Will’s face immediately pales.
“W-What?” I’ve never seen him this confused.
“Where are my manners? Hi, I’m Ethan, Kass’s friend and very much gay.”
I see the dots connect through Will’s blue eyes. I’ve told him about Ethan before.
“You mean… Ethan as in the guy you work with?” he asks.
I nod.
He releases Ethan instantly. “Shit, I’m sorry.”
While Ethan seems to find great humor in this moment, I could murder Will right now. He just attacked my friend—screw the whole story—after abandoning me without so much as a text.
“I can’t do this.” I huff, heading for the door. I don’t know where I’m going. Maybe I’ll go for a ride, drop by my house to authenticate my mom’s BS story about Winter.
“Kass, wait.” Will trails behind me.
“It was nice meeting you, Will.” Ethan calls seconds before we scamper out of the house. Will shadows me all the way to my car, grasping my hand to keep me from leaving.
“Kass, just wait a fucking second,” he begs.
“What the hell was that?” I snap. “You have some nerve, you know that? To show up at my friend’s house and make a scene when you’ve been ignoring me for days.”
“I’m sorry, I thought—”
“What? That I was cheating on you? Look, this relationship might not mean shit to you, but it did to me.”
Panic flashes through his eyes.
“What do you mean did?”
“You just disappeared on me for days! Didn’t text, didn’t call. That doesn’t exactly scream ongoing relationship, does it?”
I don’t want this to end.
Of course not.
But I can’t let him treat me this way.
“Baby, please, listen to me. I’m so sorry—I know I promised I’d text you, but I couldn’t. I literally couldn’t.”
He moves closer.
I don’t move away—I can’t. My body won’t allow it. The same way it won’t let me inhale a proper breath when he cups my face, his eyes leveling with mine.
“This doesn’t change anything about what I said last week.”
He zeroes in on my lips, leaning in.
“Or… what I want.”
No, no, no, don’t let him kiss yo—
Shit.
The air flees my lungs when he smashes his lips to mine, his fingers gliding through my hair and tugging my head forward. His tongue pries its way between my teeth, and I can’t contain a moan at how much I missed him. I kiss him back too fast for my liking, pushing to my tiptoes for deeper access.
I should be mad, but all I can feel is relief. Relief that he didn’t disappear on me because I sent him running for the hills. Not that it would’ve surprised me.
I did say “I love you.”
Twice.
Triple cringe.
But Will going all Hulk on Ethan indicates he’s not, as I feared, looking to exit my life after we slept together.
“For the record.” He pecks my mouth. “Four days is too fucking long to go without this.” His arms close around me, and I breathe in his cologne, forgetting how bad his silence hurt me with each loving touch.
Because he’s back.
And he’s here.
“How did you know where to find me?” I whisper, my head propped against his chest.
“Kendrick told me you were staying with Morgan.”
“And the address?”
He winces. “You’re not going to like it.”
“Well?” I urge.
“I asked Zoey.”
I back away an inch. “You did what?”
“What else was I supposed to do? I texted you, showed up at your house, at the pep rally. I couldn’t find you anywhere.”
“Do you think… she could tell Kendrick about us?”
Every time I pass my backstabbing ex-best friend in the halls, I wonder what’s stopping her.
“Eh. Don’t sweat it. I overheard her talking. She’s still with her ex. Turns out they didn’t break up at her birthday party. She never saw him with another girl. She just said that to make herself look better for fucking Blake after he left.”
Holy shit.
I was so wounded by Zoey sleeping with Blake, it never once occurred to me that she’d been cheating on her own boyfriend this whole time, too. No surprise that she let Sean’s indiscretions slip through the cracks.
“I made sure to tell her to keep her mouth shut about us if she didn’t want her boyfriend finding out about Blake.”
“I see.” I scoff. “Good old blackmail.”
He smiles, moving forward to press a kiss on my temple.
“What happened?” I’m reminded of most important matters. “Why couldn’t you text me? And where the hell is everybody? I haven’t seen anyone all week.”
Will heaves a sigh, his eyes zapping to the large window by the front door. I follow his stare to see the curtain waving back into place as Morgan and Ethan duck for cover.
I bite back a grin.
Creeps.
“Not here.” His hand circles my hip. “Let me take you somewhere, all right?”
“Are you telling me you want to go on a date, Willy?” I tease, winding my arm around his neck.
He inches forward, his mouth perched near my ear as he rasps, “I’m telling you I missed you so fucking much if we don’t get out of here in the next five minutes, I’m going to really give your friends something to watch.”
I think I just fainted.
I swallow hard. “Oh, hm, okay, I… I’m just going to go inside the house and grab my stuff and…” Get a grip. “I’ll… I’ll be right back.”
He grins at my jumbled speech, smacking my ass when I turn to walk away. Rushing inside, I grab my phone off the couch, call Morgan and Ethan stalkers in passing, and head back out to find Will inside his started car.
I slide into the passenger seat. “So… when are you going to tell me who almost died for you not to text me back?”
I expect him to smile.
Laugh it off.
But he doesn’t.
Instead, he reverses out of Morgan’s drive, and says, “Soon.”
What the hell?
Kassidy
“Winter got what?” I screech with such volume my own ears ring at the sound. Will drove us up a hill, then killed the engine near an isolated hiking trail. The area is completely deserted—crazy considering the view from up here. I might actually enjoy this moment if it wasn’t for
