She leans in this time, pressing a long, hard kiss to my lips. I take it, fighting the urge to rock against her. That’s not what she’s here for, and I need to prove I’m not always about sex.
When she breaks the kiss, she rests her forehead against mine, and smiles.
“This is a huge deal, Zach. I’m so proud of you.” Her eyes drop for a beat. It’s short, but long enough for me to catch it. There’s something else behind her expression.
Doubt? Fear? Maybe a little of both. Either way, I want to break her out of it.
“I’m going to miss you, Honeycomb. Ten days? Have we ever been away from each other that long before?”
“Not that I can remember.” Her eyes flick up to mine and she offers me a small smile.
There’s a small silence between us, and before I can really think about it, I say, “You could always come with me.”
Her eyes flash to mine. “What?”
“Well,” I hesitate, knowing this sounds ridiculous, but I’ve come this far, I might as well keep going. “I hate the thought of you alone in that dorm with those girls still giving you a hard time. And with those weird texts you've been getting—”
“Zach,” she interrupts, laughing now, but it sounds a little forced. “That's crazy stalker behavior. I can't just follow my boyfriend across the country. What about my classes? My internship?”
“Then at least stay here in our home.”
“I’ll think about it,” she says in a way that makes me feel like she’s not really going to think about it at all.
I give her hips another squeeze and bite my bottom lip. “If you do stay, can I request that you only wear my jersey when I get home?”
She laughs, slapping me lightly on the chest. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Fuck, if that hasn’t just made this entire trip worth it.
“Can I invite a couple of my friends over if I do stay?”
Well, shit. I feel happy and fucked at the same time. I’m thrilled she wants to bring her friends here. She deserves that, but it’s those friends I have a problem with.”
“Sure,” I say, drawing it out to emphasize my unease.
Obviously, Honey picks up on it immediately.
“Zach,” she groans. “We’ve talked about this.”
“I know,” I say, raising my hands in surrender. “I’m trying, I just… I just don’t trust them yet.”
How can I?
Jenni lies and manipulates the situation, and Chris looks at Honey the wayIlook at her. I’m not an idiot. I know what he’s doing.
He’s waiting.
Waiting for me to fuck up. Waiting for all of it to become too much for Honey. Waiting for her to see that she’d rather be a mediocre hockey girlfriend than mine.
Well, he’s going to be waiting for a long fucking time.
“Okay, I hear it loud and clear. I won’t invite them here.”
“You can do what you want, Honeycomb. I just want you to be careful with them.Bothof them.”
“Both? What has Chris done?”
She looks genuinely confused.