“Wh—”
His mouth crashed down on mine, hard and unyielding. It wasn’t a kiss; it was total annihilation. I couldn’t think about anything except how amazing his lips felt moving against mine, his tongue plunging into my mouth in greedy, forceful licks.
I pressed closer, curling my fingers into his t-shirt. God, the boy could kiss. My head swam with desire; strange, unfamiliar sensations igniting a wildfire inside me. Until I was burning from the inside out.
Miles and I had fooled around, spent a lot of time kissing and learning each other’s bodies. But it had never been like this. Like I might explode right out of my skin if I didn’t get more. More…More.
“Zane,” I whispered, hitching my thigh around his waist, needing to be closer.
Needing more.
“Fuck,” he breathed, curving his hand around my throat to slow the kiss. Control it.
Control me.
He licked deep into my mouth again, punching his hips forward.
“Oh God,” I cried, gripping him tighter, but laughter at the end of the hall startled me and like the spell was broken, he shoved me away.
“Fuck.” He punched the wall again. Not hard enough to break skin… but hard enough to make another dent in my heart.
“What was that?” I blinked up at him, my heart crashing violently against my rib cage.
“That… was a fucking mistake.”
His words landed like bullets, tearing through my chest.
“Go,” he growled. “You should—”
“Wait, we can talk about it.” I made the fatal mistake of reaching for him, but he jerked away. Physically repelled by me.
Dejection sank into me, extinguishing the flames inside me, making my lungs squeeze. But I couldn’t accept that it was nothing—that it meant nothing. “You kissed me…”
“Yeah, and I won’t ever do it again.” Disgust washed over him.
He meant it.
Zane meant every word.
It was a mistake; one he wouldn’t make again.
Refusing to let him see how much he’d hurt me, I slipped past him and walked away with my head held high.
Even if my heart was in tatters.
* * *
“Celeste, come over here.”
Chloe had moved seats when I returned, sitting with some guys I didn’t recognize. I hesitated, glancing over at Harleigh. But she didn’t look up. Kye scowled at his sister, and she flipped him off, much to her new friend’s amusement.
Zane was nowhere to be seen.
With a heavy sigh, I decided to trade one shitshow for another.
“Hey,” I said, reaching Chloe.
“Guys this is Celeste. Celeste, meet the guys. Greg and Warner.”