Page 47 of My Brother's Best Friend

“Like I said,I don’t like him. So, no need to worry.”

“You’d better not,” Oliver said. “He’s bad news.”

“I don’t,” I said through gritted teeth.

This was why Oliver couldn’t find out about Alec. If he was this protective over someone I didn’t even like, then he would flip out once he knew I was seeing his best friend, who was also Redwood’s biggest player.

“All right,” Oliver said, sighing softly to himself. He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Well, I’ll see ya.”

When Oliver left, Vera hooked her arm around Piper’s and walked toward the exit, saying to me, “See you! Go find Alec!”

After they disappeared out the door, I cursed at myself and slipped down the same hallway Alec had gone down and turned the corner, glancing in rooms that Alec could be in, the scent of his cologne heavy in the air.

“Always following me, Maddie …” His arms came around my waist from behind. “I heard that you have a little crush on Jace Harbor.”

“You know that’s not true, Alec,” I said, the words coming out low and throaty.

“Of course I do, Cupcake.” Alec drew his nose up the column of my neck. “Do you want to know how I know?”

“How?”

“Because every part of you is mine.” He kissed my neck, right out in the open. “All mine.”

CHAPTER28

MADDIE

“Are you sure nobody is in here?” I asked, following Alec into the Redwood hockey team locker room after all the guys and Coach had turned the showers off, gotten dressed, and cleared out for the night.

He flicked on a light, illuminating the dark room, and gently pulled my hips toward his body, his mouth finding the crook of my neck again. “Stop worrying, Cupcake. Nobody’s in here. We just watched everyone leave.”

“But …”

“I’d love to take you back to my place, but you don’t want anyone finding out about us, right?” he asked, throwing those words back at me. “My parents are home tonight, and my father will do nothing but run his mouth to his rich friends anyway. If they see you with me, all of Redwood will know about us by the morning.”

I stared at Alec and gulped. Something inside me told me that we really shouldn’t be in public together like this. It was bad enough Alec had snuck me into a classroom on Monday. If we kept sneaking around at school, someone was bound to find out.

Still … I didn’t really want to sneak around with him anymore.

“Unless you want me to bring you home,” Alec said.

Hell no.

Oliver was throwing another party. If I showed up with Alec …

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You can’t.”

“We need to talk here then.”

“About what?”

Alec pulled himself away from me for the first time since I had snuck down the hallway to find him, then looked down at his feet, suddenly quiet. An unreadable expression crossed his face, and his lips pulled into a frown.

“After the game, all the guys get to celebrate with their girlfriends.” He paused. “And I want that too. I want more than this.” He gestured to the locker room we were hiding in so nobody would find us. “I want to be able to hug you …”

In a moment, he wrapped his strong arms around my waist and pulled me closer until our chests met. I inhaled sharply at our closeness, but this time, it wasn’t sexual. This touch, this moment … it was so intimate.

“I want to be able to kiss you,” he said. He shoved one hand into my hair to tug it back, then grasped my chin in the other. Dipping his head, he kissed me on the lips, his tongue making no move to slip inside my mouth, like our usual heated kisses.

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