by S. J. Sylvis
Piper was right. I was afraid.
I cracked my neck as I pushed down the need to call out her name. The clank of the drawer opening did nothing to soothe me, and when I looked down and saw the cream-colored paper missing, my stomach fell to the floor.
Frantically, I pushed away the untouched makeup and lipsticks, looking for the paper that I knew was there.
What the hell?
I heard a noise and inclined my head toward the door. I stopped moving, my fingers still well inside the drawer, like I’d been caught with my hand in the cookie jar. But when I didn’t hear another noise, I went back to searching.
Where the fuck is it?
It wasn’t there.
My birth certificate wasn’t there.
I snapped my neck over to the door again when I heard a louder, more frantic knock. Shit.
Slamming the drawer shut with frustration, I whipped the bedroom door open to find Piper’s wide eyes.
“What? Is someone—"
Her hand wrapped around my wrist as she pulled me toward her. I slammed the door in the process, and when she backed herself along the wall, she looked up at me and said, “Quick. Kiss me.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice.
My lips were on hers within a second, and everything I was feeling moments ago—the anxiety, the fear—it was completely gone. I grabbed her waist as I assaulted her lips with mine, our hot breath mingling and swirling as I moved my tongue over hers. A fire erupted inside of me, and there was no putting it out. I palmed the backside of her ass as a whimper escaped her mouth, and before I knew it, her legs were wrapped around me, and her hands were knocking my hat to the floor.
This. Fucking yes.
Her lips on mine.
This was sealing that loud but invisible connection we had.
It was just her and me, and I didn’t fucking care about anything else.
Fuck Tank. Fuck racing. Fuck the missing birth certificate.
Her tongue moved over mine, and I wanted more.
“Whoa.”
Piper pulled back as her legs clenched my torso like a vise grip. She wiggled to get down, but I gave her a look. Not a fucking chance.
The sound of a slow clap had us breaking our stare. We were met with Christian’s lazy grin and Hayley’s amused eyes.
“It’s about fucking time.” Christian clapped again, and Hayley smiled wide, glancing down to Piper’s legs wrapped around my body.
Piper wiggled again, and I finally obliged.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Piper answered, all but pushing me away.
Christian chuckled and shook his head. “Riiight.”
I reached down to grab my hat and secretly glanced at the bedroom door, making sure it was shut. There’s no way he knew you were in there. Chill.
“I…um…” Piper began slowly walking away from me. “I probably need to get home to do my homework and start on decorations.”
“I’ll take you,” Hayley said, realizing that Piper was definitely ready to bolt.
I flashed her a warning look. This isn’t over.
Piper’s tongue dipped out of her mouth as she licked her bottom lip. My blood surged as she turned around and began walking down the hall to reach the stairs.
I had to give it to her—Piper was quick on her feet. Using a kiss as a distraction so Christian wasn’t wondering what we were doing standing outside of our parents’ bedroom was good thinking.
But that kiss was so much more.
That kiss sealed the tear in our connection we’d found a year prior.
The real meaning behind the kiss lay in the depths of secrets, and I was definitely ready to unravel them.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Piper
As I sat at the lunch table, I wondered where my allegiance laid. I kept catching Ollie’s eye, feeling that tug in my chest, and I knew, without a doubt, that I stood on the same side as he did. Yesterday, I covered for him. I lied to Hayley, again, when she’d asked me about the kiss she and Christian walked in on. That meant my allegiance laid with him, right? You were supposed to tell your best friend everything, but here I was, covering up for Ollie and hiding more secrets. The bad part about it? I didn’t even feel bad. I just hoped Hayley would understand in the long run. After all, she knew what it was like to love someone.
My fork fell out of my hand, crashing to the tiled floor as the thought slipped through. I couldn’t even pick it up. I was too stunned to do so. Love? You’re not even in a relationship!
“Pipe,” Hayley said, bending to pick up my fork. “Are you good? Your hand is shaking.”
I clasped my hands together, panicking. “What? Yes! I’m fine. What were you saying?”
Hayley eyed me suspiciously but thankfully dropped it. “I asked if you wanted to go get dresses tomorrow after school?”
I blinked. Dresses. Oh, right. “Um.”
“The answer is yes, she’d love to get a dress with you tomorrow, because Piper is, in fact, going to the winter formal with Eric.”
The urge to shoot Ollie a dirty look had the hair on my arms standing erect, but I wouldn’t dare look at him. I couldn’t look at him. The second I did, my face would flame. He’d know exactly what I was thinking. I swore he could read my mind sometimes. There was no way I was risking that, not after having the thought I just had. And not to mention, this morning, I peeked up from my trig book, skimming my eyes over his forearm that was peeking out from beneath his rolled cuff, and my face instantly flamed. Then, at the last second, he turned in his seat and caught me staring. I almost fell out of my desk.
Trying my best to ignore Ollie, I answered Hayley. “Sure. Can we go around five? I’m gonna work on some more decorations tomorrow after school.”
“Yeah, do you need help?”
I picked at the food on my tray, giving her a nod. “We can use all the help we can get.”
I wasn’t in charge of the winter formal, but somehow, I was the only person taking it seriously. There were a few cheerleaders who were on the committee that said they’d stop by to help after practice today, but it was hard to tell how much help they’d actually be.
“I can help, too.” I could tell that Ollie was smiling just by the way his voice sounded.
I kept my eyes down low and tried to keep my heart from sprinting right out of my body. “No, thanks. We’ve got it.”
“Oh, now, come on.” Even his voice was becoming hard to listen to. I kept thinking about the kiss. It was packed full of heat. Ollie’s kiss came from the center of the universe. It gave life. “I said I was sorry.”
Hayley could sense my agitation, so she spoke up for me. “You banned every guy from taking her to winter formal. Saying sorry was just the tip of the iceberg, Ollie. You’re gonna have to do better.”
“What do you think the kiss was for?”
I couldn’t help it; my eyes instantly flashed to meet his. He did that on purpose. He wanted me to look at him and knew the only way I would was if he pushed my buttons hard enough.
The entire lunch table hushed except for one of the football players. “Wait, you guys hooked up?”
A few cheerleaders that Eric was entertaining gasped.
“We did not hook up,” I said very flatly, attempting to shut down the rumor mill before it even started. I shot up out of my seat quickly, snatching my tray in the process. “I’m going to work on decorations. I’ll see you later, Hayley.”
I left the cafeteria, my legs trembling with anger. I wasn’t sure if I was angry with Ollie for telling everyone we kissed, or if I was angry with myself for liking it.
Either way, I was angry.
By the end of the school day, I felt a little better about what had happened yesterday with Ollie and his need to gloat about it at lunch. I took out my frustrations on snowflakes for the formal, and sure, they were cut like shards of glass and looked more like weapons than actual snowflakes, but whatever.
It made me feel a little bit better.
Glitter coated my fingers, and blue and white paint was splattered on my shoes, but it was sort of therapeutic being lost in a creative lull that didn’t involve fast cars, drugs, money, or the kiss.
“Hey.”
My paintbrush stopped stroking the cardboard cut-out of an ice-covered tree. I stared at Ollie’s shoes and tried to appear unbothered. “What are you doing here, Ollie?”
“I’m here to help, obviously.” The cheer in his voice had a small smile trying to work its way onto my face. There was the Ollie everyone was used to. The happy one. The light one. The one who acted like he didn’t have a care in the world.
I put the paintbrush back in the silver paint container and wiped my hands down my skirt as I slowly stood up to stare at him. The lift of his lip and hooded eyes made my heart stop momentarily. My mouth opened, but nothing came out. Why couldn’t I seem to stay mad at him? Why wasn’t he annoying me? Was it the kiss? It was. It was the kiss.
“Go away, Ollie.” I cringed internally. Even I didn’t believe my words.
He chuckled. “Oh, you can do better than that, Piper.”
I placed my hands on my hips, telling myself to stay angry with him. “You’re a jerk for what you said at lunch. Telling everyone we kissed.”
Ollie ignored me as he began taking his uniform blazer off. My eyes followed his every move. He threw it to the side and loosened his tie, then he began to unbutton the top of his shirt. I felt my mouth go dry, and yet, I couldn’t stop myself from staring. Next, he rolled the cuffs of his shirt up to his elbows, and I was instantly sweating.
In the past, I’d done an exceptional job at keeping my feelings to myself. I’d blocked out the night I spent with him like it was nothing. Whenever I was close to him, feeling his body heat clamber off him in the back of Christian’s car, or when I’d catch his wink at Eric’s cabin, I’d play it cool. I’d roll my eyes and brush it off. Nothing to see here.
But yesterday had changed things. My mind was muddled. My hands itched to pull him in close—not even to kiss him, but to just feel him. The chemistry. Our connection. I wanted it.
My heart drummed. My blood trickled through my veins. The auditorium began to blur as I continued to stare.
When I reached his blue eyes, and they latched onto mine, I sucked in a small breath. I dove into their blue depths and found myself stalling. Ollie and I did a lot of staring at each other, but it was because we knew. There was something different about us.
Ollie erased the space between us, and his breath grazed my skin. His whisper floated over all my sensitive spots. “Did that kiss do to you what it did to me?”
I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. I traced the outline of his lips, and I was seconds from pulling him in by his collar when I heard a girl’s voice. “Hey, Ollie.”
Ollie growled, his eyes narrowing, clearly annoyed with the interruption. But me? I was thankful. It helped me get myself together. I was becoming swept away by Ollie, and that scared me.
Ollie ignored the cheerleaders and kept his head dipped down low. “What are you thinking? I see it in your eyes.” His mouth was set in a straight line as he tried to read me. “I see the fear. I see the retreat.”
My mouth opened, and I stuttered, “I’m...I’m…thinking I need you to hang these up over there.”
I quickly backed away and bent down to catch my breath as I pulled up some deranged-looking snowflakes.
He was clearly confused as he took in their appearance, but nonetheless, his large hand wrapped around the snowflakes, and he began walking over to the auditorium entrance and started climbing the ladder.
His eyebrows raised in question as he held one up, asking if it was where I wanted.
I gave him a nod and turned around, kicking myself for acting so stupid around him.
It’s just Ollie, get a grip!
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ollie
I wasn’t going to lie. I missed football. I missed the feeling of grass underneath my cleats, and I missed the way the pigskin felt in my hands as I caught the ball, dashing to the end zone. In fact, I almost tried out for the baseball team just so I had something to do with my time until summer conditioning came around, but I was glad I hadn’t.
If I’d taken up baseball, I wouldn’t have been standing in the middle of the auditorium, helping Piper with these stupid winter formal decorations.
I supposed the old adage was correct: everything did happen for a reason.
“Why are you attacking it like that?”
Piper’s head popped up. She was fucking adorable. “Huh?”
I smirked. “You’re painting that tree with so much aggression your bristles are fraying.”
Piper looked down at the paintbrush in her hand, and her mouth fell open. “Oh. Oops.”
Leisurely, I walked over and gently took the paintbrush from her. “Here, let me.”
A shimmering blue color shined underneath the lights of the auditorium as I stroked the paint on lightly. Piper took a step back, and instead of sighing with frustration like she’d been doing for the past half-hour, she actually looked relieved. Her body slumped down along the wall as she watched me.
My eyes danced around the auditorium. A few guys were standing back, looking at the banner I’d made them rehang because it was crooked the first time they’d hung it. Then, a few cheerleaders that I may or may not have hooked up with a while back were wrapping some see-through material around round tables, and then I was back on Piper.
She had her plump bottom lip tucked in between her teeth, and her legs were crossed at the ankles. I scanned the bare skin between her knee-high stockings and her skirt and forced myself to look away.
“So?” I asked, still painting. “How am I doin’, boss?”
Piper’s lip plopped out of her mouth with a pop, and I was honestly very impressed with my self-control. I wanted her. I was like a lion on the prowl, my blood pressure rising when I’d thought back to yesterday. Her lips on mine. Her legs around my hips. My hands digging into her skin.
Hot. It was so fucking hot.
“Why are you here helping?”
Stroke. Stroke. Stroke. Why was painting feeling dirty all of a sudden?
“Just wanted to help out. Give back to the school, ya know?”
Piper shot me an incredulous look, but I ignored it, going back to painting.
“So, what did you find yesterday?”
Playing stupid, I asked, “Yesterday? What was yesterday?” I waited a second, and just before she tried to answer, I said, “You mean before you begged me to kiss you?”
Piper sucked in a breath and sat up a little taller. The fire in her eyes was evident, but instead of saying something snarky back, she stopped herself. I watched her entire body language change. She wasn’t putting up her metaphorical fists to fight with me; she was backing down.
I was confused at first, and a little let down, until I realized what she was doing.
Her face softened. “Don’t do that with me, Ollie.”
I played it off, getting more than enough paint on my brush. “Do what?”
“Try to change the subject so we don’t have to discuss your problems.”
The grip on my paintbrush grew harder. “Why not? Your annoyance with me is a far better topic to discuss.” I glanced up at her, and her features were relaxed. Patient. I could feel the control slipping. “I know what we can talk about. Let’s talk about your hatred for me. That used to be your favorite topic.”
“I don’t hate you, and you know it.”
“You just don’t like people
knowing I kissed you.”
Piper ignored me. “So? What did you find?”
I held back a sigh as I placed the paintbrush down. I walked over to her and slid down along the side of the wall beside her. Her legs were still crossed at the ankles, her hands in her lap, folded nicely together. She was waiting. And for some reason, instead of feeling trapped and anxious, I felt open. I wanted to tell her.
“I found nothing.”
Her lip jutted out again. “Nothing? What does that mean?”
I shrugged. “The birth certificate I found a year ago—the one that clearly did not have my father’s name on it—was missing. Gone. As if it’d never even existed.”
But it did. I would never forget the feeling of that piece of paper in my hand. It felt heavy. I’d never forget the dense, empty feeling it gave me.
“So…” She looked away, thinking. “That means...”
“That means someone else took it.”
She snapped those green eyes over to me. “Do you think it was Christian?”
I chuckled. “Fuck no.” I glanced back out into the auditorium. A few sets of lingering eyes were on us. One of them was Clementine, a girl I definitely remembered hooking up with at Eric’s. “You know Christian can’t control his anger well. He would have confronted my dad by now, and I would have heard about it from one of them. Or at least sensed it.” I ran my hand through my hair, feeling tired. “I’m sure it was my dad. I kind of hinted that I knew something the other day. A minor slip-up from me.”
“So...now what?”
Fuck if I knew. My head fell back against the wall, and I angled my chin up to the tall ceiling.
I felt the softest brush of skin on my arm and dropped my gaze. Piper’s hand was covering my forearm. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her face. “We’ll figure this out, Ollie. Let’s get through my Tank problem, and then we will tackle this. It’ll be okay.”
The realness in Piper’s voice sucked me right in.
This girl made my world go around, and she had no fucking idea.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure I’d had any idea until recently.