Page 38 of Busted Dreams

And I basked in it.

I had never been wanted this way, ever. The love I’d so recently recognized soared high on fairy wings at the grand gesture of claiming Rhys was making in front of all these people. So I did what felt natural.

I turned my head to catch his lips in a brief kiss.

The kiss was sweet and brief. Once it ended, I burrowed back into him in a state of blissed out happiness.

“Dayum.” Darren whistled. “How did I not know this was a thing? Did you know this was a thing?” The guy climbed up to sit on the back of the couch again as he nudged the guy closest to him. All of the guys were large and burly, most likely Rhys’ teammates, although I’d never seen him with them.

“Like you haven’t noticed me hanging with Astrid at school,” Rhys scoffed behind my head.

“Well, yeah, we have. Everyone’s talking about it.” Darren shrugged. “But you’re so private, no one actually thought you were dating. We all thought it was more of a kid sister type relationship.”

That made me scowl. Why was I scowling? I didn’t want people to be talking about me, but the mere suggestion of being thought of as Rhys’ kid sister had my hackles rising faster than the waves of the Red Sea.

Rhys put a finger beneath my chip to tip my head up. When he caught a look at my expression, he laughed. He used his fingers to smooth out my crinkled brow and kissed my forehead.

“I definitely don’t think of her as a sister.”

A girl perched on the arm of a chair piped in, “Then what about Jonah? She hangs out with him all the time, too.”

I sent an alarmed look to Rhys and hoped the rest of the people didn’t see. I was about to be outed to the entire school as having multiple boyfriends!

Oh wait. Jonah wasn’t my boyfriend, I sighed.

And this wasn’t the entire school, only the hockey team and some random girls. Thank God they weren’t the twitch bitches. After the smackdown I delivered in the bathroom, they’d just kind of slunk away. I still saw them in the halls, but they’d lost their larger than life attitudes. Now they were quiet spectators just like I was, unless it was directed at each other.

“They’re friends, what else would they be?” Rhys twirled a strand of my hair around his finger as he answered the girl. Her face scrunched up like that wasn’t a good answer at all, but she didn’t ask anything else.

The next half hour went by so fast. So freaking fast.

It was like having a buzz strung all the minutes together and reeled them by at lightning speed. Did that even make sense?

“Here, man.” Darren handed Rhys two shots as he came back from the bathroom.

Rhys took them, downing one, then eyed me suspiciously as he held the other suspended over my head.

Slapping his chest with a big, goofy grin on my face, I said, “Come on, I haven’t had anything to drink since we left the house. This will be the only one.” I pursed my lips to convey my seriousness, and I realized that maybe I was still pretty tipsy.

“Yeah, I think not.” He passed it off to the guy on the couch beside us.

Another hour blurred, and before I knew it, Rhys was helping me up and saying his goodbyes to his buddies. I couldn’t even recount what they had talked about for so long. I’d been too busy feeling good and zoning out. He’d made me feel safe, and even though people stared at me, it didn’t make me self-conscious.

Even in my current state, I could recognize it was the alcohol that had taken away my fear, but I still loved it.

I just didn’t care.

Screw what they thought.

On the way out, Rhys had his hands on my hips to steer me, as if I couldn’t see the door from where I was. Then Rhys’ hands were gone, and when I turned around, he was facing off with two guys who were roughly the same size but exuded none of the wealth Rhys did. Even in jeans and a T-Shirt, he had impeccable posture and confidence that these guys lacked.

“Nice, Bennet, can’t even watch where you’re going,” one guy sneered as they both started to turn away. They looked familiar. I didn’t think they were from Rhys’ team or our school, though.

Raising my phone on instinct, I started snapping pictures of their silhouettes, the living room lights shining behind them. Then Rhys surprised me by actually rising to their bait.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled, “Darren! I think you forgot to take out the trash.”

The partiers crowed and laughed as the two guys stiffened, uncomfortable with this new form of attention. I could relate, but I didn’t have any sympathy for them when they’d tried to bully Rhys.

---