We’re one kiss away from a thrust.
“I just might…
Cause we’re one heartbeat away from the fight
The fight that could bring us to the light
I just might…”
Finally, after Reid repeated the last verse a few more times, I was able to breathe again. It felt like I was floating around the room with the music, my feet unable to touch the floor. Every part of my brain was locked onto all things Reid King. He did it.
He wrote a song, and it was perfect. It gave me goosebumps. Just hearing him made me feel. And watching him? That did something else entirely.
I swiftly ran over to him and stood mere inches away from his crouched body on the couch. His hands stilled, and they were still stuck on the same spot of the last notes he’d played on the guitar. I swallowed my fear and slowly placed my hand underneath his sturdy jaw and raised his head to look up at me. His golden eyes were showing something I’d never seen before: vulnerability. Reid King was at my mercy, even if for just a mere second, and all I wanted to do was take away his vulnerability and fear and hold it for him.
“Reid, you did it,” I whispered, keeping my hand underneath his scratchy chin. “You did it.” My eyes started to well up, and I had no idea why. Reid continued to stare at me from down below. Motionless. He didn’t move once. All the anger and betrayal I had felt since kissing him for the second time melted away. That was the kind of thing that Reid King did to a person. He made you lose focus on everything other than him.
My grip tightened on his chin as I repeated myself. “Reid. You. Did. It.” A timid smile broke along my face. “I felt it. I felt every single word you just sang. I felt it in every part of my body. I could feel that those words were true. I could feel them pouring out of your very soul. You did it.”
Reid t
ook his face away from my hand, the sharp angle of his jaw now facing toward me. I backed up quickly as he got to his feet after placing his guitar to the side. He stood in front of me, his chest to my nose.
I watched the slope of his chest rapidly move with each breath he took. With every inhale of air, I could smell his cologne. The room began to spin as he peered down into my face.
“You wanted me to speak the truth, and I did.”
I took a step back, needing to get out of his space before I did something I regretted. “And how did it feel?”
For every step I took backwards, Reid stepped forward. His eyes dipped down to my mouth before he answered. “Wrong.”
Confused, my eyebrows furrowed. “Wrong?” I looked away for a second, wondering why on earth something that amazing would feel so wrong. “Because it was about someone who hurt you? Someone who doesn’t deserve you?”
Reid shook his head roughly, his brown waves moving effortlessly on his head.
“Was it… was it about Angelina?”
His jaw tightened as his eyes bored into mine. “No.”
“Then who?” I stammered with a low voice. My heart was climbing to my throat. My nerves were standing straight up. Something down below was simmering so hot it was likely to burn me.
Reid took another step toward me. He was so close I had to angle my head up to keep my stare leveled with his.
“You can’t honestly tell me that you don’t know who the song is about.”
Just then, my eyes dropped to his lips, replaying the verse in my head.
“We were one touch away from lust.
So much that your kiss was a must.
Losing track of time, with no direction in sight.
I just might…”
His voice broke through every ounce of armor I had carefully placed around my body before starting today’s lesson. The chains around my heart were clanking to the ground, and the burning image of Reid’s disappointed look from our earlier kisses turned to ash.
Reid’s hand slowly raised, and he cupped my cheek gently, his fingers getting tangled in my hair. “I’m sick and tired of pretending I don’t think of you each morning before I even open my eyes. I’m sick and tired of stealing glances your way, hoping that you don’t notice. I’m so tired of pretending I regret pressing my lips to yours—because I don’t. I know I should, but I don’t, Brooklyn. I want you in every way possible. I can try to deny it all I want, but this”—Reid snatched a rolled-up notebook from his back pocket and pushed it gently to my chest—“this right here proves that every single ounce of denial in my head isn’t true. It proves that you have embedded yourself so deep within my body that I can’t help but allow it to come out when I’m alone at night, scribbling down words to a song that, in the end, revolves around you. For tonight, I don’t want to lie. I don’t want to pull you in and then push you away.”