“Take it easy,” Griffin murmured softly, like I was a wild colt that needed soothing so I didn’t bolt away. His fingers lightly stroked my hair. “I’m not going to hurt you, Grange. I promise.”
His hands—just touching me—was like electricity shooting through my body. My breath caught and I made this slight moaning sound. It was embarrassing and yet I couldn’t really focus on it or anything that was happening. All I could think about was his lips. They looked so soft and pink and shiny.
I’d thought about them before actually, lots of times, dreamed of them. Every night for a while. Back in junior high I’d had this mad, monster crush on him. It was embarrassing and stupid and crazy since he didn’t even know I was alive. And, yeah, he was a thug.
Still, it made this moment … surreal.
My head was swimming. I had all these wild, scattered thoughts dashing around in my brain, but they all came back to this: I’m going to kiss The Griff, The Grief Master! It had my heart pumping frantic and my pulse zooming wild.
Gripping the door behind me for support, I wondered if I was going to faint. It seemed like maybe I was. Or have a heart attack. Something dramatic and embarrassing like that.
I squeezed my eyes shut wondering what it would be like kissing The Griff for real. Would he be like out on the hockey rink—rough and tough? Would he give me whiplash? Somehow, I didn’t think so. If his kiss was anything like his touch just now, or like in my junior high macking dreams, I was going to explode and die from delight.
Full of curiosity I leaned in for the kiss.
But there was nothing. No mouth crashing against mine, no I love you, Ally confessed in my ear. No nothing. I leaned in further and waited.
And waited.
Still … nothing.
Finally, cautiously, I peeked my eyes open just a squint wondering what was up but afraid that my face was right next to his.
It wasn’t.
Griffin was just watching me, his seductive brown eyes glistening like he knew exactly what had been going on in my brain. He gave a husky little laugh and then (oh!) he drew his soft, pink lips against mine, just brushing them—lightly, tenderly.
Though it felt oh-so-good—or maybe because it did—I tensed and jerked a bit. Just a tiny bit, but still, I jerked.
“Relax.” Griffin’s sexy, pink lips hovered over mine, just barely—teasing me, making me yearn. Then his hot mouth pressed against mine for real.
Only for a second though, because just then Mrs. Finkle barged into the room from the side-door, which connects to Mr. Johnson’s class. The large woman plopped down her armload of books on the nearest desk but we didn’t really notice. We didn’t notice anything except our tongues and heat and passion. Well anyway, that was all I noticed— until her loud, booming voice made me jump a mile in the air.
“I’m going to give you two exactly one second to clear out of my classroom,” Mrs. Finkle huffed impatiently. “Then I’m handing out detention slips.”
CHAPTER 3
So, that was the first time I kissed “Griff the Grief-Master.” And I—at the time—wasn’t even sure it counted. I mean, it counted for me because it was amazing. I’d felt tingles all the way down to my toes. Seriously. Tingles. It had me in a dreamy, hormone-induced daze for hours.
But I wasn’t sure if The Griff would count it as a real kiss since we’d only barely touched lips—well, tongue—when Mrs. Finkle barged in and interrupted. Dang her! … Or, uh, lucky me. Depended on how you looked at.
Anyway, I wasn’t sure Griffin would count it as a real kiss.
So, as my best friend, Jazz, and I waited to meet up with Aiden after his hockey practice I was incredibly anxious. Jazz and I sat huddled over our trig books in the school library pretending to be doing equations, but really worrying and discussing whether The Griff had punched in my boyfriend’s face or not.
I hadn’t told Jazz about the kiss or what Griffin had said—that if I kissed him he wouldn’t kill Aiden. I’m not sure why I kept it from her. I basically tell her everything. But I didn’t tell her that. I guess I was kind of embarrassed about it … and felt slightly guilty. I guess. My feelings were all tangled and confused. Anyway, I just couldn’t bring it up.
I gave a literal sigh of relief when Aiden finally came into the library—his adorable face still intact. I sighed again as he slid into the seat beside me and grinned, showing off his little cute dimples. Love!
“I saw Griffin at practice,” Aiden said, leaning in close and talking confidential-like as we were in the library where you aren’t supposed to talk, and so that anyone that didn’t already know The Griff had a beef with Aiden didn’t find out now—add fuel to the drama flame.
Another smile crept on Aiden’s adorable lips as he went on whispering to me animatedly, obviously still on a high from his escape from near death. “When Griffin showed up at practice—late—I was ready to have it out—totally ready to die—right there, at practice. And The Griff made a move toward me, like ‘I’m going to kill you, punk.’ But then he laughed and said, “Nah, just kidding. We’re square.”
Aiden chuckled, like it was hilarious, but I knew it was just relief. He’d been scared, even more scared than he was letting on. Aiden had wanted to fit in with “the guys” on the hockey team. But he wasn’t like them. He was sweet. When he tried to be “tough” it just pissed everyone off. The guys on the team called him a “poser.” It hurt his feelings, and definitely if he got his face smashed in by The Griff that wouldn’t have helped.
So, deep inside me things were gushy and excited. My heart was doing acrobats. Griffin had let Aiden off the hook—because of me. Because of my kiss. How cool! My kiss had saved my boyfriend’s pretty face. Awesome, awesome!
I felt all warm and tingly and tried telling myself that it was just because I was glad Aiden was okay and intact and didn’t get pounded to the ground in front of his teammates. But I wasn’t really sure that was the only reason. I mean, I wanted it to be the only reason, but I was afraid it also had to do with The Griff—that he had let Aiden save-face (literally) because of me. I felt … touched.
Jazz raised her eyebrows then furrowed them, obviously astounded by the unexpected turn of events. “We’re square? Griffin said that? We’re square?”
She said it again, incredulously, like: No way.
Aiden shrugged, still smiling. “That’s what he said.”
Jazz didn’t look convinced. “Maybe he wants it to be a surprise attack.”
Aiden shrugged again. “I don’t think so. He seemed in a good mood—like he just aced a test or something. He let me off the hook—we’re square.”
“Griffin Piper doesn’t let people ‘off the hook,’” Jazz said knowingly, like she was all up on Griffin. “He’d beat you up on principle alone. You called him a Neanderthal.”
Aiden didn’t miss a beat. “He is.”
“Yeah, but see, that’s just it,” Jazz said. “He has a reputation to uphold.”
I traced my lips, still feeling the warmth of Griffin’s hot mouth, or imagining I could. Obviously, Jazz was wrong. Griffin didn’t care about maintaining his bad-boy reputation as much as she thought. Apparently.
Either that or … he wanted to kiss me pretty bad. The thought made my body kind of spastic and had all the hairs on my arms standing on end. Only that was nothing compared to my heart. It was beating all crazy. But it was dumb to get so worked up over the ridiculous thought. I knew that. It wasn’t like Griffin had a “thing” for me or anything. He didn’t. I knew that. I don’t think he even ever noticed me before.
Well, I used to think that—that Griffin didn’t notice me. But he knew my last name was Grange, and that Aiden was my boyfriend, so obviously he knew more about me than I thought. But we never had any classes together—and he never talked to me before. Well, except once.
It was a long time ago, though.
Back in junior high I’d been carrying an armload of books as I had to change lockers since the girl that had the
locker above mine liked to make-out with her boyfriends at her locker, which was, you know, in the same proximity as mine—like right on top of it. And I totally hated to interrupt them to get into my locker, especially because the girl was kind of scary. I mean, I was actually slightly afraid of her. So, instead of being late for every class, or hauling my books around with me everywhere, I decided to change lockers.
Anyway, I was carrying an armload of books and some guys were joking around, wrestling with each other in the hallway and one of them, Jake Edwards, accidently bumped into me and knocked down the top couple of my stacked books.
Jake laughed about it and called me a “school girl,” and in case you can’t tell, Jake was a jerk back then (and still is, by the way).
But Griffin had been one of the guys messing around with Jake. He might have even been the one that pushed Jake into me. I’m not sure. But anyway, there were three of them—three big, bully-guys. So I was nervous and just wanted to get away from them. I even considered leaving the dropped books behind and just taking off. Seriously, that’s how bad I wanted to get away.
But as I contemplated making a dash for it, Griffin quickly picked up the fallen books. Only then he didn’t hand them back. At first I was terrified he was going to start chucking them at me or at random people as Jake and his friends would probably do something like that, and Griffin had seemed like that kind of jerky guy too. But he didn’t chuck them or do anything mean.
Instead he said, “Sorry, about that. Your arms are pretty full.” He started to take the rest of the stack from me. “I’ll carry your books for you, okay?”
His friends razzed him for that, making kissing noises and saying, “Aww, Griffin’s all soft for School Girl.”
But Griffin just quirked his eyebrows at them like they were idiots—which made me right then and there instantly get a monster crush on him—and secretly keep it for the whole next year, though Griffin never talked to me again and immediately started dating skanky girls—one right after the other.
So, that was that.
Until that day—
When Griffin kissed me and didn’t bash in Aiden’s face.
CHAPTER 4
All that happened almost a year ago—me saving Aiden’s pretty face with my kiss.
I didn’t kiss Griffin again until the night of Fauna Lutz’s party and I wouldn’t have even gone to that party if Aiden hadn’t dragged me along. So, in a way, it was kind of Aiden’s fault—again.
See, the thing is—I’m not a party girl. I mean, I’m just not, at all. (I’m a church girl.) Drinking parties make me uncomfortable and are just so not my thing. And Aiden knew that. But Fauna was his new lab partner and she invited him to her party and so, of course, Aiden wanted to go. Because Fauna is all cute and a cheerleader and has killer curves.
So, ugh.
“Come on, Ally,” Aiden had coaxed. “It will be fun.”
“No, it won’t,” I’d said, completely serious and determined not to go.
Fauna wanted Aiden. She did. And she wasn’t even shy about letting him know—or me know, for that matter. No way was I going to go to her party and watch her hang on him, drool on him. I’d rather stay home and barf. At least then I wouldn’t be doing it in front of people, but having to hang around and watch the way Fauna scammed on my boyfriend and the way he sucked it up—turning into a total sap—it would definitely make me barf.
And I wasn’t up for it.
But Aiden had been my boyfriend for a long time. He knew how to push my buttons. “Come on, Ally—please? All the guys from the team will be there. I’m still trying to fit in with them, you know that.”
Ugh.
Guilt.
Working.
But I wasn’t ready to cave, not yet.
“Can’t you just go without me?” I sulked. “I don’t like drinking parties—you know that. And I hate Fauna. She’s going to flirt with you all night and I’m going to rip her hair out.”
Aiden laughed, snuggling up to me. “That would be fun—I’d like to see that.”
“Yeah, so would your team,” I snorted. “Look, just go alone.”
He squeezed my hand. “You know I won’t go without you.”
“Right. So lets just stay home and watch a movie—I’ll make you a lava cake.” (One thing you should know about me—I like to cook. A lot. I might become a chef, only probably not.)
“Look, Ally,” Aiden said all be reasonable, “I don’t like Fauna—not like you’re worried about. But I have to get in with the guys—they treat me like crap.”
I sighed. In the end, I gave in to him because he was my boyfriend and being part of the team was important to him. It was. I knew that. But so was Fauna—she was way more important to him than she should have been—whether he was willing to admit it or not. And he wouldn’t have been so insistent that we go if it had been one of “the guys” inviting him to a party. But then again, “the guys” would never invite him to a party. So, blah. I made Jazz come with us, though, so she and I could whisper about what a skank Fauna was—while she was hitting on my boyfriend.
But at the party Fauna made the rounds, not seeming all that into Aiden, which was a relief. But then everyone started gathering in the basement—well not everyone, but a lot of people and Aiden dragged me over to the largest group. They were playing a game called “Three Minutes in Heaven.” It was kind of like spin the bottle, but there was a closet involved.
Aiden had said he just wanted to sit in the circle with the group since most of the hockey team was hanging out over there, but he swore we would only kiss each other if our turns ever came up (which it didn’t seem very likely our turns ever would since the group was so big). And he swore he wouldn’t kiss Fauna. He swore it.
He said, “Of course I won’t kiss her, Ally.” Then he grinned, flashing me his dimples and looking all adorable. “Not even if she begs.”
So, we went over to the group and I made Jazz come with us and our friend Destiny too who was somehow at the party though I didn’t think to invite her and so I was kind of shocked to see her because she was like me and didn’t go to drinking parties. But there she was, sipping at a drink and was all, “I wanted to have a little fun.”
So, I dragged her with us over to the enchanting game of “Three Minutes in Heaven.”
The rule was, a person would spin the bottle and whoever it pointed to would choose someone to go into the closet with for “Three Minutes in Heaven.”
When the bottle pointed at Aiden, it was kind of fun, because he chose me, of course, and we got to spend three minutes in the dark closet kissing which was sort of fun as we had never done that before—kissed in a pitch black closet with half our school outside the door.
But then, just a little later, I squeezed my eyes shut because the bottle pointed at Fauna. And she was slightly drunk. And totally a bimbo.
“I want you,” she told Aiden.
All his team made “Ohhh,” noises and “Go for it!” chants and Aiden cut his gaze to me, like wanting my permission, like please don’t make me look whipped in front of the guys, Ally. But Fauna grabbed his face all seductive, and made him look up at her, into her smoky, I want you eyes. “It’s just a game Aiden,” she purred. “Your girlfriend can handle it.”
Then she dragged him into the closet—only it wasn’t exactly dragged. He didn’t put up as much of a fight as he should have. In fact really, he didn’t put up that much of a fight at all. I mean, he had a big, goofy grin on his face.
I was going to get up and leave, but Destiny put her hand on my knee and Jazz whispered in my ear, “If you leave, she’s going to get her way.”
And I didn’t want that—no matter what. So, though I could barely breathe, I stayed. And when they finally came out of the closet—Aiden all flushed and his hair disheveled—I tried to smile and talk with Jazz and Destiny as though I didn’t have a care in the world and I didn’t even know Aiden had been away.
I could feel his teammate’s eyes on me as
Aiden took his seat beside me, but I went on telling my friends this hilarious story that happened at school today—though I was making the whole thing up and I could tell Jazz and Destiny knew it. Still, they sat staring at me with frozen smiles trying to play along and act like my story was fascinating and incredibly funny and everything was super terrific though my world had just fallen apart.
Aiden took my hand and kissed it and whispered in my ear, “Sorry, Ally. I didn’t know what to do.”
I snatched my hand away and went on talking with Jazz and Destiny and totally ignoring him.
He whispered, “Are you mad?”
Totally stiff, I shook my head, still talking with my friends.
The game went on, from one curious couple to the next.
We were in a big circle with around thirty people, so only half were really paying attention to the game—the other half just visited, only getting into the game if someone they liked had the bottle point to them.
“You seem mad,” Aiden whispered. “Ally, it’s not my fault. I didn’t choose her—she chose me.”
Just then the bottle pointed at Griffin. I wouldn’t have even noticed, but Destiny squeezed my knee in anticipation. She totally had a crush on Griffin. She had ever since he sang at our school’s talent show. His band totally rocked it. Half the girls at our school now melted whenever Griffin so much as looked at them.
Destiny sucked in her breath. But Griffin had been in the middle of a conversation with a gaggle of his friends and Hailey Cox—the girl that used to have her locker over mine in junior high. He didn’t seem to have a clue about the game—that we were even playing one.
“What?” he said to the group since all of us were staring at him, waiting for him to choose a girl to kiss. “I’m not playing,” he informed us off-handedly, but then he seemed to weigh the game in his head. “Wait—I’m supposed to choose someone to take into the closet?”
He grinned, flinching his jaw from side to side like he does when he’s thinking, apparently changing his mind. “Okay.”
The Heartbreaker Next Door (The Hockey Team Book 1) Page 10