Rival(20)

I watched his fingers, mesmerized by how she was putty in his hands. He was soft and slow, gentle and attentive. Possessive. Pressure built low in my belly, and I clenched my thighs, feeling the long-forgotten burn.

And then I looked up. My chest heaved.

His eyes were on me. Pinning me with the absence of everything they usually held. The amusement was gone. The mischief had disappeared. The game was silent.

The mask was off.

In This Moment’s “Whore” poured out of the speakers, and I stared into his hard eyes that were hot and urgent on my skin. My tongue moved around my closed mouth, trying to quench the dryness in my throat.

He touched her with his hands but held me with his eyes, and every time he stroked her jaw or ran his finger across her cheek, I could feel the tingle on my skin.

I closed my eyes, then opened them and blinked hard to break the contact.

“So do you still skate?”

I blinked again, registering thunder in the distance. “What did you say?” I asked, looking over at Jax. Just breathe, Fallon.

“The skateboard tattoo on the inside of your wrist.” He gestured. “Is that your half-pipe with the severe incline in the basement?”

My half-pipe? He’d seen it?

“It’s still there?” I asked, incredulous. I couldn’t believe it.

He nodded. “Yeah, next to the piano.”

I dropped my eyes immediately.

That was strange. With all of my other belongings tossed out with the trash, why would they keep a huge half-pipe that took up space? A lot of space. I was about to ask Jax if there were any skateboards around it, hoping against hope that maybe Madoc or one of his friends salvaged those to use for themselves, but he had started up a conversation with some guy across the fire pit.

Tate brushed my arm, and I looked to my right. “So what’s with you and Madoc?” She looked like she was trying to keep her voice low, but Jared’s eyes flashed to mine when he heard her question. “Seems like there’s bad blood between you two,” she added.

I quickly glanced at Jared again, wondering if Madoc ever told him about us, but he wasn’t paying attention.

“We just never hit it off.” I shrugged to Tate, keeping my voice light. “With the way these two behaved around you the last time I was in town,” I joked, gesturing to Jared and Madoc, “I’m sure you understand where I’m coming from.”

She grinned and twisted her head to the side, looking up at her boyfriend. “Yeah, I guess I do.” And then she fixed me with a stern expression. “But I also know there’s two sides to every story. You two should talk.”

“We can barely stand to be in the same room together.”

Madoc was still across the fire, eyes shifting between Tate and me, and there was no mistaking it. He was pissed. Maybe he wondered what we were talking about, or maybe he just didn’t want me here.

Hell, I knew he didn’t want me here—which was why I was here.

Clipped voices to my left caught my attention, and I dragged my gaze away from Madoc.

“I would think that if you don’t have the balls to get on the track yourself, then you can shut up.” The guy next to Madoc was barking at Jax, who still sat next to me.

“And race who?” Jax sneered. “You? Yeah, that’ll get me off. I’ll race when it’s a challenge.”

“I don’t know what the hell you want from me, Jax, but I’m sick of—”

“You want to know what I want?” Jax interrupted, keeping his voice cocky. “I want your girlfriend to wipe off her poseur pink lip gloss and get in my car. That’s what I want.”

I darted my eyes to all of the snorts going off around the fire. Madoc laughed silently, shaking his head, while Jared’s body shook as he buried his laughter in Tate’s neck.

Tate saw my confused look and explained. “That’s Liam,” she whispered. “He’s K.C.’s boyfriend.” She pointed to the beautiful dark-haired girl sitting next to Liam, who stared at her lap, stunned. “He cheated on her last year, but they got back together. Jax hasn’t said anything, but I think he . . .”

Wants her. I finished her thought in my head. Well, if he wants her, then why wasn’t he going after her? Clearly, her winner of a boyfriend had nothing on him.

Liam’s jaw turned hard as his gaze trailed between Jax and his shocked girlfriend, who looked like she wanted to crawl inside of her shell. “Is something going on between you two?” he asked her.