Page 40 of Strip Bare

Sure, Kit and I received some attention for being on the football team and Ryan and Aaron had been on the receiving end of a lot more, but just as many people knew Kit from his art as they did from being on the field.

"Hey," I said in his ear as I stepped up behind him and tried not to smirk when he jumped.

"You're like a cat, you know. I'm thinking about putting a collar with a little bell on you so you can’t sneak up on me any more."

I laughed and he smiled as I came to stand beside him. "How's it been so far?"

"Good turn out." Kit flicked his lip piercing with his tongue and I shifted uncomfortably as my body responded. "Have you had a look around yet?"

I shook my head and tried to ignore the way his short-sleeved shirt fit against his shoulders and chest. "Um, no. I wanted to start here with you."

"Honored," he teased and raised an eyebrow when he looked at me and found my focus on the way the material stretched tightly across his pecs. "Is there something on my shirt?"

I cleared my throat as I quickly reached out and brushed a hand roughly over the smooth material, only a few shades darker than his blue hair. "Lint."

I turned away to the artwork he'd presented on the wall, looking for a distraction, and paused. Kit's work was gorgeous, as always, all clean lines and a chaos of color that somehow fit and melded rather than being overwhelming. But what took me aback was the face in the smaller portrait in the bottom right corner. It was like a pop art style made of multiple coloured lines overlapping to form a familiar outline.

"Is that me?" My voice was hoarse and I clamped down on my emotions as he looked at me, eyes running over my face to try and gauge my response.

"Do you like it?"

"Yes."

"Then yes, it's you." Kit grinned and I lifted my lips in a half-smile. Was this just an artist's eye for an interesting muse? My face was fairly angular, which made it interesting to capture on canvas I was sure, but there was an attentiveness to each feature displayed that made me feel... warm. Seen. "How was your last session with Harley?"

Was it me or was there a distinctly frosty note in his voice? "It was fine. He's smart." I decided not to mention that not only was Harley smart, he was more than a little flirty too. Though he hadn’t asked me out again since our date in the park.

"Cool. Good."

We lapsed into a slightly awkward silence and it worried me. Mainly because Kit and I didn't do awkward silences. Things had been getting better between us, but Saylor’s re-appearance had thrown things off course slightly.

"Relax."

My head snapped toward him in surprise and his eyes on mine were soft. "I can practically feel your brain waves from here. Saylor won’t stay forever, and then we don’t have to keep up the pretense any more. It’ll be okay.”

Did he honestly think that I was the one suffering here?

"Sure," I said easily and tried to keep my expression from darkening when I spotted Nick in the crowd, heading our way. "I'm sure you're more than ready to get back out there on the scene by now."

Kit looked at me sharply but didn't have time to reply before Nick was in front of us, his beautiful face drawing no small amount of attention from the people around us, like he was a piece of living artwork that had escaped the display.

He greeted Kit and I tuned them out as I searched the crowd for Saylor unsuccessfully, until something Nick said caught my attention.

"Did you guys hear about Jamie's party?"

I held back a groan and Kit's mouth twitched like he knew.

"No, we hadn't heard anything. When is it?"

"Next week. She said something about Ryan putting it in the group chat for you guys, so I'm sure you'll get all the info soon."

"I think I'm busy next week," I said vaguely and Nick chuckled.

"You're going to have to come up with something better than that if you want to convince Jamie."

A flash of white blonde hair struck me and I gritted my teeth into a smile. "Well I'm sure I'll see you then. Be right back," I murmured to Kit and headed off to grab my sister, hoping she would save me from the torture of watching Kit and Nick together.

I guessed I couldn't fault her, she definitely did distract me—but for all the wrong reasons.

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