by B. B. Reid
“We were kids. Don’t romanticize.”
“Romanticize?” he spat incredulously. Turning my chin, he left me no choice but to look into his eyes… and try not to fall all over again. “I had only one heart, Bee, and I gave it to you. It was right there in your palm, and you fucking broke it.”
My dress was suddenly too confining as I struggled to breathe. I wanted Jamie to act on the pain and lust building in his eyes and rip the dress away. To free me once and for all. “What do you want from me?” I pleaded instead.
Now I was the one sounding desperate.
Pulling me closer, he teasingly began lifting the skirt of my gown. “A kiss,” he finally said when the dress was bunched around my thighs. Any higher and he’d know my secret. “You owe me that much.”
My glower didn’t move him. In fact, he grinned down at me, and I hated how stunning it was—like the moon pulling at an already turbulent sea. That is what his smile did to my heart. It was a tide that brought me back to life only to drown me once more.
Of course, I’d never tell him so. Instead, I snapped, “I don’t owe you a damn thing.”
“No,” he said, his smile falling, “maybe not. But you’re going to kiss me, anyway.”
“And why is that? Because you’ll force me?” I could feel his every breath warming my skin as I was sure he could feel mine. The anticipation had made us both breathless.
“Because you want to… and we both know Barbette Montgomery takes what she wants. Doesn’t she?”
“I do not.”
As if I hadn’t spoken, Jamie’s gaze dropped to my lips. “I’m going to fuck up that pretty lipstick you wore for me.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
Inhaling sharply, I wished I hadn’t opened my mouth. Not only did I fail to deny that I’d worn the lipstick for him but I’d also just admitted to wanting him to kiss me.
The lids of his beautiful brown eyes lowered until he looked like he was drunk off me. “Would you now?”
“Yes.”
This time, I didn’t second guess my answer. There was no regret or fear. Only need. The surprise in Jamie’s eyes was fleeting. I couldn’t remember anything beyond his hand gripping my nape and pulling me in. It didn’t escape my notice that he’d gone slow, giving me time to back out.
I didn’t. I couldn’t. It would be like cutting out my own heart.
His soft lips brushed back and forth against mine before pecking them. I lost count of how many times before my lips finally parted, and his tongue swept inside.
He tasted like sugar and smoke. So damn sinfully good.
I made a desperate sound, begging him for more, and he answered with a hungry groan. I’d wanted his kiss from the first. The very moment I’d stumbled back into his life and he’d charged back into mine.
Jamie had been right. The years apart hadn’t dulled my desire for him. It had only intensified.
When he pulled away, his eyes slowly opened much like the first time we kissed—as if he were reluctant to let go of the fantasy. The fantasy that we were right for each other, that we could be together.
“I really hate you, do you know that?” His eyes had never looked quite so bright before as he stared down at me. “So fucking much.”
My stomach twisted tight, hearing those words. I knew what he really wanted to say and knew he’d never trust me with the truth ever again.
A tear slipped from my eye. “I never promised you anything, Jamie.”
I truly wanted to believe that I hadn’t betrayed him. It was hard enough looking at myself in the mirror or closing my eyes without seeing his face, especially the moments after he discovered Ever and I together. Jamie had haunted my thoughts and dreams every day since.
“No?”
Coming to my senses, I hurriedly lowered my gown as he reached inside his tuxedo pocket. My traitorous heart thundered the moment he pulled out a folded slip of paper. Slowly, he unfolded it until I could see the tape holding the seams together—as if he’d torn it to shreds and then pieced it back together. I already knew what was written on it long before he began to hurl the words at me accusingly. He never once even glanced at the paper as he recited the words. He’d memorized them.
Longer days and shorter nights,
I think of summer, and I think of you.
Butterfly kisses and sunshine smiles,
Your laugh, my favorite melody.
The grass is greener when you’re here.
Was the sky always this blue?
The season has new meaning now.
I think of summer, and I think of you.
Fated to end, a fling like the wind,
I watch you sail away.
With your kiss and your promise,
I wait for you, solstice.
Your lighthouse, I’ll light the way.
“Gotta be honest,” he remarked with a smirk, “it’s a little elementary, but at least the meaning was clear. You said you’d always wait for me.” As he tucked the tattered poem back inside his tux, I started to speak, but the dark look in his eyes stopped me. “Tread very fucking carefully. If you say we were just kids one more time, you might not make it to prom.”
“That wasn’t what I was going to say,” I snapped even though it was a lie.
“Whatever you say, sweetheart.”
A shiver rippled through me. “Don’t use that tone with me,” I said, gritting my teeth as I crossed my arms under my breasts, pushing them up further. Any other time, his focus would have been drawn to them, but his gaze remained locked with mine, telling me he was really pissed.
“What tone?” he asked, playing coy.
“As if we’re the ones who are getting married.”
“According to this article, we are.”
“Yeah, well, I embellished a little.”
“No, you told it exactly as it happened, and apparently, it was a fairy tale to remember… I certainly do.”
“Jamie, don’t do this.”
“Do what?”
My gaze fell to my lap. “Woo me with memory lane.”
“I’m just stating facts… and I have no intention of wooing you. I tried that, remember?”
Frustrated, I pushed away the wisps of hair falling in my face, drawing his gaze to my temple. It was a few seconds before I realized why he was frowning.
“What happened?” he said, referring to the cut I’d made near my temple.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“How. Did. It. Happen?”
The longer I hesitated, the more his eyes narrowed to slits. I cursed myself for not thinking of a lie before now. Jamie had the power to distract me completely from the outside world. “I hit my head.”
Wordlessly, he peeled a corner of the Band-Aid back to inspect my injury himself. I held my breath the entire time. Jameson was so goddamn gorgeous that sometimes it was hard to believe he wasn’t just a figment of my imagination. “She bleeds,” he muttered. “I’m relieved.”
I blinked. “Why are you relieved, exactly?”
As he slouched in his seat, it was all I could do not to stare at his crotch and the considerable bulge there. “I was beginning to think you weren’t human, after all.”
“If I weren’t human, then what would I be?”
Turning his head, he pinned me with his gaze. “A sorceress who keeps saps like me under her spell.”
Before I could respond, our driver broke the silence. “We’re here,” Oliver announced over the intercom.
I took a deep breath, knowing the night was just starting and would only become a lot more challenging.
“Nervous?” Jamie inquired.
“Petrified.”
He leaned over until his finger hovered over the intercom. “Shall I tell the driver to keep going?”
I tried to hide my surprise and failed miserably. “You’d do that?”
His crooked smile made the butterflies in my stomach take flight. “On one condition.”
“Let me gues
s… that I sleep with you?”
He looked away to stare out the window at the couples already heading inside the building. When he turned back, the look in his eyes crumbled what was left of my heart. “You tell me what Ever could give you that I already hadn’t—ten times over.”
BEE LOOKED LIKE A FISH out of water as I waited for the answer to the question that plagued me every single second of the last five years.
Why hadn’t I been enough?
“Jamie… it’s not—”
“What I think? Then what is it? I’m really fucking curious.”
Eventually, she could no longer hold my gaze and stared down at her lap. “I was confused.”
My lip curled. “Because your feelings for him were so strong,” I mocked. I watched a tear slipped from her eye and wished more than anything that it didn’t fuck me up as bad as it did. I’ve broken more hearts than I could count and felt nothing. Had it been the same for Bee when she broke mine?
“You know that’s not true.”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore.” Lifting my hand away from the intercom, I opened the door before holding my hand out for her. The moment her small hand slid into mine, the current I tried to ignore grew stronger. Pulling her close, I wrapped my arm around her waist and buried my face in her neck. “Actually, that’s not true,” I said as I inhaled her sweet perfume. “I know I want you, and I know you still want me. We’re going to do something about that, Bee. Real fucking soon.”
Lifting my head, I waited for her to tell me no, to push me away, but she didn’t.
Oliver was standing nearby, so I turned my attention to him. “Give us a couple of hours,” I instructed. I doubted we were staying until the end. Bee could count herself fortunate that I refrained from popping her fucking cherry in the back of the limo.
Bee and Ever might have been over, but she and I still had an old score to settle. I couldn’t have her heart, so I’d take her body instead.
It’ll never be enough.
I shook the warning off. Sex had to be enough because I had nothing else to give her. Barbette had made sure of that when she chose my cousin over me.
I took her hand and started for the building when I remembered just how badly I was fucking this night up. It hadn’t been my intention to make it special, but I was driven by instinct, which meant that sometimes I just couldn’t fucking help myself.
Incidentally, it was part of the reason I despised her.
Because no matter what, I just couldn’t stop giving in.
“I forgot something.” Ignoring her puzzled expression, I left her standing by the giant storybook that read “Once Upon a Time.” That was our prom theme.
A fucking fairy tale.
Jogging back to the limo, I approached Oliver. “Did you get what I asked for?”
As he fetched what I needed, I watched Bee looking around nervously. She wasn’t lying when she said she was afraid. I didn’t think she was as afraid of what people thought of her as she was facing Four and Ever. The urge to kick Ever’s ass for not setting her free sooner was beginning to overpower me. Knowing Four and Bee as I did, it didn’t make sense why they agreed to share him in the first place. Something was up, and before I dared stick my dick in Bee, I was getting the truth out of her.
“Here it is, Mr. Buchanan.”
Accepting the black velvet box from Oliver, I nervously made my way back to Bee, who was hugging herself. “Cold?” It might have been summer, but it was late, and we lived close to the ocean.
“Not really.” Her eyes dropped to the box in my hand, and I could see the surprise and wariness in them.
Opening the case, I removed the thin gold bangle. Tradition called for a corsage, but I wanted to give Bee something that would live long past tonight. I didn’t say anything as I slipped the band on her arm. It was a perfect fit. ‘If found, please return to Jameson Buchanan,’ was engraved on the inside, but she didn’t need to know that. And in case there was any question…no, I wasn’t talking about the bracelet.
Barbette admired it with a sparkle in her eye. “It’s beautiful, Jamie.”
Lifting her chin, I ignored the stares as I pressed a kiss to her lips. She didn’t seem to notice the attention we were attracting. It was as if I spun on her axis, and she spun on mine. I wasn’t sure how long we stood there kissing before a throat-clearing pulled us apart.
While the lust clouding my vision took a few seconds to clear, I pulled Bee even closer to my chest… in case she got any ideas about running. Blinking, I grinned at the disapproving scowl Lou wore as she stood a couple of feet away with her arms crossed. Wren, who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else, stood next to her. Lou looked stunning in her strapless royal blue gown, and her dark hair swept up, showing off her bare shoulders. Right now, I doubt she’d appreciate me telling her so, though. Wren looked pretty too, and I was toying with the idea of fucking with him by telling him so when Lou spoke.
“What do you two think you’re doing?” she grilled.
“Minding our business.” Taking Bee’s arm, I started for the entrance with Lou hot on our tails. We gave our tickets at the booth before traveling down the hall. The floor was lined with purple, gold, and white balloons along the wall. A round, fake clock, set to one minute before midnight, waited at the end. We didn’t get far before Tyra and Vaughn met us. Vaughn’s eyes darted back and forth between us. At the question in his eyes, I shrugged. Already losing interest, he looked away as he took a sip of his drink. Tyra, who wore a yellow floor-length, off-shoulder gown with a high slit and gold, strappy heels wasn’t so easy to convince.
“Are you for real, Jamie? Ever just broke up with her yesterday.”
Not a fan of repeating myself, I said, “See previous answer,” before skating around them both. If this night was going to work—and I was determined that it would—Bee and I needed to ditch my nosy-ass friends ASAP. We traveled through an open set of double doors, and the dance floor was decorated as if we were attending a royal ball rather than prom.
Glancing over my shoulder, I searched Bee’s expression for distress. I shouldn’t have been surprised when I found none. Instead, she looked amused. “Feel free to jump in and help me anytime.”
Smirking, she said, “They’re your friends. Besides, why should I when you’re so diplomatic?”
I pulled her close and kissed her again. Now that I had, I couldn’t seem to stop. “They could be your friends, too, you know.”
She snorted. “They don’t like me, and you know it.”
“Vaughn does.”
“Vaughn doesn’t know me anymore.”
“He knows you, and he misses you.” I pinched her side when she looked away. “The real you.”
“Too much has happened, Jamie. Even if I could go back, I could never be the same girl you fell for.”
“Tell me what happened and let me be the judge of that.”
“If I could, I would.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it. At least tell me how you could trust Ever more than me?”
“That’s not true, and you know it. Ever was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I swore him to secrecy. Don’t blame him for being a friend.”
Wrapping both hands around her nape, I pressed my thumbs into her throat. “I don’t blame him,” I snapped as I pulled her close. “I blame you for lying to me all these years. I blame you for ruining us. One way or another, Barbette, I’m going to get to the bottom of what turned you into such a fucking bitch.” Releasing her, she stumbled, and it was all I could do not to reach for her again. Not trusting myself with her at the moment, I stormed away.
I needed a fucking drink.
It was a high school prom, so it was safe to say I wouldn’t find one, so I settled for the next best thing. I was out on the terrace, staring out at the green lawn, blowing smoke in the air when Lou found me. This was the first fag I’d had in nine days—a record yet—and I intended to enjoy it. I could always quit again tomorrow.
“Four and Ever are here. I guess it’s safe to assume they made up since they’re all over each other.”
“Peachy for them.”
“Something tells me you had something to do with that.” I didn’t bother responding or look her way, but that didn’t deter Lou. “I’m curious… was it because you cared, or was it so you could move in on sex-on-a-stick?”
“Both.”
“Which one was more?”
“Quit it, Lou.”
“Make me.”
I looked around for Wren because if anyone could shut her up, he could. Most of the time. “Where’s Wren?”
“Keeping your date company, asshole.”
“Remind me. Why am I an asshole?”
“Because you dragged her here and left her alone with the vultures.”
“I needed air.”
“And she needs a date who’s not a scumbag.”
I looked her up and down. That gown made her look way too innocent. Lou was a fucking menace. “You look beautiful,” I offered matter-of-factly.
“Thanks.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she cocked her head. “Did you bother to tell Bee, as well?”
My gaze averted. No, I hadn’t told Bee a goddamn thing except how much I hated her. It was nothing fucking new. She was always beautiful, even when she wore clothes too big for her and was covered from head to toe in dirt and mischief.
I heard a snap followed by a flash of light and was startled when I saw Lou holding up a camera.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Smile,” she instructed before snapping another picture. Pulling the camera away, she winced. “Oh, boy. That is not a good shot of you. I’d be a friend and delete it, but I don’t like you very much right now. Maybe I’ll post it on Instagram,” she mused. “Those thirst buckets that follow you need to know the truth. Did someone call for, ‘no filter’?”
“For fuck’s sake.” Realizing she was goading me back to Bee’s side, I put out my cigarette and flicked the butt before storming inside in search of my date. I didn’t have to look very hard. Even in a crowded room, she stood out. I gritted my teeth, hating that she was so goddamn breathtaking as I made my way to her.