Page 50 of Puck You
I woke with a gasp on my lips, my body trembling.As the world came into focus, I realized there was a body shifting beside me, unintelligible words drifting from beneath the blanket.Sam’s messy curls appeared a moment later.The sight of her face was all it took to trigger a sudden onslaught of word vomit.
“I kissed Sebastian last night.”
She blinked away the sleep in her eyes as a yawn escaped her mouth.I gave her some time to digest my words, but there was no immediate response of shock that I’d been expecting.“This is the part where you’re supposed to say, ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’”
“The only thing wrong with you is that you haven’t beenlaid in months.”She looked me up and down with a shake of her head.“If someone that hot nearly ripped off his friend’s head for touching me, I would fall straight onto his dick.”
“Are you forgetting how awful he was to me when the school year started?”I reminded her.“Sebastian hid rotting meat inside our training facility.”
“You won in the end, right?And you got your revenge.Don’t you think it’s time to turn over a new leaf or whatever?”
Maybe Sam had a point, but turning over a new leaf was one thing.Last night, I’d skipped that step and jumped ahead by like eighty paces.“You promised you would keep me from doing anything stupid!That’s the only reason I agreed to go.”
“You asked me to stop you from picking a fight with the birthday boy, not to stop you from making out with him,” she argued.
To be fair, I’d never considered kissing Sebastian as a possible outcome.I’d been too worried about offending him on his birthday.I barely drank a sip of alcohol out of fear that he’d do something to trigger my sass, especially because I’d promised Caroline I’d be nice.Suddenly the room felt impossible hot.I tossed the blanket off my legs and leapt from the bed.Sam was like a radiator in the morning.
“Was it good?”
I shrugged and leaned against my desk.“He definitely knows what he’s doing.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“It doesn’t matter how good the kiss was, it’s never going to happen again.”
“Not even after he defended your honor?”she asked with a smirk, pushing herself up onto her elbows in bed.
“Him defending my honoristhe problem.It makes no sense.What if—”What if Sebastian is just messing with my head?I wouldn’t put it past him given our tumultuous past, and I couldn’t forget about the bet.I knew he wanted to win just as much as I did.Who was to say this wasn’t part of his strategy?
“It’s pretty simple, Grace.All that tension between the two of you has to go somewhere.Better it be hot sex than murdering each other.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I said, “or maybe this is part of a bigger plan to punish me for everything I’ve done.”
“Punishing you by giving you pleasure?”
No, I thought.The punishment would be making me feel something for him and then pulling the rug out from under me.After all, the reason I’d pushed him in the lake was because I didn’t have the strength to pull myself away.
“Just forget about it,” I said, stretching my arms over my head.“Why can’t we talk about your love life for once?What about that date you went on with the radiologist from work?”
“Apparently he has four kids, and that’s four kids more than I want,” she said dismissively.“All I’m saying is you and Sebastian are bound to collide again.It’s only a matter of time.”
I shook my head dismissively.“I can’t talk about this anymore.”I didn’t even want to think about it.Not when I was drowning in schoolwork and still trying to figure out a way to reconnect with Gabby.
“Are you coming home for Thanksgiving this week?”Sam asked, and I nearly sagged in relief at the change of subject.
“We have an away game the night after, so our coaches decided to host a Ravens Thanksgiving extravaganza.They want us all to bond.”
She snickered at that.“I’m sure Sebastian would love to bo—”
“Absolutely not,” I warned.
“Have you and Gabby talked since your fight?”
Regret tightened my throat at the thought of our argument.I never should have snapped at Gabby, even if she was being a major bitch.It had only served to increase the distance between us, making me feel more helpless in my attempt to fix things.
“No, and I’m really worried,” I admitted.“She won’t talk to me or listen to what I have to say.I know that seeing a therapist would help her, but I’m nervous about how my dad will react to the suggestion.”
He wasn’t a fan of medical professionals, especially those working in the mental health sector.It was just another piece of fallout from my mother.Because even after doing everything right—getting her professional help, trying different medications, and admitting her to an in-patient program—she’d still left.These days, he wouldn't even like going to the doctor for his annual checkup.
