Page 59 of The Way We Fell

“I don’t know—maybe? Do I remember this? I feel like I’m just making up a memory because you told me it happened.” Katy twists her upper body, stretching up to press a kiss to my lips. She’s lit a bunch of candles that fill the room with a warm, flickering glow and a delicious peachy scent, and it mingles with the orange of her perfume. I’ve always been a bigger fan of vegetables than fruit, but Katy is giving me a sweet tooth.

I wrap an arm around her shoulders, pressing her even closer to me. “It’s fine. I’m pretty sure we didn’t even talk, anyway.” I say. “Amie definitely flirted with me but I don’t think we spoke at all. You just smiled at me with your hands full of KitKats and Curly Wurlys.”

“That sounds like me,” she hums. “And Amie. Little hoe.”

“I get the feeling she’d flirt with a potted plant.”

Katy snickers, nuzzling her face into my ribs. “She absolutely would. Extroverted bitch. Did I ever tell you how we became friends?”

I look down to find her blinking up at me with clear, chocolate-brown eyes. I raise an eyebrow for her to continue.

“We were eleven. It was a Thursday, I think—that’s when we usually had cross-country training. I always liked running everywhere as a kid, absolutely lived for sports day in primary school. So, Mum encouraged me to go to the recruitment meet at the start of term. Everyone there was older, except for Amie, and I’d already seen her in a few of my classes that week.” She shuffles in place, sitting up a little and tucking herself under my arm.

“Anyway, they had us do these partner stretches as part of the warm ups, and everyone else already knew each other, so they paired off. We were the only ones left. Amie stalked over to me like she owned the fucking place, grabbed my hand and saidcome on partner, stretch me out.”

“Jesus,” I laugh. “Suddenly, everything makes sense.”

“Yeah. We were inseparable after that. She’s my best friend in the whole world.”

“She’s a good friend,” I agree. “I love the friendship you girls have. You’ve been good for Ruth, too.”

“Did she ever tell you how we met her?”

“Nope. I think I was in Afghanistan when that happened.” I definitely was. It was my first deployment—the first time I went overseas to a war, rather than for a brief training mission. It marked a lot of firsts, and my homecoming ticked a few more milestones off the list. The loss of friends, both to war and to time. Seeing my sister as a young, independent woman rather than the little girl she’d been before I’d shipped out. The guilt of all I missed still makes me sick sometimes.

“Her snack got stuck.Nota euphemism.” Katy smirks, and I can’t help but smirk along with her. Her smile—every smile—is infectious. It warms me from the inside. It’s thawed every single ice deposit in my heart, and now it just ignites those little sparks, starting a fire that has a comfortable warmth coiling low in my belly.

“Say less, please. And more.” A small chuff falls from my lips as I try to hold in a laugh. My sister has always beenveryserious about snacks.

“It was November, I think, and we’d all just started sixth form. Me and Amie walked into the common room one way to find her almost crying at the vending machine. She thought she flunked a test—like Ruth has ever flunked anything in her life.” Katy looks up at me with a tiny chuckle before continuing. “Amie had mad skills with that stupid machine though, always managed to get stuff unstuck, so she rescued the Doritos for Roo and a couple of bonus snacks that we all shared, and we just sat and chatted for a bit. And then Roo came shopping with us that weekend, and the rest is history.”

“She used to be a quiet kid, you know?” I say. I use my thumb and forefinger to tilt Katy’s face to mine. I want to study her face, to lock my eyes with hers. To let my eyes tell her all the things I can’t bring myself to say out loud. “She hated being the good girl, but she loved school and she was good at learning. She wasn’t exactly shy, but she wasn’t Miss Popular either.”

“And look at her now,” Katy muses. “She’s definitely become more extroverted as we’ve got older. I think I’m more introverted the older I get, but Roo is definitely bolder now.”

“You’ve been so good for her. I’m glad you guys met. I’m glad she’s had you to lean on while I’ve been away.”

“Me too. I’m glad we met her. She brought me you.” She reaches up to kiss me, soft and gentle. This might be my favourite Katy: quiet conversations in low light, tender kisses and bright eyes. This is the Katy that has my heart swelling in my chest and slamming against my ribs, the one that has the most terrifying words dancing on the tip of my tongue. This is the Katy who has me along for the ride with her. The Katy I’m falling in love with, with no power to resist.

Chapter thirty

Katy

Sinceourdinnerdatelast weekend—the one where we ate no food, only each other—we’ve hardly been apart. It’s been a whirlwind. I haven’t seen Jay smile so much in the entire time known each other. He seems to be doing a lot better mentally, too. We’ve spent every night together in his bed or mine, and we’ve only left when we’ve had to. I think he’s given me more orgasms in the last few days than I’ve had in the last five years.

Right now, we’re in my bed, bathed in the gentle glow of a Himalayan salt lamp and the dizzying want coursing through my veins. Jay pushes up onto an elbow beside me, leaning in to kiss me deeply as his free hand slides beneath the sheets and between my legs, seeking and finding the sensitive spot at the apex of my thighs. I shiver lightly as his fingers brush lightly against my folds and my legs fall open of their own volition, granting him access.

“You’re beautiful.” Our faces are inches apart as he leans over me, our noses almost touching. His breath is warm against my lips, and there’s something shimmering in his eyes that I’ve never seen there before. “So fucking beautiful.”

He drops his head to kiss me again, nipping at my lower lip before sweeping his tongue into my mouth. It’s a possessive kiss, but it’s not demanding—it’s tender and sweet, the insistent press of our lips, the gentle slide of our tongues. His kiss is everything I never dared to dream of. And his hands?

They’re even better than my wildest dreams.

My last boyfriend wasn’t a selfish lover by any stretch of the imagination. But the way Jay works me over like the very future of the world’s existence hinges on getting me off… god, it’s fucking electrifying. His brown eyes lock with mine as his fingers rub firm, insistent circles between my legs. Desire floods my body, filling me with warmth. Jay’s dick presses into my hip as he lays beside me. It’s huge and hard and bobbing against me as my breath comes in long exhales.

“Oh, god,” I whisper. “Right there, love. Yes, fuck.”

“Right here?” Warm lips seal over mine, forcing them open with a greedy tongue. As quickly as they appeared, they leave, instead dipping lower, pressing against the skin of my throat. “Or here?”

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