fucked me hard enough that I broke and somehow stayed whole under him. Then he left. Cold sheets and silence where he should’ve been, and a heat that only grew.

One night and I was ruined for everyone else.

The duality of him is what keeps the fire alive. The soft and the savage. The dream and the danger. He made me feel like the only thing that mattered, then vanished as if it was nothing.

Normally I’d expect him to avert his gaze and ignore me, but as his relentless gaze settles over me like a mark, I take it as proof he burns the way I do.

I am catastrophically obsessed with Knox Everett.

Not sorry about it either.

Emily’s hands slip lower, my tongue flicks against hers, and then I see the crack in his perfect control. A twitch in his jaw, sharp and involuntary.

A step forward, small but seismic.

In that instant I know he’s one heartbeat away from snapping, from crossing the floor, from doing something that will ruin us both.

God, let him.

Let him shatter.

I don’t want the perfect, polished fraternity President. I want the pieces.

I want his fury and his jealousy and his hands on me now.

Emily peels back, eyes wide with giddy adrenaline. “Did it work?”