Page 27 of Kiss Me Ever After
I should have waited for Lennon.
If I turned back now, there would be even more questions from Si, Bryony and PC Raines, but I didn’t want to face them again.
“Justin!” A female voice called from behind me.
I span around. Lennon approached me at speed.
“Bryony said you’d gone. Why didn’t you wait?”
Because I’m a fucking idiot?
“Had no idea how long you’d be. Didn’t fancy sitting around doing nothing.” I bluffed.
“I… thought we could do something?” Her voice rose at the end. “If you’re not busy?”
A million excuses ran through my brain, Amber’s warning at the forefront. It didn’t have to come to anything; I told myself. We’d be getting to know each other better. We could be friends. After all, her best friend was seeing my best friend. There would be plenty of times over the summer where we’d all be hanging out together like we had done in the past.
Except last night’s kiss hung over me like an executioner’s axe.
I didn’t want it to stop there this time.
A grin spread across my face. “I’ve got all the time in the world for you.”
I wanted more.
The way Lennon lit up when I gave her my response made me pretty sure she did too.
12
Lennon
“Didthat policewoman ask you about the knife?” Justin changed the subject in a beat.
PC Collins had started out super nice and totally sympathetic about the whole incident, until her colleague had come in and spoken in hushed tones to her about something. I struggled to hear what they were saying. After he’d gone, she started questioning me about the lad who’d had the penknife. I answered as best I could and tried really hard to make sure I had everything straight in my head.
“Yes, she did. She kept asking why you’d turned up when you did, and how long we’d been friends for. Oh, and how often we’d seen each other.” Her questions about Justin niggled me. As if they thought he had something to do with it.
Justin snorted. “’Course she did.” His face took on a mask as he raked a hand through his hair. “You should have told them about it yesterday when it happened.”
I caught sight of the cut on his forearm.He got that because of me.I swallowed hard.
“Do you want to come back to mine again?”
The last thing I wanted was for it to be awkward between us after yesterday. After the kiss. I didn’t know what we were to each other, but I sure as hell wanted to find out.
He shook his head, the mask disappearing and replaced by a grin. He held out a hand. “Sure, I’d love to. Let’s go.”
* * *
“I still can’t believehow huge this place is.” Justin wandered from the kitchen, through the dining room, into the living room and then back again. “I mean, Alex’s house is pretty awesome, but this is something else.”
I was making us some food. Okay, I was putting a couple of pizzas into the oven because my cooking skills were shocking.
Justin sat down at the kitchen table, his body draped over the chair, and fixed his brown and gold gaze on me.
Being under that level of scrutiny made me nervous, particularly as I wanted to do the same thing to him. Drink him in. Lose myself in his eyes.
“What do you want to drink?” I asked, reluctantly dragging myself back to the present.
