Unlocking the front door, I shuffle inside my house, checking the time. It’s past 9:00. I was supposed to be out of work at 8:00, but a family of five walked in two minutes before closing. Fun.
Tonight is movie night. The girls have been blowing up my phone, whining about how late I am. I was supposed to meet them at Zoey’s an hour ago. I just need to get changed and hop in the shower. Lobbing my purse and keys on the kitchen table, I begin texting them ba—
“Stop moving, for God’s sake!”
I nearly drop my phone.
My eyes jump to the closed bathroom door. Someone’s in there.
A guy someone.
I didn’t see a car outside.
Or was I too exhausted to notice?
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one with this thing stuck on your head. Which, by the way, isn’t exactly weightless.”
Is that… Winter?
“Oh, I’m sorry, princess. I shouldn’t have given you a helmet. It’s not like it can save your life or anything.”
Wait, I know that voice.
“We might have to go to the hospital. I mean, you can’t exactly keep it on your head forever, can you?”
Winter laughs. “They could make a documentary about me.”
“Helmet girl. When Winter was eighteen years old, her head got stuck in a motorcycle helmet. People were never able to get it off. She’s been living without makeup and hasn’t brushed her teeth ever since.”
My cousin’s laughter increases.
Failing to contain my curiosity, I walk over and swing the door open. What I see on the other side is… a shitshow.
No better way to put it.
My cousin, wearing a motorcycle helmet. And Haze Adams, hands dripping with soap.
“Winter?” I frown.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” she stammers.
Haze bites back his laughter. “Tell me, what exactly does this look like?”
Fuck it.
“You know what? I don’t even want to know.” I shut the door. I’ve had a long day, and I’d rather not waste the last of my brain energy on this. Hurrying to the fridge, I grab an apple. I hear them burst into laughter and can’t help listening. Thin walls, okay?
“If she tells Kendrick, I’m dead.”
“What could she possibly tell him? He had soap on his hands, and she had a helmet on her head?”
They don’t say anything for the next minute. I’m halfway up the stairs when I realize I left my bag in the kitchen.
“I hate to put an end to our second date, but I have to go.” I discern Haze’s voice as I’m passing through.
Did he just say second date?
As in they had a first date?
“I’ll see you at school?” he questions.
I don’t hear her answer, only Haze’s footsteps to the door.
“Hey, Kingston?” he says quietly.
Silence.
“Thank you for getting to know me.”
“Hey, Adams?”
I hang on to their every word.
Wow, I am such a creep right now.
“Thank you for showing me you were worth knowing.”
Haze is out of the bathroom a second later. I hide like the professional stalker that I am, awaiting the front door’s slam. Winter wanders into the hall next, head free of Haze’s helmet. I lurch out of my hiding spot, making her jump.
“Thank you for showing me you were worth knowing? Seriously?” I blurt out.
Winter, come on, you’re smarter than this. He is so going to break your heart. Reeking of shame, she rounds me, rushing up the stairs without a word.
“When you catch feelings and he drops you, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I call right before she closes her bedroom door.
I instantly regret being hard on her. I don’t mean to be the bad guy. I don’t mean to be the annoying cousin, but she has no idea who she’s dealing with. People don’t change. Especially not the kind with bulging muscles and tattoos.
My phone lights up with another of Zoey’s impatient texts, and I lock myself into the bathroom for a much-needed shower. Once I’m done, I change out of my work clothes into joggers and a crop top.
Lacing a hoodie around my hips in case I get cold, I zoom down the stairs, stopping short at the sound of my brother’s voice. He’s on the phone in the guest room. I don’t think much of it, making a beeline for the front door.
“Going out?”
I jolt, spinning to see Will staring at me, back against the wall, buff arms crossed over his chest. He looks me up and down so shamelessly my stomach flips. I swallow hard, drinking in his appearance. We might’ve stopped texting after I told him about my date with Luke, but that doesn’t mean I’m any less attracted to his dumb ass.
He’s wearing dark sweatpants and an unzipped black jacket on top of a white tank top, which accentuates that ridiculous body of his. I’m guessing he just finished working out.
“What are you doing here?”
“Just hanging out with Kendrick. He had to take a call.” He gestures to the distant guest room with a flick of his chin.
I nod, but I can’t stop wondering what he’d look like if someone tore those sweaty clothes off him. Even better, if I tore those sweaty clothes off him.
Kass, knock it off!
“You?” he asks.
“Heading out. Movie night with my friends.”
“Which friends?” He cocks an eyebrow. “And don’t say Zoey because she doesn’t qualify as one.”
He still doesn’t like her. Noted.
“What’d she ever do to you?” I slide into the pair of sneakers I left by the door.
“Me? Nothing. It’s you she’s constantly bossing around.”
“She doesn’t—”
My phone pings with a text.
“Hold on.” I pick it out of my sweats pocket.
“Let me guess, it’s her.”
He’s spot-on, but I don’t tell him that, unlocking my phone to a list of things I have to get for movie night. Not that I’m surprised. We said we’d take turns buying food for our rom-com marathons, but Morgan and I are the only ones ever holding up our ends of the deal.
Zoey always forgets and texts me to
