Page 53 of Healing Souls

“Did you have any nightmares?”

Thinking for a moment, I shake my head. “No.”

Ryker’s grin turns into a huge smile that overtakes his entire face as he beams at me. He pushes himself up so his hands rest on each side of my shoulders and stares down at me.

His messy hair falls down in front of his face, and I reach up and brush it back without thinking.

His eyes roam over me as I drop my hand to my stomach and don’t move. With Ryker hovering over me, I don’t feel suffocated or scared. “What are you staring at?” I question with a raised brow after a few minutes of his unrelenting staring.

“You, of course.” He says it as if it’s so obvious.

He balances on one hand and lifts the other one to my face, running his finger over my scar. My muscles tense and panic bubbles up in my chest. I want to shove him off of me before he can tell me how ugly—

“You're so fucking gorgeous.” His finger moves to run across my lower lip. “I really want to kiss you right now, but I’m worried it might scare you away,” he says softly.

“Do it,” I breathe, my heart slowing as he somehow unknowingly takes away the impending panic that was rising.

His eyes darken, and before I can even process that those words actually just came out of my mouth, he grips my jaw and leans down, pressing his lips to mine. He kisses me hard and relentlessly like he has been waiting forever for this moment.

His tongue touches my lips, and I let out a gasp, which gives him access to my mouth. Every feeling I have had towards him seems to intensify as this new wave of desire comes over me in a way I have never felt before. My hands finally unfreeze from where they were resting on my stomach, and I hesitantly touch his sides, running my hands onto his back and gripping his shirt.

What feels like minutes, but I know to only be seconds, go by before he is breaking away and pulling back just enough to stare into my eyes.

The smoldering flames that seem to light up in his irises startles me, and I feel like he’s reflecting what might be showing in my own eyes. His lips slowly curve up into a gorgeous smile that I can’t take my eyes away from. He opens his mouth to say something, but then someone is knocking on the door and a bucket of ice water is practically dumped over my head.

Ryker kisses the tip of my nose and hops off the bed before going to the door. He opens it to reveal Grayson on the other side. “Time to get ready. We leave in twenty minutes.”

I furrow my brows and get up from the bed, walking up behind Ryker. “Where are you going?”

Grayson looks past Ryker to me, and his face turns bright red. “School,” he almost squeaks.

Ryker glances over his shoulder at me and starts cracking up, laughing. “Cute hair,” he says in between laughs.

I roll my eyes but speed-walk towards the bathroom, locking myself in. Then I stand at the counter and look in the mirror. My hair is its normal bedhead disaster, sticking up everywhere, and some of the braids came out.

I grip the edge of the counter with both hands and lean forward, staring at my slightly swollen lips.What the fuck am I doing?

I kissed Cayden yesterday. Or he kissed me. Whatever, it still happened. It was… nice. But it felt like he was holding back, and I think that was mostly because of me. I didn’t mind at the moment. He helped me through a panic attack and kept me safe, but now?

Kissing Ryker? Rykerkissingme. My mind is—my mind is fucking losing it because all I can think about now is what it would have felt like if Cayden had kissed me like that.

“What the fuck are you doing, Harley?” I whisper.

I splash cold water on my face and then get ready for the day. My nerves feel explosive. I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel about anything anymore, and I know that thinking about these boys isn’t even what should be on my mind.

I still have to decide where I’m going to live. Although, I think I already know the answer deep down, and I just need to come to terms with it.

I head downstairs after locking my door and find Noah talking to Cayden, Ryker, and Grayson, who are all dressed and ready for school. I stop at the bottom of the stairs since they are all standing close to the doors. My pulse skyrockets when I realize I have kissed two of them.

Again,what the fuck, Harley?

Ryker turns his head and looks at me, his face splitting into a wide grin as his eyes sparkle with eagerness. All my worry slowly fades, and I smile back at him.

I walk over towards them, and four sets of eyes are suddenly on my face.

“Hi,” I say, but it comes out kind of squeaky, making me wince.

I look at Cayden, but the second our eyes meet, he drops his, refusing to look at me again. Something about it makes me uneasy, especially after he disappeared after we kissed the other day.

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