Page 35 of A Sky Full Of Stars

There was no way I was walking away without tasting her lips.

Again…What the hell was I thinking? And more importantly, why the hell did I run?

A vision of our kiss comes back to haunt me, but I don’t push it away. Instead, I let myself sink into the memory of her touch, the feel of her lips pressed against mine. Her moan. Singular. Because that moan made me run for the hills.

She was with me, she wanted it too, and that made it so much scarier than if she’d told me to fuck off.

I’ve never wanted anyone in my life. Football is my only long-term relationship, and I have no plans to veer from that notion. I don’t want to. I have it good. No stringsworksfor me.

But Lainey isn’t a no-strings girl. Nor should she be. She’s incredible. She always knows what I need before I know it, and even though I have no clue how, I always seem to know what she needs too. It’s like we’re two halves to a whole and…

Holy shit. When the fuck did I fall for Lainey?

This is so much bigger than I realized.

No wonder I felt like shit all summer.

I’m such a dick.

I ran. I fucking ran.

But maybe that’s for the best.

Now, more than ever, football needs to be my priority. I don’t have time for anything else. I can’t.

Chapter Thirteen

Lainey

Iwake up with Thomas’s kiss playing on repeat in my mind and find my mom standing at the foot of my bed, making me jump. “Jesus, Mom. What are you doing?”

After switching on the lamp, I sit up, an anxious feeling inside me. “Mom? What’s wrong?”

Tears coat her eyes, but she stares through me with a blank expression before her gaze moves around the room, and it’s not until she looks back at me that she finally responds. “I feel like I’ve failed you,” she whispers, filling me with confusion and dread.

“What? Mom, you’re scaring me.”

“I was excited about your first kiss. Of course, I didn’t tell your dad but Iencouragedit.”

My mind whirs as I think about what she’s saying.Does she think something more happened?“I don’t—”

“I didn’t think you’d move on so quickly to someone else. Someone you invited to yourroom.”

Oh God.“Mom—”

“No,” she cuts me off, her voice devoid of emotion. “No, let me finish. Your Dad has his business trip this week, and I convinced him to change his flight so he leaves today. He’s angry, Lainey. So angry. And even though I disagree with you sneaking around, I don’t think you deserve his wrath before he’s had time to think about it.”

My heart lodges in my throat as my chest aches. She’s making it sound like Thomas slept over. It was just a kiss.

“Mom, I—”

“He’s on his way to the airport now,” she cuts me off again. “Use this week to refocus your priorities, to push that boy from your mind, and to think about what you did.”

What?“Mom, this is crazy. I didn’t do anything wrong. It was just a kiss and—”

“You were standing outside your window, Lainey! On the roof.” She raises her voice. “Was it just a kiss? Or a goodbye kiss? That’s all we saw but how do we know? And how often has it happened?”

My heart races as a new panic takes over. If they think we did more than kiss, Dad could go after Thomas. Tears fill my eyes as I rush to set the story straight. “It was just a kiss,” I whisper. “A stupid kiss because I had a stupid crush. If you were watching, you would have seen him run. It wasn’t Thomas’s fault. It was—”

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