On the Fence(58)

He let out a low, breathy chuckle and then applied slightly more pressure to his bite. I barely contained the moan in the back of my throat, but I couldn’t keep my eyes from closing.

He lifted his head. “I need to tell you something.”

My eyes flew open and met his.

My guard immediately went back up. He was going to tell me about my mom. Little did he know, I had already heard. I wondered if it would’ve been better if Braden had been the one to tell me at the fence that night. Would it have been less devastating? Probably not. Either way, it was too late now, and I really didn’t feel like talking about it. “I already know.”

“You do?”

“Yes. My dad told me.”

“Your dad?”

“Yes.”

“Gage,” he growled, then rolled onto his back, finally freeing me. “Does he want to kill me?”

My whole body felt cold without him near me. “No. Why would he? It’s not your fault.”

“True, but that doesn’t mean he’d want me to tell you.”

“I thought you weren’t going to tell me. That it wasn’t your place.” My eyes started to sting, and I just wanted to stand up and kick the ball again.

He propped himself up on his elbow. “Wait. What are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You first.”

“I know about my mom.”

He took a quick breath and sat up to his knees. Concern shaped his brow. “Your dad told you about your mom . . . about how she . . .”

“Yes.” I dragged the back of my hand along my cheek and shivered.

He stretched himself out beside me again and pulled me close. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you knew. And I didn’t want to think about it.”

“I’m sorry. Do you want to go home?”

I shook my head and buried my face in his chest. I didn’t want to go anywhere. “So that’s not what you were going to tell me?”

“No. I mean that’s what I wanted to tell you that night by the fence before I realized it wasn’t my place to tell you. Maybe I should’ve told you then. Maybe I should’ve told you years ago. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. You’re the one who made me confront my dad.” I pulled back so I could look in his eyes. “So what, then? What were you going to tell me today?”

“The timing is wrong now. I’ll tell you later.”

“No. Please. I want to know now. I’m tired of secrets.”

He stared at me for a long time, as if trying to read my sincerity. His breath touched my lips. It took everything in me not to close the distance between us. When his lips brushed against mine, I let out an involuntary gasp. Had I done that?

“Am I reading you wrong?” he asked.

I shook my head no. I couldn’t find my voice, couldn’t dare to believe this meant what I thought it meant.

He let out a slow breath of air that smelled so familiar. “I was going to tell you that.”

“You were going to tell me that you wanted to kiss me?”

He nodded. “Is this going to change everything?”

“I sure hope so.”

He smiled and his gaze went from my eyes, to my mouth then up to my hair. He tucked a piece behind my ear. “You’re so beautiful.”

My cheeks heated. “Aren’t we supposed to do this at the fence?”

“No. I don’t want this to be in our alternate reality. I want this to be in our real one.” He met my lips with his. My heart felt like it had just been put through sprints; it raced to life. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him closer. Against my lips he added, “But we can do this again tonight at the fence if you want.”

I smiled. “Wait. What about Amber?”

“What about her?”

“I thought you and she . . .”

He pulled back, his eyes going wide. “What? No! Your brother is all over that.”

“Gage?”

“Yeah, they got together while you were gone. He didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

“You thought . . . me and Amber?”

“Yes. You were hanging out with her. And on the couch the other day, you scooted closer to her to make room for me.”

He looked up, thinking back. “Oh. That’s because you looked super annoyed with her. I thought I was saving you from having to sit by her.”

I let out a single laugh. “Stop reading me.”

He curled his lip. “Amber? Come on, Charlie, give me some credit.” He gripped a section of my T-shirt at my waist. “She wears sparkly words across her butt. You told me not to date anyone who did that.” He pressed his lips to mine again. “What about Evan?”

“Yeah, no.” I traced the words on his T-shirt with my finger. “It would be hard to be with someone when I couldn’t stop thinking about someone else.”

“That night by the fence, when you thought I was going to tell you that I liked you . . .”

“You don’t need to explain.”

He shook his head. “No. I do. I did like you. But I had convinced myself I couldn’t tell you that. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. So you caught me off guard because it wasn’t what I was going to tell you that night. It freaked me out a little that you knew I liked you anyway. I wasn’t sure how you would take it, how your family would take it.”