Page 47 of Puck You
“Don’t fucking touch her,” I said, and everything grew still.
Bryce was between the two of us before I had the chance to wring Landon’s neck.“You should drink some water and go to bed,” he said.
Landon glared at me over Bryce’s shoulder, looking for a moment as though he might protest before he stumbled off to one of the guest bedrooms, muttering something unintelligible under his breath.His exit did nothing to ease the tension in the room.If anything, the pressure only intensified as I locked eyes with Grace.She was standing stock-still, mouth open in an expression of alarm.No one else spoke.Somehow, the silence was loud enough to make my ears ring.
I did the only thing that came to mind and bolted out the back door.My feet carried me down the slopped hill leading to the waterfront in an all-out sprint.I barely registered the biting cold.Only when my toes were hanging off the edge of the dock, body positioned precariously between solid ground and open air, did I come to a stop.
Happy birthday, Sebastian,I thought.One year older but never wiser.Once again, I’d failed to overcome my own impulses.That’s what Grace did to me: she robbed me of my restraint.
“Are you going to jump?”
I startled, head whipping around.The outline of Grace’s body was backlit by the moonlight.Why had she followed me out here?I needed space away from her frustratingly distracting presence to set my mind right.
“I wasn’t planning to,” I said, shifting back to face the lake and looking down at the water below me.“It’s a bit cold for a dip.”
Grace moved forward until she was shoulder to shoulder with me, her toes curled over the edge of the sun-bleached wood.We both spoke at the same time.
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.”
Silence.
“Why?”she asked, brow furrowed in a look of confusion.
“Why what?”
“Why go through all that trouble for someone you don’t like?”she asked.
If only she knew what I really thought about her.All the dirty, depraved things we did in my head.“It doesn’t have to make sense,” I told her.
Would she even believe me?If I admitted the truth—that I couldn’t stand the sight of Landon touching her—she might laugh in my face, or accuse me of being a liar in addition to an arrogant asshole.
“Make it make sense,” she demanded, shifting to face me instead of the water.“Do you and Landon have a history?Why would you—”
Grace stopped herself short, but I knew exactly what she meant to say.She couldn’t fathom why I’d help her, not after everything I’d said and done.
“Why does there have to be an explanation?”
“Because there just does!”she shouted.“Will you please fucking look at me?!”
Slowly, I pivoted to face her.Grace’s frustration painted a stunning picture.She looked fierce with the moon reflected in her eyes, chest heaving up and down as she tried to contain the rage building within.My body seemed to move without consulting my mind.Several inches of space between us vanished.We were practically touching.
“Do you really want to know why I was seconds away from pummeling my teammate in the face?”I would have happily ruined my hand bashing in his nose if it pleased her.
“Yes.I need to understand.”
I shook my head.I didn’t even fully understand.With Grace, sense was always an afterthought.
“I do!”She slapped her palms against my chest and pushed out in anger, but I was impossible to move.“Please, tell me.”
“Would it change anything?”I could feel the heat of her skin through the material of my shirt.It drove away the little reason left within me.“Would you think of me differently if you knew that watching him touch you felt ten times worse than seeing my face on the cover of that article or knowing that you set me up?”
At last, Grace was speechless.She didn’t step away or call me a liar.She just stared at me as if my confession had been given in tongues.There was another way to get the message across, one that was sure to land.Slowly, I placed one hand along the curve of her waist, testing the waters.Grace’s breath hitched, but she didn’t push me away as I caressed the side of her cheek with my other hand, my fingers slowly pushing into the hair at the back of her head.A little noise of surprise left her lips.I leaned forward until our faces were nearly touching, lips a hair’s breadth apart.I paused, willing myself to hold steady and giving her time to come to the realization that she didn’t want me.But Grace didn’t push me away or ask me to stop.If anything, her body leaned into the heat of my own, eyes dropping to my lips.
Fuck it.
I surged forward, my mouth falling over hers like it was the key to my salvation.As soon as our lips touched, I was met with a terrifying realization: this woman had the power to devastate me.Heartbeat in my ears, I breathed her in.Grace didn’t push me away like I was expecting her to.Instead, her hands fisted the material of my shirt, and she pulled me closer, our bodies melting into one another.Everywhere we touched came ablaze with heat.I sucked her bottom lip into my mouth, and she gasped in response.Her tongue swept across the seam of our lips, and I opened up to give her access, white-hot need rushing through my body.
