Page 12 of The Draft
I was also doing nothing to encourage it, either. My hands were at my side, too stunned to move, and my lips hadn’t quite fathomed that the perfect, pillowy lips kissing them were attached to my best friend’s littlesister. And her lips…shit. Her lips were already the end of me.Shewas the end of me. Soft, pliable, and plump, they were better than I’d ever imagined. And I’d imagined her lips in many different places over the years. All of which were more inappropriate than the last.
Hungry and lustful, Madison let out a small whimper before her hands disconnected from me and landed on my chest. Then she pushed with enough force to stun a linebacker, making me almost lose my balance.
Her red lip gloss was smudged across her face. Her hair was a mess, but she looked phenomenal, nonetheless. Staring at me, she took a deep breath, making her chest poke out. It took everything in me not to look down at her perfect breasts. The only thing that helped was that I’d already memorized how amazing her rack looked earlier in the night.
Thwack!
A sharp pain radiated down my cheek as my body fell back. My hand immediately went to the side of my face to the stinging pain.
“What the hell was that for, Madison?” When I snapped my gaze to her, she was just standing in front of me with her arms folded and an angry pout across those perfect lips.
“Why didn’t you kiss me back?” she yelled. I checked the surroundings, thankful that most people were still inside and weren’t witnessing this.
“Why did you kiss me in the first place?” I couldn’t help but laugh because this conversation was ridiculous.
“You know why.” It sounded more like a threat than anything else.
“No.” I chuckled sarcastically. “I really don’t.”
With her hands covering her face, she threw her head up to the sky and groaned in disappointment. “This is so stupid, Dash.”
I was still rubbing my cheek, watching her intently as she dropped her hands and drew her chin down. It was hard to make out her features in the dark, but what was left of her lip gloss was glistening against the streetlight, enticing me to taste her again.
“Tell me, Dash. Why did you just pull me out of there? Didn’t like me getting close to the football guys, or was it Brandon Gold that got you hot and bothered?”
With a tense jaw, I unclenched my fists at the mere memory of those guys looking at Madison. She didn’t have to dress like a goddess to be one, buttoday those athletes got her at her best. They wanted her, and all I wanted to do was claim her, even though I knew I couldn’t.
“I don’t like you getting close to any of them,” I gritted out, hating that she managed to get me to admit it out loud. It wasn’t my fault. She was poking the bear, and I was answering instinctively.
“I knew it.” She had this crazed, smug look on her face, and I was concerned over what she might uncover, so I cut this interaction short.
“Because they’re athletes, Madison,” I replied sharply. “I know exactly what goes through their minds, and I don’t want you anywhere near them.”
“Oh, really?! And why do you care so much?” She had a raised brow and a smile on her face, as though she’d just caught me outside with my pants off. Thankfully, she hadn’t because otherwise she would have seen the obnoxiously large boner I had due to our impromptu kiss.
“Because Henry was an asshole to you, and I vowed to Cade that I wouldn’t let another athlete hurt you like that again.”
Thwack.
Another slap, and I grunted in sheer pain. Madison was a small thing, but my goodness, when she slapped, it felt like I was going against Ronda Rousey.
“Why’d you do that?” I groused.
“Because you’re an idiot, and I’m tired of trying to pretend that I’m not desperately in love with you.”
I hadn’t looked up from the floor since her hit, but I felt like her last sentence alone was a punch in the gut. Did she just tell me she was desperately in love with me? Because if she did, we were going to have a serious problem on our hands.
“Is that it?” she chimed out. “You’ve got nothing to say.”
What could I say? Admit that I was in love with her too? Because hell, I loved her from the minute I laid eyes on her in middle school, but even back then I knew that nothing could ever happen between us. The feeling only intensified when I saw her heart breaking over a loser like Henry because she deserved so much better than him.
Madison was looking at me, waiting for me to answer, but I was lost for words. Sure, she loved to flirt, but she’d never taken it this far, and honestly, my brain was still a little fuzzy because I kissed her, so I didn’twant to say something I might regret later.
Madison didn’t love me. It wasn’t possible. That yearning feeling for her was one-sided. She was fucking with me. That was the only explanation for her incoherent ramblings.
Madison laughed bitterly, shaking her head as she looked at me with so much anger, I wished my net was around so I could cower into it. That was my safe space. The only place that I felt truly comfortable because all I had to do when I was in there was focus on the puck. That was it. None of this soft shit where looking at Madison’s face made my heart beat in ways that I knew was inappropriate.
“You’re a coward, Dash.”