Page 405 of Rock Me All Night

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After a few minutes, Tom relaxes enough to pull me closer.

"I shouldn't have pushed you that hard," he whispers. "This wouldn't have happened—"

"You want to know the truth?"

"Yeah."

"I only let him kiss me because I wanted to make you jealous." I press my eyelids together. "I really like you, Tom. But if you only want to be friends, I understand. I'd rather be your friend than nothing at all."

"You're a sweet kid."

"I'm not."

"Yeah, you are. If our roles were reversed, I would have asked you to kill that guy."

"Would you really kill him if I asked?"

"Maybe not kill, but I'd get pretty close." He exhales slowly. "Why? You want me to?"

"No. Violence only begets violence."

"See what I mean?"

"You're a good guy, Tom."

"We'll have to agree to disagree on that point."

I shake my head.

He runs his hand through my hair. "Try to sleep. We can talk in the morning."

I still can't relax. My thoughts are racing. My shoulders and neck are tense. Hell, I'm tense everywhere.

Keeping this up is impossible. Giving him up is worse.

What the hell am I going to do?

I take deep breaths, willing the answer to float into my brain.

It doesn't.

I shift closer to him. "Are you up?"

He runs his fingertips over my shoulders. "Yeah."

I turn around, bringing us face to face. Even though it's dark, I can see all this affection in his eyes. How deep does it go?

Friends?

Or more than that?

Tom rubs my shoulder. "You're tense."

I nod.

He looks me in the eyes, studying me.

I reach for him, run my fingers over his cheek. Words form and dissolve on my tongue. There's no easy way to explain my feelings, so I say nothing.

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