Page 27 of Heart of a Rebel

I’mnotsureifI started it, or he did, but once I felt Adrian’s lips on mine, I might as well have been a live wire standing in a puddle of water. Hours later walking into the club and I’m still buzzing.

Adrian follows the four of us through the crowd, and I swear I can feel his eyes on me. Watching my every move as we find our way to a roped-off table. All I can do to stay calm is hope he’s not already analyzing all the ways he regrets what we’ve done.

I know it was reckless, but I couldn’t help myself.

He sat there with the necklace dangling between us, and I saw everything I’ve never been offered.

I’m used to being the person who puts everyone else first. I’m the caretaker. I’m the one who comes in second. But there he was with an offering that felt like so much more than a flower on a string. It might as well have been his heart, usually locked away and guarded, out in the open for my taking.

I sit in the far back of the booth, allowing the guys to slide around me. They’re grinning wide as they look around and take in the scene. People are already taking notice, likely trying to figure out if we’re important enough to deserve our seats here. Curious stares deciding if we aresomebody.

We aren’t. Not yet. But the air’s already changing. People paying attention and treating us differently.

If they only knew the girl they’re looking at is no one to be jealous of most days. I live in one of the poorest neighborhoods with my off-the-wagon mother and brother. There’s nothing to admire here that doesn’t require me wading through shit to get to the other side.

“We need to move to LA.” Rome grins out at the sea of faces.

Noah shakes his head, barely moving his eyes off his phone for five seconds. “No thanks.”

He frowns and types out a text as he’s been doing all night. His girlfriend wasn’t thrilled about our trip to LA, and I’m not sure that’s a great sign. This is only the first of many trips in our near future.

Being in a relationship might sound nice, but I have no doubt that in this business, it’s nothing but trouble. Something I remind myself of as my gaze slides in Adrian’s direction.

He’s sitting at the edge of the booth, looking more like a bodyguard than a band manager. He’s upright and scanning the crowd, and when the waitress came by, he turned down booze for water.

As if he feels me staring, his dark cinnamon eyes flick to mine, running like a lightning bolt straight through me. His gaze dips to my parted lips and the faintest smirk ticks up at the corner of his mouth.

How long has it been since I’ve been so attracted to a man?

Months, years?

Never?

Watching my mom be so giving with her body took the appeal away. I didn’t lose my virginity until I was nineteen, and it was with a guy I knew my whole childhood. Since then, I’ve only been with one other man, and it was quick and unfulfilling.

I gave up and assumed maybe I’m just not a sexual person.

That was until I felt this butterfly flutter in my chest. A pulse that started deep in my core. One look from Adrian and I’m throbbing.

Before him, I was never curious about the feel of someone’s hands on my skin, of their lips on mine. I’ve never fantasized about what someone might do to me if we were alone. Or imagined what they might look like if everything else was stripped away. Not until him.

Maybe this is why I’ve heard girls say it’s possible to lose your head over a man. Because sitting here with heat pooling in my belly, I want to lose it all for Adrian.

An arm slings around the back of my shoulders, and I look over to see Rome sitting there smiling at me.

“Someone’s smitten.” He narrows his eyes, shooting me his trademark grin.

Dropping my stare to my drink on the table in front of me, I shrug. “It’s just good he finally decided to join us.”

“That it is.” Rome shakes his head and chuckles, likely not missing that I’m trying to distract from the fact that I was just staring at Adrian. “Nice necklace.”

Looking down, I realize I’m twisting the daisy charm between my fingers without thinking. I glance at Rome, who always seems to know more than I’d like him to. He’s a walking lie detector sometimes. Maybe it’s that he’s so good at keeping secrets of his own, it makes him well-versed in sniffing them out of others. Because without saying anything, his stare moves from me to Adrian and tells me everything I need to know—I’m not being as subtle as I think I am.

I drop the necklace and reach for my drink.

“Cheers.” I smile.

Rome tips his beer up at me and clinks my glass. “Cheers.”

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