Caleb picks me up and swings me in a circle, grinning. “You’re good luck,” he says, kissing my cheek. “We just fucking won.”
A joyous riot of Emery-Rose students flood the field, surrounding the team, with Caleb and me at the center. This type of celebration—so very male—throws me off for a moment. They pound each other’s backs, fist-bumping. No one touches me, though. It’s like I’ve been encased in fire, and no one wants to get too close.
Caleb motions for me to get on his back, crouching. Suddenly I’m a head above everyone else, my arms wrapped around his shoulders and my legs around his waist. Over the sea of black and gold, I can see the purple-and-black Lion’s Head students. They’re slower to filter out.
Caleb’s body heat seeps into me, warming my chilled body. The sun set some time ago, dropping the temperature, and I’ve been shivering ever since.
A wide grin spreads when Theo takes off his helmet and reaches toward me. I let go of Caleb long enough to high five him. Liam does the same, and Caleb growls. He backs away from his friends.
I slide my hands inside his jacket, and he chuckles.
“Ready?” Eli asks, appearing at our side.
Riley is tucked against him, watching at me with wide eyes.
“Yep,” Caleb snaps. He leads the way out of the crowd, toward the parking lot. He turns and walks backward, eyeing his friends. “We’re taking a quick detour.”
Eli snickers. “Oh, yeah?”
“You got a problem with that?” he asks.
“I think you’re gonna go do dirty things to your new girlfriend.” Eli laughs.
Riley elbows him, and I tuck my face into Caleb’s neck. I don’t have any desire to discuss sex—or lack thereof—with his friends.
Caleb spins back around, ignoring Eli, and stops at the passenger side of his car. He loosens his hold on the back of my thighs, letting me slip down. “Get in.”
I’m grateful when he turns the car on and blasts the heat.
“So, where’s the detour?”
He eyes me. “My house.”
I shiver. There’s something dangerous in his glance, hot and smoldering.
We drive toward his home and my heartbeat picks up speed.
“I can’t,” I blurt out.
It isn’t that I haven’t had sex before—because that’s what I’d imagine happening—but all I’ll be able to think about in that house is our past.
My past.
His.
They collided in an epic explosion when we were ten, and I’m trying to put everything back together. Caleb seems to have healed… but inside, there are still jagged edges.
Am I afraid of those jagged edges? Yes. Get too close and they may cut.
He slows the car, pulling onto a shoulder and putting it in park.
“What are you afraid of?”
I stare out the window, as far as I can see. Only yards ahead of us, the headlights bounce against trees. The rest is darkness.
“Are you afraid of me?”
I dare to look at him. “Do you think I am?”
His eyes narrow. “I don’t know, Margo. Sometimes I think yes. Sometimes I think… hmm, maybe she’s grown a backbone after all.”
“I have a backbone,” I scoff. “You don’t go through the system without developing one.”
“You break too easily.” He reaches out and grabs my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. “You cave. You lose.”
I jerk away from him. “Then why chase me, if I’m so boring?”
He laughs. “Even if you’re fragile, you’re far from boring.” He watches me for a second, then exhales. “Okay. Let’s go to the party.”
I beam, and an unexpected weight comes off my shoulders. I open my mouth, but he cuts me off with a hand on my thigh, squeezing.
“Don’t thank me.”
“Okay,” I whisper. It only means that something worse than his house is coming my way.
I look down at my phone, unsurprised to see a few missed calls and texts. But one stands out.
Unknown: You’re in for a treat.
Somehow, I don’t think they mean ice cream.
I click over to my conversation with Riley.
Riley: Where are you? Amelie is storming around here like an angry bull.
Me: We’re on our way.
Riley: That was fast. wink emoji
Me: Nothing happened. We just talked.
Riley: Pro tip: less talking, more kissing. Makes you forget about their bullying.
I frown.
Me: No chance of that.
I put my hand over Caleb’s, which has been slowly creeping higher up my thigh.
He grins. “You like it when I touch you. And you like it when I’m rough. So why stop a good thing?”
“Because we’re about to go to a party.”
“And those parties have dark rooms,” he says. “In fact, the last party we went to, I found you alone with Liam. That won’t happen again.”
“I’ve had enough of your overprotective streak,” I say.
He shrugs. “Easily avoided, love. Just don’t talk to anyone.”
“In a house full of people.”
He smirks as he parks. “Is that too hard for you?”
I release his hand as he turns off the engine. To my surprise, he leans into my space. His lips touch mine, the briefest kiss before he sits back.
More.
A smile appears on his face. Maybe I said it out loud, because he ducks back in and steals another one. His tongue swipes along the seam of my lips. I push into him, grabbing the back of his head.
Kisses like these make me feel electric.
Like I could be lost in a snow squall but Caleb’s lips would guide me back.
Once I’m properly breathless, he leans back. His smirk gets bigger. “I like you like this.”
A confession for my ears only.
“Tussled. Horny. Did my kiss make you wet, love?”
I blush.
“That might be a yes.” His eyes darken. “That’s a mystery I look forward to solving.” He gets out and circles around, opening my door for me.
I take the arm he offers, and we walk up toward Ian Fletcher’s house.
Never mind that Ian and Amelie have been sleeping together, and that Ian is a dirty bag bully, his house is giant.
“I thought you were rich,” I mumble.
Caleb laughs. “Yeah, but our wealth isn’t in the house. You know it’s been in the family since my grandparents bought it. Fletcher’s house is purely new money.” He scowls. “I’d rather just take you home and sneak into your room, but…”
Some football players rush past us, calling Caleb’s name.
“That,” I answer, “is why we have to make an appearance?”
He shrugs. “It’s more for Theo and Liam. This is just football, love. Wait until the spring.”
I shiver in my jacket. “It gets… bigger?”
Half the school must be here. Music and lights pour out of the house, and our classmates are everywhere. On the front lawn, around back, in the house. Through the window, couples are dancing in Ian’s front room.
“Bigger?” Caleb snorts. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
I swallow. And then we’re inside the house, his fingers lacing through mine. We weave through the crowds, finding Eli and Ian talking in the kitchen. Riley is nowhere to be found.