Page 2

My entire body responded to that touch. Set aflame by the warmth of his earthy eyes. The darker brown lines darted from his pupils like veins in tree bark, flecked with fresh coffee beans and cut with shards of obsidian.

The boy dipped his head forward, and I swear I forgot how to breathe as his lips connected with my skin. Air simply stalled in my lungs, caught in a prism of shock. I was electrified by the touch of his lips there on the raw skin of my scraped knee.

It was the first time I’d ever been kissed by a boy.

I should have known as he sat back on his haunches, his grin stretched wide, that this boy, with his face crafted by gods to break hearts would, before long, take all my firsts.

That I would give every one of them willingly, and eagerly, to him.

“All better.” He winked, plucked the loose change from the sidewalk, and held it out for me. As he dropped the change into my open palm, he said, “I’m Holt.”

Holt. God, but I was going to fall for Holt.

“Faye.”

“Pretty name.” He winked again. I blushed…again. He pulled me to stand with him, radiating confidence. “Now, where were you off to before you decided to throw yourself at me like a pretty little damsel?”

My mouth dropped. The need to defend myself tipped hotly from my tongue. “I didn’t—I didn’t throw myself at you.”

“I know.” He looked more serious now, more sober. “You were checking out my brother. Lucky I was watching, or I would have run over you with my bike.”

Hot flames of hellfire engulfed me in horror. I stuttered, “I—I wasn’t checking out a-anyone.”

“You were.” He shrugged, flashing me that smile again. The one that would become the grin to slay women everywhere. Slicing through panties and dreams in his quest to steal hearts he had no intention of keeping. “But I’m here to tell you, you don’t want to do that.”

I laughed—even through the horror of hellfire. I’d never met a boy quite like him. So alive. “I don’t?”

“No.”

I tipped my head back. Holt was taller than me by, like, a lot. “Why not?”

“Because you’re going to be my girl.”

“Oh, really?” Honestly, I was in trouble.

“Really.” He lifted my bike for me, waiting for me to take it before he lifted his own. Climbing on, he jutted his chin forward in the direction I’d been riding before the whole crash landing and hellfire bit. “Where were you headed?”

“The store.”

“What for?”

“Sour cream. Mom’s making tacos.”

“She’s cooking on move-in day?” He shook his head and laughed.

I loved the sound, even then.

“Mom always cooks.”

“Well, come on, pretty girl.” He gestured in the direction I’d been going before I’d been caught in the net of sea-glass green eyes, and bronze skin.

Even as I peddled away, I couldn’t resist stealing just one last glance at the boy across the street. The mower was quiet and when my eyes slid that way, I saw that he was watching me with Holt.

There was something in those soft eyes, something almost dark. Maybe a little sad.

I looked away quickly, and peddled faster until I caught up to the boy who kissed my skinned knee. The boy who was already reeling in the heart I thought I left back in Victoria. The same heart that narrowly escaped getting caught in the knots of a net surrounded by sea-glass green.

“Yeah.” He threw me another wink, as though he knew, again, that I’d stolen a peek at his brother across the street. “You’re going to be mine. All mine.”