SWNOVELS Secret Obsession: Chapter 33
TEN MONTHS AGO
She’s upset. I hate that I can tell from here, with the shadows swarming around us. There are so many other things to focus on tonight, but I seem to be drawn to her. My gaze keeps flicking to the curve of her spine, ignoring everything else. The air around us is buzzing, alive with music and laughter, but she’s turned to stone.
Like me.
Her shoulders are hunched, a faint tremor shivering her skin in the cool night air. I saw her arrive and go straight inside, then come right back out. She went to the far end of the porch and sat, and she’s been there ever since.
My first impulse is the one I go with, no hesitation. I strip off my jacket and stride forward, draping it over her shoulders.
It’s May. We’re at the end of our playoff season, which means bigger parties. Classes are almost over. Girls around here have no concept of wearing warm clothing to parties. Too often, the ones who start off smart end up leaving their coats and sweatshirts behind.
There’s a closet in the basement where we put them all. There’s a growing collection of girls’ clothes. And maybe I could’ve gone to get one of them, hoping for the perfect fit, but I think I rather like my jacket around her.
She stiffens, straightening.
I’ve surprised her.
And then I lower myself to the porch floor beside her, letting my legs dangle off the edge, and she relaxes. Just a little bit. She trusts me, and a dark part of me relishes that. I haven’t done anything to break her trust… or earn it. So the fact that I have it makes me glow on the inside.
“What did my asshole brother do now?” I ask her, leaning close and pitching my voice low.
She’s got tears in her eyes, although she sniffs and wipes them away at my closer inspection.
Knox has run the gamut of idiocy. Thinking he’s done something to make his girlfriend cry isn’t a leap. It’s just connecting the fucking dots.
She runs the back of her hand under her nose. “He was flirting with another girl. I walked in, and their heads were bent together…”
My heart bangs around my chest. I want to kill him for putting us through this stupid bet. “That’s not right.”
Willow glances at me, then pulls my jacket tighter around her. She appears to have just come from a dance competition—maybe the last of the year. Her curled blonde hair is in a high ponytail, tied up with blue and silver curled ribbons. The makeup that was probably on thick for the performance is now running down her cheeks in blue and black streaks, belying how long she’s actually been crying. Even her red lipstick is smudged.
Sure enough, when my gaze drops lower than her face, I see her dance uniform. The tight white-and-blue crop top, the blue skirt and the black shorts peeking out from under it. Her white sneakers and tall socks.
Fuck.
Flirting with another girl and he missed her competition?
“He forgot?”
She shrugs and looks away. “I didn’t stick around to ask.”
Cheer her up. Another impulse, another thought I shouldn’t indulge.
But I do.
I hold my hand out between us, palm up, and wiggle my fingers. “Give me your hand.”
“Why?”
I give her a look, and she meets my eyes for the first time. She really examines me. And then she notices my black eye and the cut across my eyebrow, and her teeth dig into her lower lip. I know what she’s thinking—it isn’t a normal hockey fight injury. We’ve sustained plenty of those this year.
This is different. This one happened in the locker room after the game, when I finally blew up at my brother. It’s been months since this bet started, and it was void the moment Greyson backed out of it. But Knox doesn’t fucking care. He fought back, amped up on adrenaline.
We’ve gotten into plenty of scraps before, and I’m sure we’ll get into more. So this time, I don’t tell her where my injuries came from, and she doesn’t ask.
But she does put her hand in mine.
I pull it closer and turn her hand palm-up.
“What are you doing?” she finally asks.
I grin. “Reading your palm.”
“You know how to do that?”
No, but I’m not about to ruin it. Now that I’ve got her hand in mine, I don’t ever want to let it go. But I can’t really say that without bursting this bubble we’ve found ourselves in either. So, I let my body stay hyper-aware of hers, and I run my finger down one of the creases in her palm.
She shivers.
I suppress my smile. “Have you had your palm read before?”
“No.” Her voice is quiet. She leans forward a little, her shoulder bumping mine.
“Well, this one…” I trace it again, just to see if she’ll shiver again. If it tickles her, or if it’s me. I pray it’s the latter. “This is your head line. It says you’re smart and brave.” I glance at her out of the corner of my eye.
Her attention is fixed on her palm, but I can tell that she’s skeptical.
Onto the next one. “Your life line is supposed to tell you if you’re going to live a long and happy life.”
“Am I?”
“Of course. Well, it breaks apart there at the end, so you might be in for some suffering when you get older. I think you’ll be okay, though.” I hunch over her hand, then move to the top crease. “This is your heart line.”
“Does it say my great love will end in heartbreak?” Willow huffs. “Because that’s how it feels right now.”
Knox is not her great love.
“No.” I run my nail down the line, eliciting a beautiful shiver from her. “It says you’re destined to fall in love with me.”
She jerks back like I burned her, clutching her hand to her stomach. “That’s not funny, Miles.”
I keep my gaze steady on her face, although my heart is hammering against my ribcage.
“I don’t make the rules,” I say.
“Willow?”
She hurriedly wipes at her face, removing the evidence of her tears and messed-up makeup. In seconds, she’s presentable, and I don’t know how she flipped that switch so fast. When she twists around, her face is a mask.
Knox comes out onto the porch, his gaze going from her to me, then back again. “Hey, baby. One of the guys said he saw you come in.”
“Yeah, I just got here.” She clears her throat and rises, letting my jacket slip off her shoulders. “Miles was just looking out for me.”
I stare at my brother, trying to convey how fucked up he is, but as usual, he ignores it. Willow takes his hand, and he reels her in. His gaze sweeps her, up and down. He kisses her on the lips and then cinches her to his side.
“Let’s get you a drink.” He guides her toward the door, only glancing back once to make sure I’m watching. Then he raises his hand behind her back and flips me off.
Fucker.
One day, Willow will come to her senses and see him for who he is. And she’ll see me, too. Then it’ll be game on.