Page 157 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

Aaron grinned. “You look… fuck, Poppy. That dress is doing all kinds of things to me.” He leaned in and brushed his lips over my cheek sending my heart into a freefall.

His thumb traced my jaw, my bottom lip. I stared up at him, completely under his spell, heat flowing through me. “Later then,” he said, voice cracked with lust.

I nodded. “Later.”

The party became a blur. Sofia gave me a couple of drinks for Dutch courage and as the night went on my nerves became a maelstrom inside of me.

It was at least an hour of heated glances and long lingering looks. The disappointment from the game only spurred the team on to drink more and party harder. And Cole, Ezra, and Aaron were the main attraction.

“Look at him,” Sofia murmured, sipping her drink, some fruity concoction Ashleigh had made the three of us.

“Who, Aaron?” I asked, watching as he and one of the other players raced to down their beers.

“No, Cole.”

“Cole?” My brow flicked up, and she rolled her eyes.

“Don’t give me that look.”

“What? I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“You like him.”

“In a way that one can like their brother’s best friend, sure.” She lifted her shoulder in a half-shrug.

“What happened between the two of you?”

“Nothing…” She let out a weary sigh. “Everything.”

“Did you… sleep with him?”

“What? No. No! God, Poppy. I’m not that—” She stopped herself. “It doesn’t matter. I need to pee. Come with me?”

“Sure.”

We wandered through Deacon’s house to find the bathroom. Kids littered every room, every hall. Dad had warned me that if he got so much as even a sniff of trouble tonight, I’d be so grounded that even my kids would be grounded.

But he’d said it with a smile and given me a hug and told me to have fun. So I figured we were safe for a little while. He hadn’t mentioned all the dancing with Aaron and I wasn’t going to bring it up. Not until I knew what it meant.

If it meant anything.

My chest squeezed.

“Poppy,” Eli’s voice gave me pause and I glanced back to find him following us.

“Oh hey, Eli.”

“Go talk to him,” Sofia said. “I’ll just be a second.” She slipped into the bathroom and I walked back to Eli.

“Enjoying the party?” he asked.

“It’s quite the night.”

“Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something.” He ran his hand down the back of his neck.

“What’s wrong?” Unease trickled through me.

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