13. The Kiss
The Kiss
MACKLIN
The background music stops, and the DJ’s voice pulls me out of my mini meltdown.
“Ok, Zetas, Gammas and guests. It’s time to play some party games.
Let’s get some people onto the dance floor and play musical partners.
For those of you who haven’t played before, the game is quite simple.
Choose a partner and dance with them, but pay attention to the music.
If the music stops, you’ll change partners by switching with the nearest couple to you first. Each person has one veto they can use to reject one partner or stay with their current partner until the next switch.
If you’re rejected, you can’t go back to your previous partner but have to find a new one.
When the music starts again, you’ll kiss your current partner, old or new, for one minute if the song has changed too.
If you find yourself without a partner, or your partner refuses to kiss you, you’re eliminated.
The last couple on the dance floor wins bragging rights and a bottle of Champagne.
Couple up, people. We start in thirty seconds. ”
I’ve played a few versions of this game over the years.
When I was dating Gen, I used to hate games like this one.
I always tried to find something else to do.
Any games where there was kissing involved weren’t worth the drama with Gen if she thought I was enjoying kissing someone else a little too much.
Knowing that she did way more than kiss someone else behind my back, her jealousy now feels fake and totally hypocritical.
But tonight, I can’t believe my luck. This could be the perfect opportunity to kiss Talia.
I just have to play my cards right. “Want to dance?” I offer her my hand.
There’s a beat of hesitation before she places her hand into mine and follows me to the makeshift dance floor on one side of the pool.
My plan is simple.
I’ll use my veto to stay with Talia through the first switch.
I’m confident the music will change more often than not.
The goal of this game is to get as many people kissing as possible.
If for some reason luck isn’t on my side and the music doesn’t change after the first break, I’ll find another partner on the next switch and then make sure I’m the person on Talia’s right when the music stops again.
The second the music starts, I pull Talia into my arms.
Fuck. She feels soft and warm, and perfect. Like she was made to be in my arms. If it’s up to me, this won’t be the last time I get to hold her this close.
Right now, she has my undivided attention. It’s as if the other couples on the dance floor didn’t even exist.
“You look gorgeous tonight. That dress is perfect on you.” The compliment slips through my lips as I press her closer to me.
“Thanks,” she whispers. “You played really well tonight.”
She complimented my playing rather than my looks. Does that mean that’s all I am to her? A hockey player?
“I’ve been meaning to text you since yesterday’s class, but time got away from me.
I was wondering if you were free tomorrow morning after practice?
I wanted to take a look at the chapters Professor Cantucci covered yesterday.
I took a couple of the mock tests her T.A.
posted this morning, but I failed them all.
Hopefully, you can help me understand the material better. ”
It’s a lie.
I have no problem understanding the material, and I scored ninety percent on the mock tests I took at lunchtime.
A part of me feels a little guilty pretending I need Talia’s help when I don’t. But it gives me the perfect excuse to spend time with her. So I’ll have to make amends for lying once we’re a happy couple.
“Talia?”
She’s biting her bottom lip again. Her attention isn’t where it should be—on me. Her gaze flits to our right, where Gen is practically dry humping my brother under the guise of dancing.
Irritation makes me grind my teeth, and I pull Talia closer to me so that there is no space between us. Her soft chest smashed against mine and that does the trick.
Her eyes are finally on me.
“Yeah, sorry.” She shakes her head as if to clear her mind. “I don’t have any classes tomorrow morning. We could meet at the library?”
I would have preferred her room, where we could have been alone. But the library works. “I’ll pick you up. I’ll bring breakfast too.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know you don’t have a car, and it’s quite a walk from here to the library. Besides, we both have to eat, right?”
She giggles, and I love the sound of her laughter. I want to hear it as often as possible. “Yeah, especially you after practice.”
“Guilty as charged.” I smile. “Do you have any preference on where I should order from?”
“I’m not picky.”
The music stops at that moment, and my ex’s long, pointy nails tap on Talia’s shoulder.
“Switch,” she demands.
Talia’s eyes leave mine and land on my brother. Fuck that.
“Veto,” I bite out.
Genevieve’s eyes narrow at my refusal. “Fuck off, Vaughn.” She snarls when Vaughn and his partner ask to switch. “Veto. I’m staying with Becks. Right, sweetie?”
“What?” Becks didn’t even notice that Vaughn asked for a switch. His eyes have been trained on Talia this whole time.
“Hey!” Gen snaps. “I’m your partner and your date. Eyes on me.”
But Becks struggles to pay attention. He’s still staring at my girl.
In all the years we’ve known Genevieve, it’s been more than obvious that she’s used to being the center of attention. And when she doesn’t get it, she’s ready to do anything to put the spotlight back on herself.
My ex-girlfriend’s tone is sharp. “Becks! I’m talking to you.”
When Becks’s eyes keep lingering on Talia, Gen takes matters into her own hands. Quite literally.
She cups Becks’s face with both hands and forces him to turn to look her in the eye.
But that isn’t enough for her. She pulls Becks’s face closer and crushes her lips onto his.
“Hey!” the DJ interrupts the music. “The song didn’t change. You weren’t supposed to kiss. You’re eliminated.”
Gen flips her middle finger in the direction of the DJ while she keeps devouring my brother’s mouth.
Becks looks like a deer in headlights. He’s frozen on the spot as Genevieve practically jams her tongue into his mouth.
Everyone is looking at them, but my attention is on the hurt expression on Talia’s face as she looks at the couple making out right next to us.
So it’s true. She likes Becks.
But she barely knows him. They just met. It can’t be more than a superficial infatuation, right?
If my brother likes her, why did he come here as Gen’s date?
It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’ve never felt the way I feel about Talia, and I’m not going to go down without a fight.
I know I can make her happy. And right now? She looks heartbroken as her gaze is locked on my brother and Gen kissing.
What can I do to make her feel better? I’m racking my brain to find something, anything, to put a smile back on Talia’s face when the situation escalates.
I thought I was mad at Gen for how she treated me and for all the mean things she’s done to my best friend Taryn. But this? Using my brother to make me jealous? It’s even lower than I thought she was capable of stooping.
Her eyes met mine for a split second before she began mauling my brother, so I have no doubt about her motivations for kissing him in front of me. She’s trying to get a rise out of me.
I don’t give two shits about what they do. They can start fucking on the dance floor for all I care.
The idea comes to me suddenly, as fast as lightning strikes.
Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone.
Show Gen that I don’t care what she does.
Or who she does. And get what I came here for and hopefully lift Talia’s mood a little.
So it could be even three birds with one stone. A hat trick of some sort.
My mind is made up, and I put my idea into action.
“Come here, Talia.” I pull her closer, like before when we were dancing.
But this time I close the distance between us and crush her mouth with mine.
My ears are roaring with the frantic pace of my heartbeat. A part of me is bracing itself for being slapped across the face or kneed between my legs.
But none of that happens. After a few seconds of hesitation, Talia kisses me back.
Fuck, yeah.
I had always thought that the notion of the entire world fading into the background because of a kiss was something made up in movies and romance novels.
But it happens the second Talia’s lips part for me and our tongues brush against each other.
She tastes like mint and a hint of something sweeter, and I’m instantly addicted.
Her lips are as smooth as silk, and the way she melts against me is everything.
At first she’s still a little hesitant, almost timid. But when I tangle my fingers into her hair, tilting her head to deepen the kiss, Talia stops holding back.
She gives as good as she gets, meeting me stroke for stroke.
I never want to stop kissing her, and I know I want more, so much more. I want everything.
“Oh,” she gasps when I nip her bottom lip with my teeth.
For a second I think maybe it was too much, but rather than breaking the kiss, Talia’s fists hold on to my t-shirt to keep me there. And there is nowhere I would rather be than with my lips on hers and my fingers tangled in her hair.
The trouble with the notion of the entire world fading away because of a perfect kiss is that the world eventually will fight its way back into focus.
In our case, a wolf-whistle and a few catcalls bring me back down to earth.
“Woohoo!” the DJ chuckles into his microphone. “I guess it’s a kissing competition rather than a dancing game. The winner is the couple who lasts longer.”
I don’t give a fuck about what Gen and Becks are doing, but I guess the DJ’s words get through to Talia too.
She steps back with a surprised gasp. Her blue eyes are dark and hazy; her chest is heaving with each labored breath as she takes me in.
The spell is definitely broken when she sees Gen and Becks’s faces still smashed together.
To be fair, my brother looks like a very reluctant participant. Becks keeps trying to push my ex-girlfriend away, but Genevieve is cupping the back of his head with her hand, her claws digging into the back of his neck.
Talia likes Becks. I was right.
Her gaze moves back from me to them, and after shaking her head, she takes off, running back into the house. She looked like she was about to burst into tears.
Fuck. I need to make sure she’s ok. I take off after her, but Sam steps in front of me, blocking my way into the house. “Not now.” She warns me. “Give her a minute. I’ll take care of her.” Talia’s best friend looks less than impressed as she shakes her head after looking at me.
I’m not in the mood to party anymore. I can’t shake the feeling that somehow I fucked up.