Page 42 of For Three Seconds

That’s when my eyes went to the table and noticed they were playing spin the bottle. The irony wasn’t lost on me. People looked between Gav and me, and that made me feel uncomfortable.

“Fuck you, Gavin,” the guy whose bottle pointed at me said.

He wasn’t ugly, but he wasn’t Gavin. His hair was dark and messy, and he had light blue eyes. When he caught me staring at him, he gave me a crooked smile and a wink.

“We gonna do this or what, baby?” He gave me a flirty grin.

“Drew,” Gavin hissed.

That’s when Ollie started chanting, “Kiss, kiss, kiss.”

Soon everyone followed. The look Gavin gave his friend could kill, but he only laughed.

“I’ll be a gentleman and come to you, but, baby, I can’t promise I’ll be gentle,” Drew teased.

I laughed it off with all intentions of backing out until I caught sight of Gavin. He was glaring at me. He sat on the couch, his legs and arms spread out like he didn’t have a care in the world. His eyes told a different story. He didn’t want me to do this, and that made me want to do it more. It made my stomach drop, and it gave me a sick high.

“Ready?” Drew said, but I wasn’t looking at him.

I could see it in his eyes: Gavin thought I was going to back out.

“Do your worst,” I whispered.

On the first second, his lips crashed against mine.

On the second, I kissed him back.

On the third second, I opened my eyes, and Gavin wasn’t sitting down anymore.

Drew tried to coax my mouth into opening up for him, but I didn’t feel anything. There were no butterflies, no tremors, just a kiss devoid of emotions.

I was about to push him away when someone did it for me. It took a second to realize Drew didn’t get pushed away, but I was being led away. Gavin’s hand was around my waist, and he was dragging me toward the stairs.

Now I could feel everything—his fingers digging into my hips, the current that flowed between our bodies, his smell, the way my heart seemed to want to beat out of my chest whenever he was near.

“Gavin,” I said as he started to lead me up the stairs.

He didn’t answer, but his hold on me got tighter. We didn’t stop when we made it to the kitchen; instead, he took me up another flight. He kept moving down the dark hallway until we stopped in front of a door. He opened it and pushed me inside.

My heart was pounding, every beat laced with fear and excitement. It’d been years since I felt so alive. I wanted to scream and cry but refrained from either.

Gavin closed the door behind me and pressed me against it. My eyes went to his lips. No guy should have a perfect Cupid’s bow like him. Instead of looking feminine, it made you want to taste his lips. Once upon a time, I had.

He put his hands on either side of my head. He wanted to intimidate me; the thing was, I never felt more myself than when I was in his presence.

“How many men have you let have your lips?” he demanded.

There was fire in his eyes, but ice in his veins. He was angry, yet he wanted me to think he didn’t care.

“That’s none of your business,” I said, aware that it would anger him.

Gavin smirked at me. “Yeah?”

I raised on my toes, meeting him head-on. “You’ve never had a claim on me.”

His gray eyes hardened.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” His head got closer to my face.

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