Page 63 of When You Stayed
“Seems you’re still pissed at me for something I did when I was fifteen, so why not?”
Raking a hand through my hair, I pulled the ends in frustration.
“You didn’t even read it.”
Determined, she set it down and faced me. “You were so mean to me over winter break, why would I ever read a card from you when I knew it probably said that you hated me or something.”
“Well, now you’ll never know.” I moved to snatch the card from her, but she pulled her hand behind her back.
“No, it’s mine now.”
I stared at her, breathing hard. “It’s always been yours, Royce. You just didn’t fucking want it.” Did she realize I was talking about myheart and not the stupid card? Did she have any idea at all that I was completely and achingly in love with her?
“What if I want it now?” Her breathy whisper scraped against the edges of my heart, burning something in my chest. I didn’t want to get hurt again.
All she’d ever done was hurt me, and she either didn’t know or she didn’t care.
“Maybe there was a chance to have it, and that time has passed.”
Her lip wobbled the smallest bit, which prompted my hand to come up to her jaw and cup it.
“Because there’s someone else?” She searched my face.
The pathetic laugh that scraped up my throat hurt because of how thick it felt. “How could there be anyone else when you’re still the only girl I’ve ever kissed?”
Her frantic gaze searched mine, and I could see the small pieces beginning to click for her.
“But…you’ve had girls. I’ve seen you with them.”
Lifting my finger to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, I explained. “Did it all without kissing, Rose. The thing that drives me mad is that I still have no idea what you taste like, or what it would be like to?—”
“That’s why you drew an alarming number of sketches of my lips, right?” She tilted her head, as if examining me in a completely new light. “I found them in the shoebox…there were so many sketches of me. Some of my mouth, my face, my hair…”
A flush wound up through my neck and face as I tried to laugh, but it came out choked. “Keep looking and you’ll even find a few of your tits and ass.”
Her slow blink told me she hadn’t quite processed what it all meant yet.
“So you sketched me, wrote me this card…stole my box from Connor then talked shit about me to Rook. I don’t get it…”
“Why did you care about Jasmine, Royce?” My question took her off guard from the way her mouth went slack, and she dropped the card back intothe box.
“Well, I?—”
“Only honesty here,” I whispered.
Those blue eyes burned as she stared back at me, then with a defiant chin lift, she admitted everything. “Because I was jealous. I already told you that I once had a crush on you, and you told me that if you still had one on me, you would have done something about it.”
Hope inflated my chest dangerously, perilously. “What do you think I’m doing right now?”
Her eyes slammed closed as she shook her head. “Confusing me. Can you just be fucking honest about whether you like me or not?”
I pulled her face between my hands and forced her to look at me. “Like you?”
She nodded slowly, but the pull in my belly had me moving my mouth to catch whatever words she planned to say next.
Her lips were made of silk, her jaw felt like glass as I cradled her close and slowly moved my mouth against hers. She let out a tiny groan as she kissed me back and placed her hands against my chest, curling her fingers against the fabric of my shirt.
I carefully licked at the seam of her lips, requesting deeper access, and she obliged on another moan. Hot and wet, her tongue slid against mine as I moved my palm from her jaw down to her hip, where I held her steadily against me. This was everything I’d ever wanted. Bliss.
