Page 11 of Caught Up

I looked left to see Lauren speaking the same words, though the sight of her lips moving turned my thoughts more blasphemous than holy. As if she could feel me staring, she glanced my way again, just long enough to meet my eyes, her brows lifting almost in question, like she wondered why I’d suddenly shown up here after nearly a decade of absence.

I couldn’t help it; I winked at her.You’re why, sweetheart.

Her frown turned into a glare, and she jerked her gaze back to the front of the church.

Oh, so shewasn’tafraid; she was pissed. It was good to know what I was working with. I’d rather have her angry at me than afraid. Coming back from fear was difficult. But rage? Rage could turn into desire if you knew what you were doing, and I liked my odds.

Behind the altar, the priest continued to drone. Down we went to our knees for prayer. Back up to our seats. We stood. Then kneeled again. I snuck glances at Lauren, because I couldn’t help myself, but her gaze stayed steadfastly fixed ahead after our last exchange.

A small eternity seemed to pass before the priest gave us his final blessing. I got to my feet afterward and forced myself to do the right thing, to wait with my family while Mom said her goodbyes to those who wouldn’t be joining in on coffee hour.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Alec demanded as we trailed Mom up the aisle a few minutes later.

I schooled my face. “What do you mean?”

He dropped his voice. “With Lauren, you asshole.”

“Nothing,” I said.Yet.

“Don’t be an idiot.”

The comment put my back up. “Since when am I ever an idiot?”

Being stupid wasn’t a luxury I was allowed to enjoy. I always had to be “on,” always had to be ready in case the shit hit the fan. It was why I never drank, never did drugs. I was on calltwenty-fourseven, and I’d learned from a young age how much trouble you could get in if you were careless.

Alec glanced ahead of us, toward where Lauren was passing through a side door into the back of the church. “Haven’t you done enough to that woman?”

My anger sparked. Probably because there was a thread of truth in his words I didn’t want to hear. “Relax. I’m just making sure she’s okay after everything.”With her dad,I didn’t have to add.

“She seems perfectly fine to me,” Alec said. “Job done. You can leave now.”

I studied him before responding. “You seem awfully eager to get me out of here. Is that why you came today? You want to finally shoot your shot with her?” Alec’s history with Lauren was even longer than mine. They’d been in the same class from kindergarten until she’d transferred out of the district right before their senior year.

Alec scoffed. “No. Fuck off. I just don’t want to see an old friend get hurt.”

“You haven’t talked to her since she left school, so don’t try to pull the protective friend bullshit with me. Why are you really trying to push me out of here so fast? What areyouup to?”

He clamped his mouth shut as we entered the rear event hall, and I knew I had him on the ropes.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I said. “Look, don’t get in between me and Lauren, and I won’t interfere with whatever business you’re trying to get into with these old bastards.”

“Fine,” he muttered.

I spotted my quarry heading toward the restrooms in the rear of the hall and elbowed my brother. “Do me one more favor? Run interference?”

I didn’t give him a chance to respond before stalking after Lauren, trusting that Alec was so used to following orders that he would do what I said.

5

Lauren

Ideath-grippedthe bathroom sinkas I tried to calm my racing heart. My eyes were wide in the mirror, cheeks pink from more than just the blush I’d spread over them.

Oh, this wasn’t good. I hadn’t seen Nico “Junior” Trocci in ten years, yet all it had taken was one shared glance across the aisle to set my blood on fire. In achurch, of all places, surrounded by enough elderly people to fill a nursing home. Thank god for the setting, because if I was that turned on under those circumstances, who knew what would have happened if I’d run into him in the wild somewhere.

But, really, who could blame me? Junior lookedgood. Like the third deadly sin had sat down in the middle of Mass just to challenge my willpower. His dark hair had been slicked back from his face, exposing the angular features I’d once obsessed over: high cheekbones, arched brows, the green eyes he’d unfairly inherited from his mother. Junior had always been more striking than traditionally handsome, but it only made him more attractive, because his was a face you didn’t want to look away from. The longer you studied it, the more you wanted to learn all its secrets. What did those full lips look like when he smiled? Did those impossible eyes do anything but smolder?

A shiver slipped down my spine. I thought I’d had it bad back when he was a gangly teen with shoulders a touch too wide for his body, but now that he’d grown into said shoulders, I was in real trouble. One look. Onegoddamnlook, and I’d spent all of Mass trying not to squirm in my seat like a...well, like a jezebel in a church. What was it that caused this kind of instant response between people? Was it just mutual attraction? Or was there something more to it, something the subconscious part of our brain sensed like pheromones or genetic compatibility or mutual assured destruction?

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