Page 73 of Fox
“Never,” I manage before his lips capture mine.
The kiss is unlike anything I’ve ever felt, even from him. It isn’t as demanding, or lust filled, like in the past. He’s tender and careful as his mouth explores mine. His hands cup either side of my face, and I let out a soft whimper as his tongue slips betweenmy lips. He tastes like apple cider, adding to the overall sweet and warm kiss.
Fox breaks the kiss and looks down at me, our foreheads pressing together, his hands firmly planted on my face.
“You’re too fucking perfect to be with me.” Chuckling, I lean in and kiss him again.
“I know,” I wrinkle my nose as he rolls his eyes and snorts.
“So,” he starts, his eyes dancing with humor. “Are you sure you want to try this boyfriend-girlfriend thing out with my old ass?”
“Gee… Well, now that the chase is over,” I tap my finger to my chin. “I mean, I really need to—Ah! F-Fox!” I laugh as his fingers dig into my sides, tickling me. “Okay! Okay! Yes!” I gasp between hysterics.
“Yes,” I say again softly. “I want you. Only you.”
TWENTY-NINE
fox
Ifeel like I’ve made it abundantly clear that I’ve experienced some pretty out-there things in my life. But this might take the entire cake.
“Oh my god,” Janie breathes as she grabs my arm and shakes it, her eyes comedically wide. “That cotton candy is bigger than my hair. I must consume it.”
I laugh and don’t even try to stop my tiny redhead when she bounces over to the line where they sell cotton candy bigger than her big head. Janie eagerly hops from one foot to the other as the worker makes her cotton candy, and she waves me over. She takes her treat, and I pay the man behind the counter before joining our group.
“At!” she squeals and points to the treat. “Take our picture!” Before I can react, Janie hops onto my back and wraps an arm around my chest while holding the cotton candy in the air like a trophy.
“You two are disgusting,” Atlas gags while taking pictures of us with Janie’s phone.
When Atlas mentioned the fall festival coming up, I ignored him because festivals aren’t my scene. There are too many people, everything is a scam, and there’s no way that a machineconstructed and then deconstructed that many times is safe to ride. But apparently, those are thoughts thatsingle Foxcould have. According to Atlas,boyfriend Foxshould’ve already known about the festival and had tickets to present to his girlfriend.
Regardless of whose idea it was or who would rather shove a hot stake up his dickhole than be here, Janie’s entire body lit up when he mentioned that he and Ash were going, so how could I not get tickets?
Janie busies herself with consuming the mass of sugar while texting me the picture, and I take note of my best friend. Atlas is trying—and failing—to hide he's miserable being here without a date. Ash is here with some woman whose name I shouldn’t even waste my brain cells on trying to remember. I’m actually shocked that he is here with someone. Ash doesn’t do dates. He’s more of a bar or club guy, but he brought this girl tonight for whatever reason. She’s beautiful, like most of the women he dates, and I’m loosely using the term dates. I think this one’s name is Autumn, maybe Aubrey? I don’t know, like I said—why waste the brain cells? She’s an interesting contrast to Janie. She’s tall, thin, covered in tattoos with short, edgy purple hair, and leather attire that isn’t really screaming ‘family festival.’
On the other hand, Janie looks like the excited kid entering Disney World. Her hair is loose and wild, the way I love it. She wears no makeup, allowing every one of her freckles to show. And she has on a shirt that’s tied in the back; it's blue, and on the front, it reads:
“That’s what.” - She.
When we first met Ash’s date at the festival entrance, she read Janie’s shirt and didn’t get it. Janie then decided thatthe girl was dead to her because“if you can’t communicate usingThe Officequotes, what are you even doing?”
“Fox!” Janie pulls on my arm, grabbing my attention.
“What baby doll?” The smile on my face may never leave. The last two weeks together have been the greatest of my life. There’s no better gift than getting to be Janie’s boyfriend, and I can’t believe I almost let the opportunity go. Am I scared that one day she’ll want too much? That there may be a line I can’t cross? Yes. But that’s a problem for another day because this? This is magical, and I never want it to end.
“Ferris wheel.”
Well, I guess the magic is over.I look at the giant round monstrosity, and my stomach feels sour as it drops.
“Yeah, Torch, I don’t know…” I groan, peeling my gaze from the structure of doom to my girl, who’s taken to pouting. Fuckkk. She pushes out that plush bottom lip of hers then wrinkles her forehead, and I feel like I’m becoming putty.
Atlas laughs. “Fox is afraid of heights, Red, but I’ll ride it with you if you want.”
Snapping my head toward Atlas, I narrow my eyes and all but snarl at the man. Is he seriously trying to take my girl on a Ferris Wheel?
“I’m not afraid of heights,” I growl defensively. “I just have a completely healthy, rational fear of the machine collapsing due to a rusty bolt.”
Janie giggles and hugs me around my waist. “It’s okay, big guy. I’ll ride with Atlas. her, you can hold my cotton candy.” I go to protest; I would’ve ridden the fucking ride. I may have been white-knuckling it the whole time, but I would do it for her. I deflate slightly as Janie runs up to the cart with Atlas and slides in. She waves at me, and I put on a fake smile and wave back as I stand there feeling like a fucking moron. Atlas and I are going to have a serious talk after his little ride withmygirlfriend. Heshould've brought a date if he wanted someone to ride with him, but he won’t be stealing my girl again.
