Page 35 of Sugar Coated Secrets

“Is that?—”

“Good evening, ladies.” He takes my hand and moves, leading me out of the bathroom and pushing open the door to the rear exit.

The cool breeze brushes my skin with the smell of seared steaks from the kitchen vents, making my stomach growl.

“Hungry?” he asks with a smile.

My stomach takes the opportunity to let out a low growl.

“Starving.”

“My car is right this way. I had to park on the side to avoid people noticing me. I already had many posing to take pictures in front of it at the gas station.”

He stops in front of a newer model Lamborghini like the one he was driving that day he gave me a ride home in the rain. Except this car is lipstick cherry red with black seats.

He rushes to the passenger door like he’s stealing a car. It swings up like I remembered.

“Be careful. This one is a little lower than the last one you were in.”

“Okay,” I say and try to get in, holding the back of my dress without flashing him my ass.

When I’m inside, he leans to buckle me in. His cologne causes the bad memories to fade and leave the ones I felt that day in the rain. A burst of butterflies flutters in my stomach. His hand inches from my thigh. He turns his head, our eyes meet,our lips a breath away, and then, it happens. He kisses me. Slow at first, like he’s memorizing the texture of my lips.

He groans low in his throat. I breathe him in, memorizing the scent of his breath mixed with something fruity and mint. But I’m frozen, not knowing what to do with my tongue or hands.

His eyes never leave mine when he drags his tongue over the seam of my lips like he is sampling how I taste in slow, deliberate strokes. There is no hate or fear, just…want. A dark want that was always left unfinished. A love story with missing pages that needed to be written.

I wanted to burn all the bad pages that ruined it. The ones that haunted me with thoughts of what they did. Because they took something from me. Something that belonged to him, and he didn’t even know it.

His kiss burns. His tongue marks my soul. The first that would never be forgotten.

The way his hand hovers over my thigh, needing to be entrapped in his hands, to look at me the way he is looking at me now. Unbidden.

“You taste so sweet,” he whispers against my lips. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for a long time.”

My heart melts.

It caves.

He sets it on fire.

All I ever wanted was a kiss from the boy who stole my heart and shattered it under the blue firestorm of his gaze.

Even if he could never be mine, I was his ashes. Ruined for anyone else. Too far gone in the web of lies and secrets this town created.

I accepted the truth that night.

We weren’t meant to be together.

In the same way, I couldn’t bring my parents back from death. I couldn’t save my grandmother from dying. But I had one kiss, and it was all I ever wanted.

Four Years Ago

DULCE

A twig snaps, sending a jolt of terror through my body. My heart thuds in my chest, echoing in my ear. I look at the ground where Trent shattered my phone, and it's unrecognizable. The screen shattered into a tiny mess of glass. I pick up the phone, but the pieces break apart.

All I can think of is walking in the same direction we came from until I can call for help or until someone comes.

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