Page 38 of Broken Like This by Bethany

“Sorry. I got lost in my own head.”

Kevin shrugs and closes his binder. “We know it all front and back, anyway. Especially since this unit was mostly Sherlock Holmes and we’ve both been reading that since we were kids.” He grins at me. “What do you think? You and me, who’d be Holmes and who’d be Watson?”

I let out a laugh. “I’m surprised that there’s only been one adaptation where Watson is a woman. There should totally be one with Holmes as the woman.”

“Are you saying you’d be Sherlock?” He gives me a flirty smile.

Part of me is screaming not to flirt back, but the other part is sayingwho cares? You’re single!

And that’s the part I listen to. Because why not?

“Hmm. I don’t know. I mean, I wouldn’t be the kind of Holmes who was doing drugs, but I am good at getting deep in my head. Then you could be the charming Watson who keeps me grounded.”

“Charming, huh?”

I roll my eyes. “Oh, please. Do not pretend you don’t know how to turn on the charm, Kev.”

He smirks and moves in closer, his hand sliding up my forearm.

Warning!

Nope. Ignore.

I let a flirtatious smile grow on my lips.

“Does that mean my charm works on you? Or that you’re immune to it?” he asks.

“Well, one of those means that I would swoon over you. The other means you’d have to chase me. Both make good stories, but which one do you think I am?”

His fingers graze my arm as he smiles at me. He leans in closer and whispers, “Definitely the second one. You don’t swoon unless a guy earns it. No, you’re the girl who makes the guy chase you. No. Questions. Asked.”

A swirl of feelings move through my stomach. I’m enjoying this fun flirtatiousness, and I’m excited to find out what comes next. But another part of me is screaming that this isn’t right.

“Rae,” he says softly.

I bring my gaze back to his right as he leans in and presses his lips against mine.

Kevin is kissing me! What do I do? Oh yeah, kiss him back.

It’s mostly closed mouth, but I do start to kiss him back.

And then the swirl in my stomach turns into a raging tornado. Any good feelings that were there have vanished. All I can think is that this is wrong. I’m not supposed to be kissing him. I don’t want to be kissing him.

I rip my lips off his mouth, my heart racing in a terrible way. I need to escape.

He winces. “I’m sorry I—”

I use every ounce of composure to push my pain down and meet his eyes. “No. It wasn’t you. I’m sorry. I thought I’d be okay, but…” I grab my books. “Look, it’s not you. I gotta go.”

Then I bolt out of the library and rush across campus toward my dorm. As much as I try to keep them in, tears stream down my cheeks as I get closer to the building.

Once inside, I take the stairs up. As I push out of the heavy stairwell door, I make a beeline for my room.

Please don’t let me see Aaron. Please don’t let me see Aaron. Please don’t let me see Aaron.

My room comes into view and I’m almost home free until I hear a familiar voice behind me.

“Rae Rae, where are you running off to?”

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