Page 24 of Our Secrets and Scars

Guess I’m protective of him too.

Holden.

It’s not a name I’d have imagined him having, yet it suits him perfectly. It’s strong, like him. Sexy too, if I let myself admit that. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt anything close to sexual attraction for someone, and for a while, I wondered if desire was another thing I’d lost in the accident, but since the first day I met him, I haven’t seemed to have had that problem.

Holden’s muscles tense again, and I brush my thumb slowly over his skin to soothe him. It’s a mindless gesture. I do it without thinking, but it seems to make a difference. He blows out a long breath, and some of the tension in his body seeps away.

“Owen.”

The way they look at each other and how they growl each other’s names, it’s hostile in a way that’s disproportionate to the situation. Like they’ve got some sort of sordid history. I look between them at the anger on their faces, the way they’re both poised for attack, and the hatred poisoning the air.

“Do you know each other?” I ask.

Holden finally looks down at me. It’s the first time tonight we’ve made eye contact, and I’m not prepared for it. The hardness in his silvery glare softens as he breathes me in, and he holds my gaze, unwavering, for a few long beats.

He nods once but says nothing more, though he doesn’t look away. Even as Owen makes some snide remark about how “they go way back,” his eyes stay locked on mine. I get the feeling Holden doesn’t want to tell me how they know each other, and I guess that, for now, I can respect that.

“You okay?” he asks.

I smile up at him, mouthing “yes,” but no sound comes out. He seems reassured by my response though and turns his body toward me, slipping an arm around my waist and pulling me into him.

“Did you have any of that?” He flicks his eyes down to the beer bottle in my hand.

“No.”

“Good,” he whispers, lifting it from my fingers and passing it to some guy behind us. “Make sure no one drinks that, yeah?” he tells him and turns back to face Owen, who is staring at the both of us with his eyes narrowed into slits.

“I’m gonna take my girl home now,” Holden tells him, apparently keeping up the charade he began a few weeks ago, that we’re together. Not that I’m complaining right now. If it allows me another layer of protection from Owen, then I’m all for it.

Owen scoffs but we ignore it.

Holden takes my hand and leads me back through the house to the front door.

“I need to tell my friend I’m leaving,” I say, remembering I’ve left Isla inside.

“Text her.”

His stern, no-bullshit tone makes me grin, and I look up at him. “You’re kind of bossy, you know that?”

He just raises his eyebrows, eyes sparkling in amusement. I take out my phone and do as he tells me, dropping his hand as I do so, and texting Isla to let her know that Holden is walking me home.

“What if I didn’t want to leave?” I ask.

“Didn’t look like you were having much fun to me.”

I scowl, though he’s right. I wasn’t exactly having the best time, even before Owen approached me. Parties haven’t been the same since the accident. Even now, in college, in a different state, where no one knows me or what I’ve been through, I can’t find it in me to let go and actually enjoy myself.

Holden shoves his hands into his pockets, and I watch out of the corner of my eye as the moonlight catches on his skin and makes it sparkle like a thousand stars. Fourteen-year-old me would have been obsessed with him in this light, glittering like Edward Cullen in theTwilight Saga.And even though I’m older now and have moved on from my vampire, teen-fiction era, I’d be lying if I said that the sight of him like this doesn’t make my heart flutter like a girl with her first crush.

We walk the darkened streets together, the sounds of thudding music and people cheering escaping from numerous backyards in the neighborhood. Out of all the parties being held tonight, it’s hard to believe that Holden and I ended up at the same one out of sheer coincidence.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he says quietly.

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“You think I’m following you again.”

I stop walking and turn to him, tilting my head to look into his silvery eyes. “Aren’t you?”

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