Chapter 20 #2
Wes was already partway down the street, and I hurried after him, my heels echoing through the night air as they hit the concrete. “Wes?” I called out. “Wes, slow down.”
He didn’t seem to hear me. It wasn’t until I finally managed to grab hold of his arm that he stopped. He turned to me with agony thick in his eyes.
I sucked in a breath as I realized there was only one person who could have made him react that way. “That was Sarah back there, wasn’t it?”
He slowly nodded, his hands reaching up to grip his hair in frustration. “I thought she broke up with me because of the distance. I didn’t realize there was someone else…”
I hated seeing him this way. Wes was always so sweet and put together, but right now he was a total wreck. I didn’t blame him for feeling that way. I’d be the exact same if I were in his shoes.
“Are you sure it was her?” I asked. It had been dark in the club, and all I’d been able to see was the back of the girl’s head.
“It was her.”
I swallowed, trying to ignore the way his voice broke as he spoke. “Maybe it’s not as bad as you think,” I murmured. “Just because she kissed someone at a club doesn’t mean they’re serious. Maybe she’s like you and hurting too?”
He wiped a hand down his face as he groaned. “That doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
“I know.” I didn’t know what else to say to make him feel better.
I pulled him into a hug, and he grasped me back tightly like I was the only thing holding him together. I could hear his pain in his ragged breath. I could feel it in the way his muscles had seized up.
“I’m sorry, Wes. I’m so, so sorry,” I murmured as I held him.
He slowly pulled back to look me in the eyes. “I just want to forget,” he said. “I want to forget her, the pain, hell, I’d forget my own name right now if I could. I—”
I didn’t wait for him to continue. His every word was a bleeding wound, a deep gash in his chest that I needed to heal. There was only one way I thought I could help him in this moment, and I didn’t hesitate as I lifted myself against him and pressed my lips to his.
His breath caught in his throat, and he froze against me. I’d truly taken him by surprise, and his hesitation had me worried I’d made a terrible mistake. It only lasted a moment because suddenly he was pulling me closer. His arms wrapped around me, and his lips moved hungrily against mine.
We might have been standing on a New York sidewalk in the middle of the night, but I lost all sense of the outside world as Wes started kissing me like I was the very oxygen he needed to breathe.
He was the air for me too, and it felt like he was saving me just as much as I was saving him. For the first time in weeks, I felt something other than pain and uncertainty. I felt the blissful ecstasy of a mind clear from churning thoughts.
I was probably going to regret this come morning.
But that didn’t matter right now. Wes was a really good kisser, and all I could wonder was why I hadn’t done this before.
Kissing him was like taking a painkiller for a headache, and I was an idiot for enduring the constant dull ache inside of me when there was such a simple and easy fix.
When we finally broke apart, I was nervous to look at him.
I wasn’t sure how he was going to react, but when I glanced up at him, I was relieved to find he was no longer staring back at me with the same hurt-filled eyes.
Instead, he was looking at me in wonder, like he was seeing something amazing for the very first time.
“You kissed me.” He finally broke the silence.
“You kissed me back.”
He slowly smiled. “Yeah, I did.”
He seemed happy, but I wasn’t exactly sure what he was thinking. I was still clutching his shirt, and I dropped my hands to my sides. Wes didn’t let my hands get far before he caught them up in his own.
“I’m glad you kissed me.”
“You are?”
“I’ve been thinking about it all night,” he admitted. “I know I was upset about Sarah, but just so you know, I wanted to kiss you before you jumped on me.”
“I didn’t jump on you.” I blushed
“I didn’t say it was a bad thing. In fact, I think I needed it to snap out of my meltdown.”
“There were probably other ways.”
“Probably,” he smiled. “But none I would have liked as much as that. It worked like a charm. Your kisses are kind of magical...” His gaze dipped to my lips, and my heart leaped as I wondered if he was about to kiss me again. I didn’t get a chance to find out because his phone started ringing.
I deflated a little as he glanced away, but it was probably for the best. Wes’s lips had been kind of magical too, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to fall under his spell.
“Sawyer, this better be good,” Wes said as he answered the phone. He waited a beat as his brother responded before he spoke again. “Yeah, I saw her too. I’m outside the entrance to the club with Isobel. I don’t know if we’re going to go back in.”
I really hoped we weren’t. I didn’t think it would do Wes any good to see his ex again, and one night of club dancing was enough to last me a lifetime.
Wes hung up the phone and focused on me once more. “The others are going to come meet us outside. Sawyer said Anna’s had a few too many drinks and we should probably get her home anyway.”
“Yeah, it feels like time to call it a night,” I agreed.
Wes’s eyes flicked down to my lips, and my stomach clenched as I pictured kissing him one more time. The last thing I needed right now was for our friends to walk out and find us making out, so I took a step back to remove the temptation. It was the right decision because the others soon joined us.
“You okay, man?” Sawyer asked, clasping Wes on the arm as he came up behind us with Cress and Anna.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Wes said, still smirking at me.
Sawyer frowned in my direction and then looked back at his brother. “I thought you’d be a mess after seeing Sarah.”
Wes shrugged. “It was a shock when I first saw her, but I’m feeling better about it now.”
“Good, because you deserve so much better than her,” Anna said, shaking her head. She didn’t seem as drunk as Wes had suggested. “Have you guys been out here long?”
“Long enough that it’s starting to get cold,” I responded.
It wasn’t that bad, but I was eager to leave.
I didn’t want the others beginning to wonder why Wes was miraculously doing so well after seeing his ex kissing someone.
And he kept looking at me with that amused look on his face, which wasn’t helping.
“I’ve ordered an Uber,” Cress said. “It should be here any minute.”
“I’ll order one for us too,” Sawyer said to his brother.
The girls and Sawyer chattered away as we waited, but Wes and I were both silent. I wondered if he was thinking about our kiss just as much as I was. Given the smiles he kept sending me, he must have been. And he wasn’t even being slightly subtle about it.
When our car arrived, Cress and Anna moved quickly toward it.
I glanced over my shoulder as I slid into the car after them.
Wes was still smiling at me, and I mouthed at him to stop, but that only made his grin wider.
It wasn’t until I got home and checked my phone that I saw he’d sent me a text message too.
Wes: Thanks for a magical evening.
I shook my head and stuffed my phone under my pillow. Our kiss was a spontaneous, one-time thing, and nothing more.
Still, I couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off my lips as I drifted off to sleep.