Tyler shoves a hand through his hair. “One sec,” he calls back, his gaze on me. I adjust my clothes, and he helps me off thewall.
I square my shoulders and lift my chin. “Thatwas…”
“Fucking crazy.” His heavy exhale makes me inordinatelyhappy.
“Yeah. It was fuckingcrazy.”
He steps close, leans his forehead against mine as if he can put off the inevitable, steal a few more seconds where it’s just him andme.
That tiny gesture gives me more hope than anything he couldsay.
“Enjoy the guitar,” I toss when he steps back. “And I won’t tell anyone crying turns you on. It’s our littlesecret.”
He smirks at me, and my heartflips.
As I turn for the door, I decide the only thing better than Tyler smiling is Tyler smiling when his mouth is still swollen frommine.
* * *
“Your lilies need mulch,”Brandon says when I close the door afterhim.
“Where’d the othersgo?”
“They took off. You were taking too long.” Brandon rubs a hand over his jaw. “Trisha called. She doesn’t think she has more gigs for us. I’m guessing you guys haven’t smoothed thingsover.”
“Nothing to smooth. We’re done.” I haven’t seen Trisha since the night of the party. “I coulda used the tutoring before exams, but it wasn’t worth thedrama.”
I turn to see Brandon circling thebed.
“Damn, this is sweet.” His fingers slide over the strings and frets, admiring the wood, the full sound. “It’syours?”
“Yeah.”
Brandon’s low whistle is admiring. “One of my brothers bought me a six-foot stuffed lizard for my sixteenth birthday party as a joke. This is way better. What’s theoccasion?”
I take it from him, put it back in the case, and close it before following him to the couch and dropping onto the opposite end. “It’s my ‘I’m in over my head and it’s all my fucking fault’party.”
He frowns. “That some Catholicthing?”
I shoot him a look. “Jax introduced me to a guy who can get me working in New York aftergraduation.”
“No shit. When are yougoing?”
My abs clench. “This summer, Iguess.”
“You guess,” heechoes.
I rub a hand over my mouth. I swear I can still taste her. “When I came here, it was a short-term deal for my music. I wasn’t planning to make friends. Nooffense.”
“None taken.” He cocks his head. “I always figured part of why you ran with us was to keep Carly and others from fucking with yourgirl.”
I swivel on the couch to stare him down. “What are you talkingabout?”
He smirks. “It’s obvious. Not to all of them, but to me. Only reason Carly can’t see it is she doesn’t want to. She’s got what my dad would call a vested interest. Gotta say, I’m sorry I missed that stunt at rehearsal. Sounds like a boldmove.”
I shove off the couch to pace the room, thinking of Kellan’s and Carly’s bewildered faces. “It’ll costme.”
“No. It’ll costher.”