I feel dazed — from the alcohol in my veins, from his unexpected words, from this entire night. I can’t move. I can’t do anything except watch him narrow that gap between us, his mouth heading straight for mine.
He’s going to kiss me, I think stupidly.My first kiss. It’s finally happening.
At seventeen, it is a milestone long overdue. But now that it’s finally arrived, I’m oddly unsettled — which makes no sense at all. How can something I’ve been waiting for forever somehow feel so incredibly rushed?
Probably because it’s happening with the wrong person.
I push away the unwelcome thought and try to focus on the boy in front of me. The one who finds mefunnyandmysterious. The one who wants to kiss me in the starlight, with the waves crashing a stone’s throw away. The one who is actually interested in being more than just my friend.
I’m not sure what’s more pathetic — the fact that, in this moment, with Ryan’s mouth a hairsbreadth from my own, I can’t stop wishing I was about to kiss someone entirely different… or that I’m still wasting wishes on that someone, when he’s probably inside at this exact moment with his tongue in some other girl’s mouth.
Stop.
Thinking.
About.
Archer.
Closing my eyes, I square my shoulders and brace myself for the brush of Ryan’s lips. Only… it never comes. Instead, I hear the sudden rush of footsteps, followed shortly by the dull thud of a fist making impact with a cheek. I hear a male roar — one I recognize all too well.
“Get the fuck off her!”
My heart stops.
I know that voice.
Ryan’s warmth is ripped abruptly from my side. By the time I manage to open my eyes and register what’s going on, he’s sprawled in the grass ten feet away. Standing above him with clenched fists, his chest pumping harder than the pistons of a steamer engine, is the last person in the world I expect to see at this moment.
“Archer!” I spring to my feet, stumbling a bit in the process. “Are you out of your mind?!”
My best friend doesn’t look at me. He’s too busy glaring down at Ryan, who’s still sprawled in the grass moaning lightly, clutching his cheek. A bruise is already blooming.
“Oh god, Ryan…” I wince, starting in his direction. “Are you okay?”
“He’s fine.”
Archer’s voice is cold as ice. I actually shiver at the sound of it, my steps faltering to a sudden stop halfway between the two boys — one on the ground, looking as bewildered as I feel, the other looming like a thunderstorm, electrically charged with inexplicable anger.
“You hit me, man!” Ryan clambers to his feet. “What the hell?”
Archer offers no explanation. His jaw is locked so tight, I’m not sure he’s able to breathe, let alone speak. For the life of me, I cannot fathom what’s set him off. He’s never acted like this before, in all the years I’ve known him. Not once.
Of the two of us, I’m the one with the temper. I’m the one who flips out and storms off, sulking until he talks me down with that calm voice, those deep eyes. We balance one another — me a boiling froth, him a steady undercurrent. Where I’m dramatic, he’s unperturbed. While I overreact, he takes everthing in stride.
At least… usually.
This black rage of his, this swelling anger, dark enough to blot out the stars… it’s a side I’ve never seen before.
A side I’m not certain I like.
“Archer…” His name comes out almost as a plea. “What is going on?”
Ryan glances at me. “Come on, Valentine. I think we should go.”
“She’s not going anywhere with you, Snyder.” Archer steps forward, his eyes locked on Ryan with lethal precision. “You should walk away. Before I make you walk away.”
“That a threat, Reyes?”