Page 7 of Regrets

He laughs, and I feel his shoulders shake with the laughter as my hands rest on them. “I’m not afraid of him, and he had it coming. He’s always messing with you.”

I laugh at that. Linc is really good at giving me a hard time, but I don’t mind. It’s friendly fire. “You don’t have to stand up for me.”

I can’t see him clearly in the dark closet, but I feel his hand brush the hair out of my eyes as if he instinctively knew it would be there. “I’ll always protect you, Pea.”

I pull a shaky breath into my lungs. Being this close to Colt and all alone with him is a lot for my body to take. My palms feel clammy, and there’s a butterfly feeling in my lower stomach. He’s become my best friend over the past three years, strong and confident like Linc, but he’s kind and just plain good. People follow Linc out of fear, but they follow Colt out of trust.

“I have no doubt. But you don’t have to.”

“Hey, Pea?”

I don’t know what he’s going to ask, but for whatever reason, it seem significant. “Yeah?” I breathe.

“Can I be your first kiss?”

The butterfly feeling swirls up toward my heart as I nod. “Yes.”

I place a hand over his heart, and I lean in closer to him, our foreheads brushing as his heart thunders under my hand.

I feel his lips brush over mine, and I struggle to control my breathing. I’ve thought about this moment constantly over thelast few months. It wasn’t ever a question ofifit would happen, it was an inevitablewhen.

He presses my lips to his, and I feel the same electrical jolt I feel when our hands touch as we kiss softly in the dark of the closet, but it doesn’t last long.

The door rips open, and we both jump back as Linc stands in the doorway letting the light in and looking at us with a suspicious eyebrow lifted. “Well, well, well. What do we have here? Did I get to witness the first kiss?”

“Don’t be a jerk, Linc,” Colt growls at his brother who looks way too amused.

“It’s about time. God knows you’ve wanted it long enough, moaning her name in your sleep and shit.”

Colt looks embarrassed, but I put my hand on his to assure him I find it sweet that he dreams about me. I dream about him too.

“Linc, get out of here. I’m sure you can find someone to occupy your time.” I look up at Linc who’s wearing a sly smirk on his handsome face.

He’s fourteen now and, according to Colt, already has a reputation at their fancy prep school.

Unfortunately, we’ve now drawn the attention of Mrs. Sterling who walks to stand next to Linc, looking down at Colt and me in the bottom of the closet, curiosity swimming in her eyes. “What are you two up to?”

“Yeah . . .” Linc is being coy. “Whatareyou two doing?”

I look over at Colt, who seems frozen. He truly cares about what his mother thinks about him, and the last thing in the world he wants to do is disappoint his parents.

I look up at Mrs. Sterling. “We’re playing hide and seek.”

Linc laughs out loud at my ridiculous lie, and Mrs. Sterling eyes me suspiciously. “Hide and seek?”

It does seem pretty out there. Maybe some twelve-year-olds still play hide and seek, but I don’t think I’ve played it since I was six. “Asher wanted to play.” I shrug, leaning into my lie, and I notice Linc’s eyes on mine.Is that pride on his face?

Mrs. Sterling smiles. “Oh, well that’s nice of you guys to play along then. Dinner will be done soon.”

We thank her, and when she leaves, I take a deep breath and turn to Colt who looks slightly disturbed. “You lied to my mom.”

“I uh . . .”

“She saved your ass,” Linc chimes in. “You think Mom would be happy that her little golden child was playing Seven Seconds in Heaven amongst her carefully selected fluffy bath towels?”

I smirk slightly at Linc, but then look at Colt’s deadly serious eyes. He does not like lying.

“I’m sorry.”

---