Page 69 of Be My Compass

Friendly affection.

But if it’s more…

If that look is just for me…

I want it all.

I want everything.

Sixteen

Kastle

The familiar clank of iron against metal isn’t loud enough. The grunts of exertion aren’t hard enough. The gym’s playing alternative music today. Soft rock. The kind of music that talks about love like the songwriter actually believes in it.

The song that’s playing now makes me cringe. Pulls my skin back. Rubs my own conflicted feelings in my face.

Last night I kissed my best friend.

Correction. I inhaled her.

And she shattered me.

I let my head drift to that familiar place.

There she is in my mind.

Kaelyn.

Her slender hands, long and elegant and capable of reaching past skin and flesh to souls and hearts. My soul. My heart. Those gentle fingers applying pressure to my scalp. Cupping the back of my neck. Breezing down my abs.

Those perfect lips parting. Sucking. Tugging.

Mine.

My lips.

They were mine.

And I was hers.

Hell.

I set the bar back in its place.

With thoughts like that, I’m going to lose my grip and bash my freaking head in.

“Ten more. You stopped early,” Ollie says near my weight machine.

I whip around. “When did you get here?”

“I’m on a mission.”

I wipe my face with a towel. Try to breathe when it feels like my throat’s tightened. “For?”

“My wife.” He hesitates.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen this big guy unsure of himself before.

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