Page 2 of The Saint

I felt right.

I felt like I had before my feelings were twisted, before awareness rose inside of me, the thought of my best friend growing hard against my back squeezing through my calm and shaking the very foundation on which my life was built.

Rolly was my constant. The one person I could trust, the one I could depend on to be there for me, no matter what.

I couldn’t think of him like that.

Could I?

I couldn’t think of what it would feel like to have my best friend’s hands upon my body, his plump lips lowered to mine. I couldn’t think about how it would feel to have…

No.

No, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t risk that.

Uncomfortable heat rose through my body, my skin prickling as every hair on my body rose. A charge of electricity flooded the air around me until it felt like my skin would burn.

At the edge of the woods, Rolly froze in his stride, the world falling silent at the same time. He turned, blue eyes wide, his gaze crashing into me as he opened his mouth.

The air split behind me, a crack so loud it had me covering my ears. But my eyes, they were glued to Rolly, to the curve of his lips as he yelled, “Jael! Run!”

There was never a second of hesitation, not where Rolly was concerned. My ears rang from the noise that shook the woods around me, but my feet were moving before Rolly’s mouth had closed.

I ran.

Ran as if my life depended on it.

Ran, because I knew Rolly would never let me down.

And he ran too, his long legs racing toward me, his warm hand grabbing mine and pulling me with all his might. His big body crashed into me, pushing me to the ground, tumbling down on top of me like a wave rushing toward the shore.

Something slapped across my face, sharp pain bringing tears to my eyes. Rolly’s weight slammed into me, crushing the air from my lungs.

Silence followed, interrupted only by the ringing in my ears. The birds that had been chirping all morning had gone quiet, the trilling of the bugs in the trees was gone. Rolly groaned, his body weight shifting as he lifted his head. Lifted his hand to my face as his heavy brow created a pronounced V in the middle of his forehead.

“You’re hurt,” he told me, voice trembling as his fingers skimmed my cheek, swiping away the tears that fell.

Causing more to fall in their place.

“No, no, Jael.” He scooped me up in his arms, fingers digging into the bare skin of my back, tangling at the edges of my sports bra before sliding free. “It’s okay, carina,” he whispered to me. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. I won’t let you go.”

“Rolly?” My voice shook more than his. More, because I couldn’t stand the thought of my best friend being hurt. And he had to be, didn’t he? Something had to have happened to him for him to be acting this way.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered against the skin of my cheek, his lips slipping against my tears. “I’ve got you, it’s okay.”

His hands moved over me, over my body. Squeezing as he searched, seeking out something, but I didn’t know what. He whispered those words, over and over. Whispered that I was okay until I had to believe it was the truth.

But I wasn’t okay. I couldn’t be, not with the way my skin ached every time he let me free from his grasp.

“Rolly?” I asked again, and that ocean wave crashed over me as his gaze settled on mine. My tears had stopped, but that didn’t mean I wanted his hands to do the same.

“Jael.” It was just a whisper, the breath trickling from his mouth, caressing my face. His chin tilted down, his eyes following suit, until they caught the movement of my tongue slipping out to wet my lips. He groaned, shifting his weight once again, some sort of pain etched into the lines of his face.

“I…” Rolly’s eyes jumped back to mine, and all I wanted to do was take that pain away. Before I could think about it, before I could stop myself, I lifted my head and brought my lips to his.

And oh, if that wasn’t paradise right there. Those full, warm lips pressed against mine, slipping and sliding over the moisture I’d just licked onto my own. I sucked in a breath, full of shock and awe and the most horrible, intense longing I’d ever felt in my entire life.

I’d known this boy since we were in diapers. I’d gone sixteen years without knowing the feel of his lips against mine.