Chapter 8 Another One Bites The Dust
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
My back connects with the side of Tate’s car as Holt crowds me.
His hand slides into the open front of my jacket to grip my waist over the thin material of my shirt.
The heat from his hand is searing. I think it might even fry a couple of my brain cells, because when his mouth connects with mine, I can’t think of anything but this kiss.
Usually, I’m shy about public affection, and right now the parking lot is packed.
Still, I can’t seem to help myself. He’s so warm, and he smells like earth and Holt. And he’s kissing me, and I miss him. I miss him so much.
When his tongue slips in to touch mine, I meet his stroke with one of my own. He groans into my mouth, pulling back. Regret swims in his eyes as he drags a hand through thick, slightly too long, hair. “Damn, Faye.”
“I miss you,” I confess. “You’re always practicing. Or working with your dad and Tate.”
“I gotta save up for Nashville next summer.”
“I know.” Just the thought of Holt jetting off to Nashville with his hockey team in August for two weeks makes my belly flip and flop with unease. Every day, I swear, he gets more and more attractive. Even Mom says Holt’s filling out. But he’ll be sixteen in December, so it makes sense, I guess.
Still…
He bends low to stroke my nose with his. “I hate it when you look like this, Faye.”
I blink up at him—at the boy-man who holds the whole of my tender heart in his hands. “Like what?”
“Like I’m hurting you.”
I flinch. “You’re not hurting me. Why would you say that?”
He lifts a shoulder, studying me. “You seem upset sometimes. When I play.”
I shake my head and force the best smile I can to my face. I don’t want him to feel guilty for loving hockey just because I love him. “It’s your dream, and I want it for you. I just miss you too sometimes, is all.”
He sighs, and there’s relief in it. “We’ll do something Sunday, okay? Spend the whole day together.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. Shit.” He gazes around the parking lot. “This cold sucks.”
It really does suck. We’re pretty much housebound, which doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for kissing, what with Mom and Dad’s open-door rule.
I have to admit that all I really want to do is kiss Holt.
“We’ll figure it out,” I promise, loving the way his eyes soften on me.
He nods. “Yeah.”
Pushing up onto my tip toes, I press a kiss to the underside of his jaw just as Tate appears.
Holt steps away with another thanks to his brother for ‘driving his girl home’ before he hooks his hand around the strap of his hockey duffel and throws it over his shoulder.
He shoots me a wink before he sets to walking the field between the high school and the rink.
I watch him silently for a few minutes before Tate reaches around me to open the door for me. “It’s cold out here, sweet girl. Climb in, yeah?”
Shaking myself from my thoughtful trance, I slide into the front passenger seat and wait for Tate to round the car. When he’s settled beside me, I ask, “No Charity today?”
“Nope.” He doesn’t look at me as he shifts the car into drive, and eases from the parking space he backed into like a pro this morning.
Because I’ve grown closer to Tate, I press, “Another one bite the dust?” A grin quirks his lips, but he still doesn’t look at me. I poke again. “She wasn’t good enough for you, anyway.”
This time, his eyes slide to me. “No?”
“Nope.” I shake my head. “You’re Tate. You deserve the best.”
“Who would that be?”
I shrug. “You’ll know when you meet her.”
His eyes linger on me for a moment too long before he tears his gaze away to peer outside the windshield. Quietly, he murmurs, “Yeah, figure that’s true.”
“We have to be something epic. It’s Halloween, Holt!” I’m giddy with the excitement of dressing up, bouncing on the balls of my feet as I flip through costumes in the pop-up store.
Because Tate was between girls, again, me, Holt, Micha, and Andy all piled into Tate’s car and we made the hour drive to the city, on the search for the most epic Halloween costumes.
Holt told me he had to pay Tate fifty dollars to do it, but because none of our group could drive, we really didn’t have a choice but to bribe Tate.
“I thought we were supposed to go as a couple this year?” Micha taunts Holt. “Weren’t you supposed to be my bitch?”
“Naw, man.” Holt grins, unfazed. “You’ve always been my bitch.”
I roll my eyes, flipping past a warty looking wizard and landing on… “Oh!” I pull out the costume and jump with excitement. Three sets of male eyes drop to me. “We can be Romeo and Juliette.”
“I like it,” Andy says, her eyes on the costume.
Holt frowns. “You want to be the world’s most tragic couple?”
“I want to be the world’s most iconic couple.” I huff. “Perspective, Holt.”
“We can’t be Romeo and Juliette, peaches. We’d be setting ourselves up for devastation.”
Micha claps Holt on the shoulder. “Yeah, I’m with Holt.”
My eyes slide to Tate. “What about you?”
A muscle in his jaw jumps. “You’d look beautiful in it, Faye, but for once, I’ve got to side with Holt.”
I sigh, my disappointment crushing. Holt looks irritated with Tate, but he moves in close to me. Taking the costume, he places it back on the hook before his hands find my hips, and he drags me into him. “We’re going to find that epic couples costume you want, baby. I promise.”
Another one of Holt’s promises. My heart lifts just a little, because he hasn’t broken a single one yet. “Okay.”
Like he just can’t resist, he slides the tip of his nose along the bridge of mine. I shiver under the heat of his deep rumble. “Okay.”