His gaze slid toward me. “Remember when I told you that
you were my first kiss?” When I nodded, he let out a long breath.
“Well, you were also my last kiss.”
I cocked my head to the side, unsure I heard him correctly.
Out of everything I was expecting him to say, that wasn’t even
near the bottom of the list. “Come again?”
Carson’s lips twitched into a tiny half smile that quickly
faded. “I saw you the night you disappeared.”
Forcing myself to not climb across the seat and throttle him,
I gripped my knees as anger pricked at my skin. “Why didn’t
you tell me?”
“It’s complicated. And I know... I know that’s not a goodenough excuse. I told the police, so I’m surprised that they never
told you.” He looked away, working the muscle in his jaw. “But
what happened between us...”
I sucked in a sharp breath. Between us could only mean a few
things. If he’d lied to me about that ... well, the pressure building
in my throat and behind my eyes said enough. “What happened?” “I was hanging around with Scott, watching a movie down
in the basement. It was close to ten when I left. The house was
completely dark. I don’t even think your dad was home. I headed
out the back way, through the sunroom just in case your mom was
roaming around. I didn’t see you at first.” His forehead creased
as he ran the tips of his fingers down his face. “I heard you—
you were sitting on one of those damn window seats, crying. I
should’ve turned and went in the other direction, but I couldn’t
walk away. Not when you were crying.”
My fingers loosened around my knees as some of the tension
eased off. Carson wasn’t the kind of guy who could walk away
from a crying girl. Recalling what I did know about that night, I
felt a sour taste in my mouth. “I was with Del until nine.” Carson nodded slowly. “I asked if you were okay, and you got
up and turned on the light. You weren’t wearing that ... necklace.
So I figured you had a big blow-up with him.”
“He said I took it off to shower after...uh...”
He arched a brow. “Unless crying is something you typically
do after having sex, I have a feeling that’s not why you took it off.” Mortification turned my entire body red. That was so not
the conversation I wanted to have with Carson. “Okay, good
point. Moving on.”
“Well, you acted like you normally did. Got in my face, and
we started arguing, but it was different.” He leaned his head back
against the seat, closing his eyes. “As pissy as you were being with
me, you were still crying. And I’d never seen you like that. I don’t
even know what I was thinking, but I grabbed you to ... comfort
you or something, and you just came at me.”
“I came at you?”
One side of his lips curved up. “You kissed me. No warning
whatsoever. You just laid one on me.”
Oh dear god. I slumped against the seat. Not only was I a
mean girl, but I’d also molested Carson. Nice.
“I was kind of shocked at first ... and then I kissed you
back.” He sighed again. “It was all pretty intense—angry, actually. Kind of hot, too. Then you got a text message, pushed me
away, and stormed off. That was the last time I saw you.” Having no idea how to respond to any of that, I stared at
him. Being upset had to have something to do with Del and then
my phone going off. ... Cassie? My thoughts lingered on that for a
moment and then flipped right back to the fact that I had kissed
Carson—really kissed Carson.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I asked quietly. He tilted his head toward me, meeting my stare with crystalline eyes. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not proud of it. Even though you didn’t have that damn necklace on, as far as I knew, you were still with Del. And I’m not big on making out with another guy’s girlfriend. I know I have a
reputation—maybe you don’t remember it.”
“I’ve heard,” I muttered.
Carson snorted. “And you were upset. Shit, that’s, like, taking advantage of you. My mom would’ve knocked me upside the
head if she were alive.”
I smiled faintly at that, but then I thought of Candy and
Trey. Had they been messing around before Cassie and Trey
broke up? Possibly not very important now, but something about
that nagged me.
“Are you pissed at me?” he asked quietly.
Good question. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel. Del
had lied to me. My friends had lied to me. And now Carson had.
Part of me could understand why Carson had felt he had to lie to
me, but it didn’t make it okay. I looked away, putting my thumb
to my mouth and gently chewed at the nail. “I don’t know.” Several moments passed, and then Carson reached out,
pulling my hand away from my mouth. “You should really stop
doing it.”