“I like her,” Trisha announced as I watched Blythe walk away with that guy. “She’s gorgeous and really sweet.”

“Linc’s a really nice guy. He was always friends with everyone in high school. I can’t think of one person who didn’t like him,” Amanda added to the conversation.

A pair of tits pressed against my arm. I wasn’t in the mood. My head was somewhere else. Shrugging off the unwanted female, I turned to look at Amanda Hardy. “You know that guy?” I asked. I didn’t want to let this bunch know I gave a shit that Blythe was on a date. They would all misunderstand and harass me about it endlessly.

Amanda nodded and bit her bottom lip nervously.

“She’s right. Guy’s nice,” Preston said. “He always did that Christian teens group thingy in the mornings. But he wasn’t like the other religious kids. He even stopped one night when Marcus and I had a flat tire. I didn’t have a spare or some shit like that, and Marcus wouldn’t call his dad because I was so hammered. So Linc gave us a ride.”

This wasn’t something I wanted to hear. Preston Drake liking someone so completely different from him meant this Linc guy probably was fucking perfect for Blythe.

Shit.

“Do you like her?” Trisha asked me. My sister wasn’t one to beat around the bush. She was a straight talker. I just wish she’d chosen to ask me this without all her nosey-ass friends watching me.

I shrugged. “She’s not my type. But, yeah, she’s a friend. Glad to know the guy she’s with is worthy of her.” I took a swig of my beer. “I need to get back. Fifteen minutes are almost up.” I never made it backstage on time. They were all thinking just that as I walked to the door leading to the stage.

I ignored the girls trying to get my attention. I just needed to get the hell away from everyone and hit something. I didn’t want to fucking care that Blythe was on a date. She wasn’t someone I could mess with. She was fragile. The more time I had spent with her, the more I realized just how fragile she was. I wasn’t good with fragile. I broke shit. I’d never forgive myself if I broke her. That would likely destroy me.

But could I just cut her out of my life? I’d missed her like crazy the past week. She made me laugh. Really laugh. And damn, I smiled all the time when she was around. I loved watching her find herself and her independence. It made the darkness that seemed to live in my chest ease up.

Blythe made me feel whole inside. I’d never felt whole. There was always this emptiness. I had tried everything to fill that dark ache inside, but nothing had ever worked. Until Blythe smiled at me.

“Break’s up,” Green said as he came through the door and slapped me on the back. “Cheer up. You’re thinking too much about this. Just be her friend. Be her motherfucking friend. That’s it. Try it. You might find you like it.”

I watched as my best friend grinned at me and nodded before turning to go back onstage. Green had been the only person in my life to really know me. He knew my dark places and he knew why they were there. Not even my sister knew everything. I couldn’t tell her; she’d blame herself for not protecting me. For leaving me. But Green knew. He’d seen it.

Should have known I couldn’t hide my battle with Blythe from him. He saw it all over my face. Was he right? Could she be my friend? Jess had been my friend. Sure, I’d wanted in her pants most of the time, but in reality she had been my friend. She’d accepted the dark side of me and she’d understood it. She also had been one of the toughest people I knew. Hurting her was impossible. At least for me. I knew I’d never break her.

Blythe wasn’t Jess. She was so innocent and . . . hell, she was precious. I closed my eyes and let out a string of curses. I was so losing badass points for that thought. Who the hell thought a girl was precious? Not fucking Krit Corbin.

“Think about it later, dipshit! We got a crowd to please,” Green yelled at me from the stage.

He was right. I shoved thoughts of Blythe to the back of my mind and put on my game face. Trisha would be watching me, and I needed to get her off the scent. If she thought I wanted Blythe, she’d bust her ass to get into my business. I loved my sister, but she was hell to shake when she got something in her head.

Chapter Eight

BLYTHE

There was no party that night. I had expected one, but the noise never came. I did hear feet walking around upstairs around midnight, but that was it. Nothing else. Linc had tried to be casual with his questions, but I could tell he had been curious about Krit. My answers were appeasing him.

When he had walked me to my door, he had kissed me. Like before, it had felt good, and the closeness had been nice. His taste was warm, and the gentle touches of his tongue against mine had been exciting. I had been happy to stand outside and kiss him for hours. But Linc had ended the kiss and then let out a deep breath before kissing me on the forehead and saying goodnight.

It had been my very first date, and it had been everything I had expected it to be. Linc had met all my expectations. I enjoyed his company, and I really enjoyed his kisses. Linc was nothing at all like Krit. Yet I still felt like I was waiting for him to realize I wasn’t worth his time—like Krit had.

Worrying about losing something I didn’t really have was pointless. Today I didn’t have to go into the office. On Saturdays it was closed because Pastor Keenan prepared for his Sunday sermon. I had spent my last few Saturdays studying, but today I wanted to do something else.

Yesterday had been payday, and it was time I splurged on a few more items of clothing. Pastor Keenan hadn’t complained about my jeans, but on the days I wore my sundress or one of the skirts I had worn to church back home, he made a point to mention that he liked how I was dressed. He never said that about my jeans.

I was lacing up my tennis shoes when a knock at the door startled me. It was ten in the morning on a Saturday. I had no friends. I couldn’t think of one person who would be at my door at this time. Tightening my laces, I stood up and went to open the door.

Krit standing there in a pair of jeans, looking too incredibly tempting for any female to deal with this early. The shirt he was wearing fit tightly enough that each of his six-pack abs muscles was outlined. I hated that shirt. It made me think things. Things I had to stop thinking where Krit was concerned.

“Morning,” he said with a slow grin.

He’d caught me ogling his abs. Crap.

“Morning,” I replied, and forced my eyes to stay on his face. Not his body. If only his eyes weren’t so pretty.

“You had breakfast yet?” he asked.

I shook my head as I stared at him, confused. Krit didn’t get up at ten ever. He partied all night and slept most of the day.

“Good. There’s this place I know that has incredible pancakes, and I want some pancakes,” he said then nodded toward the stairs leading down to the parking lot. “Come on. Eat breakfast with me.”

I should ask him why he was there. Why he wanted to have breakfast with me after he made it clear these past two weeks that he was done with this friends thing we had. I should ask him if this was because I had been on a date last night. But I didn’t do any of those things. Instead I reached for my purse and slipped it over my arm. Then turned back to him. “Okay,” I replied.

The dimpled grin on his face that never ceased to surprise me made my stupidity worth it. He stepped back and let me close and lock my door. Maybe he planned on explaining his exit from my life. Maybe there was a reason he had run from me like I had a disease.

“I’ll drive,” he said.

Frowning, I paused. “Do you have a car?” All I had seen him drive was a motorcycle.

He smirked. “Not anymore. I sold it,” he replied. Then he brushed his thumb over my cheek. “You scared of my bike?” he asked.

He was touching me. I let my eyes fall to his lips. They were fuller than Linc’s. They always looked so soft. His mouth was also wider than Linc’s. Would he kiss differently? Would it taste as good? The flash of metal in his mouth I had seen before would be there in his tongue. Could I feel it when his tongue touched mine?

“Blythe.” His voice sounded deeper than before.

I jerked my eyes off his mouth and looked back up at him. “Yes?”

He let out a shaky-sounding laugh and muttered something I didn’t understand. “You gonna ride my bike?”

His bike? He meant his big scary motorcycle. Was I? I wanted to. It would let me wrap my arms around him and feel his abs. Okay, maybe death was worth getting to feel Krit’s abs. I managed a nod. “You have an extra helmet?”

Krit slid his arm around my shoulders and started walking us toward the parking lot. “Sweetheart, I wouldn’t put you on my bike without something to protect this pretty head.”

He smelled good. I took a deep breath and inhaled his clean scent. I wasn’t sure what soap he used, but it reminded me of the sea.

“Did you enjoy your date last night?”

I nodded, afraid that if I said the wrong thing, he would remove his arm from around my shoulders and then I wouldn’t get to smell him.

“Amanda said Linc’s a nice guy.”

I nodded again and decided I probably should join this conversation instead of just answering with head gestures. “Yeah, he is.”

“Good” was his reply.

Good. That simple word felt funny in my chest. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. Why? Did I want him not to like Linc? That would be silly.

He didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t move away from me either. When we reached his motorcycle, he pulled out a smaller helmet. It was silver and very feminine-looking. I hadn’t expected that. He must have had this for the females he gave rides to.

I put the helmet on my head and started to fasten it, when Krit moved my hands away and did it for me. Then he tightened the straps. I watched his face as he seemed focused on making sure my helmet was nice and secure. My heart did a little fluttery thing that I couldn’t help.

“Nice,” he said when he was done. Then he winked and threw a long leg over the bike. It reminded me of every movie I had ever seen of the sexy bad boy climbing onto his motorcycle. Krit held his hand out to me. “Come on, love.”

I slipped my hand in his and managed to climb on the back without making a fool of myself. I had never ridden on a motorcycle.

“You’re gonna need to slid up close to me. Wrap your arms around my waist and hold on tight,” he said over his shoulder.

I had a few inches between us. The thought of sitting with my legs open like this and Krit fitting snugly between them was as terrifying as it was exciting. I reminded myself that this was just a ride. He had girls on his bike like this all the time. It was no big deal. I placed both of my hands on his waist. He reached down and grabbed them, tugging me up against him until my chest was pressed against his back. Then he took my hands and placed them on his stomach. I had to take a steady breath when I felt the ripples under my hands. It was almost enough to make me forget the fact I was plastered against Krit’s backside.

“That’s better,” he said with a pleased sound to his voice. Then he started the engine. The vibration ran through my body, causing me to cling tighter to him.

A chuckle came from him before we started to move. I closed my eyes at first and tried to think of something else. I was sure that if I saw cars moving around us, I would panic. We hit a bump in the road, and my chest and crotch bounced up against his hard back, snapping me out of my fear and slinging me right into something else, something entirely different.

Sucking in a quick breath, I let the heat from Krit’s body seep into me. He felt very, very good. Better than anything else I could ever remember. The rock-hard abs under my hands were so tempting. I wanted to tug his shirt up just enough so that I could slip a hand underneath. The colorful skin that had the snake tattoo on it had been burned into my memory.

I gripped his T-shirt tightly in my fist to keep from doing just that. I couldn’t feel him up. He’d think I was crazy. If I wanted to send him running away from me again, all I had to do was something like that. He wasn’t flirting with me. I knew the difference now. Linc flirted with me. His eyes always had a playful gleam that told me he was interested in me. That he wanted to spend time with me, and he like being around me.