For a moment he thought, then he cocked his head, stepping in. “You have Silvercrest Mess, right?” It was the town’s very own social media platform, meant for information about the town, used for gossiping and showing off.
“I sure do.”
He held out his hand, demanding my cell, and I handed it to him. “Well, then let’s make sure they do have something to talk about.” He swiped to the camera screen, flipped it to selfie and then stretched his arm while he claimed my lips. I forgot the picture almost instantly as his lips moved with mine.
He’d never kissed me before, that much I knew, and yet this felt like coming home; as if part of me had always waited for him.
When he pulled back, he was as breathless as I felt. “Just so you know,” he started, handing me my cell, “from now on we do it the proper way. I wouldn’t kiss one of the good ones on the first date. And now, post this on SM, whichever one you want, and then let’s get out of here. Reconnecting.” He winked at me and I flipped through the few versions of pictures he’d taken, and I realized I’d wrapped my arms around his neck.
Damn, I didn’t think I’d ever gotten lost in a kiss as much as I had gotten lost in this one.
Posting the picture and pocketing my phone, I couldn’t wait to hear what Kip had to tell.
After all, he’d just walked into school like my knight in shining…denims, taking me away from what would have been a horrible day no matter what.
Chapter Three
Belle
It took me until we were half way through an early lunch to realize what the nagging in the back of my mind was trying to tell me.
Kip lifted his hand, the tattooed knuckles catching my attention yet again when it struck me and I remembered something I didn’t ever want to recall again, but clearly couldn’t get way from.
“You were never a liar,” I stated into whatever he was talking about. I’d meant to listen. I wanted to listen, but that nagging had been impossible to ignore.
He blinked, his long lashes almost distracting me. “What did I lie about?”
I leaned back in my seat, feeling a weird calm come over me. Maybe I should be used to betrayal, but frankly, I hadn’t expected Kip to do it.
Really, as ironic as it was, I hadn’t expected anyone who didn’t belong to Silvercrest to betray me. “I don’t know,” I started, “maybe about how you were looking for me, had to search the internet for mom and me for such a long time? Or how you were looking for me.” I couldn’t help but pointing that out twice because damn, I wished it was true.
He cocked his head, handsome and yet less so since I knew who he was. “What?”
I leaned in, taking his hand and spreading it palm down on the tabletop. I touched the dark lines, watching them vanish up his wrist and underneath the sleeve of his shirt. “These tattoos… So handsome. So tempting. Bad boys always have them…” I shook my head, my heart aching because the one person I thought would stick up for me—based on my childhood experiences—turned out to be someone who could ultimately ruin my life. “I wonder how you’d look in black leather clothes… And on a bike. Let’s say… A black one.”
His expression darkened before guilt crossed his features. “Belle, I can explain that…”
“You better, because I’m this close to making a scene just for the fun of it.”
Kip licked his lips. “Your mother ruined my life. I have a rap sheet because of her. I lived on the street because of her. Your kidnapping… She paid me five bucks to pick you up because she was late. Didn’t you ever wonder why the door to the house was open? The one I took you to? It was also stocked with your favorite sweets, had electricity, and water.”
I swallowed. “The police said you were a street kid, and you knew all the houses in the street. They assumed you were breaking into houses you knew were empty because their owners were…” He had started shaking his head and I closed my eyes. I’d read the police reports once I was old enough and curious enough, but couldn’t remember correctly anymore.
The only thing I knew was the way he’d treated me.
“You don’t even recall that day right, do you? What do you remember?”
I absently still brushed my fingertips across the back of my hand, pulling back when I realized it. “You picked me up and said my dad was running late, and that you had my favorite candy. And when we entered the house… You…”
“Don’t remember the story the cops told you? Or the words your mother put in your mouth?” he taunted, then his face got soft.
“I told you that your mom was coming later and that she’d told me your address. When we entered the house I just needed to turn the knob… The way your mother had told me. And when you said it wasn’t your house…”
“You said it had to be, because mom told you, and that I had a room.” Now that he had started it, the memories came back. They were pale compared to those I had of him reading to me and playing with me, but they were there; clearer than those I’d told my mother about.
Or, if I believed him, those she suggested to me.
It explained so much.
“And just in case you don’t believe me, I have a recording of her confessing to it. I am here because someone wants your mother to be ruined the way she ruined my life. Sadly, somehow she managed to talk her way out of that video.”
I snorted. “Talk her way out of it… She bought her way out of it. And if my mother was cunning enough back then to arrange my kidnapping—which, just
