Dillon cupped my elbow.
“Funny.” Kelton combed his large fingers through his thick black hair. “The girl I knew always played with the earring in her ear when she was nervous.”
My stomach hurt, and tears pricked the corners of my eyes. I brought my hand to my chest, feeling under my jacket for the half-heart charm he’d given me. I rarely took it off. The piece of jewelry was a reminder of what had been good in my life and of what we’d shared as kids and friends.
Leave and don’t look back.
I was about to pivot on my heel when Kelton started for me, but George grabbed him.
“Fuck!” Kelton shouted.
I flinched before walking away when all I wanted to do was run back to him. He gave me the sense of family. Something I hadn’t had in ages and desperately craved. But Kelton was a luxury, not a necessity like the Maldens.
6
Kelton
Someone staggered past me, bumping into me as they left the club. I didn’t move. A stampede of drunks could’ve trampled over me, and they wouldn’t have been able to break me. When Dillon called her name, a weird feeling swirled in my stomach. The last time I’d gotten butterflies was the day I kissed Lizzie before she moved away.
“Kelton.” George, the bouncer, waved his hand under my nose. It smelled of cigarettes, and the scent brought me back to the present, which suddenly I didn’t want to be in. “Are you cool?”
Fuck no. My head spun like an out-of-control plane dropping from the sky. A breathtakingly stunning woman was mere inches from me, denying she was Lizzie Reardon. I didn’t believe her for one second. Not when the square gold speck in her left eye gave her away. Or not when she played with her earring because she was nervous. Or the fact she was all grown up with curves, rounded breasts, long legs, and plump lips that I badly wanted to taste. My heart hadn’t beat this hard with excitement since the first time I’d set eyes on her back in the fifth grade.
“I’m good,” I lied. I was all twisted up inside.
A group of people came toward us as George went back to his bouncer’s station. I tugged on my hair. I wanted to touch her, run, hide, and kiss her. I could run and hide, but feeling her body against mine, or tasting her sweet lips, wasn’t going to happen, and not only because she didn’t want anything to do with me. I couldn’t risk my own heart. I couldn’t risk getting hurt. I couldn’t risk taking that chance of falling for someone, especially Lizzie. She was my forbidden fruit. One touch, one taste and I’d never be the same. I wouldn’t dare allow myself to take the chance on love again. I had one problem though. I had questions that needed answers.
I blew out a long breath then punched the wall.
George glanced over his shoulder. “Do you want me to get Kade?”
Fuck, no. If he found out Lizzie was in town, he’d start preaching. You can’t get involved with her. You can’t bring her home. And you can’t let Mom and Dad know she’s in Boston. It would tear Mom up if we brought up the subject of the Reardons, and if she saw Lizzie she could fall back into a deep depression.
It didn’t matter what he said. My fears aside, I had to talk to her. I had so many questions about the past and present. She doesn’t want anything to do with you. She’s with Dillon. Yeah, maybe it was for the best. Talking to her without being able to touch her would be near impossible. It would be like the time my parents took me to the zoo. “Okay, son,” my father had said. “You can see the giraffes, but you can’t touch them. They could bite you.” Well fuck me now. I’d love for Lizzie to bite me. The problem with that reasoning was her bite would hurt and feel fantastic all at the same time.
Confusion made me dizzy. I needed to drown in liquor or bury myself in a woman.
I trudged back into the club, barely registering the music. I plowed through the crazy hip-swinging, arm-flailing people. I would settle for a quick lay since getting a drink would be near impossible if Kade was working the bar. He was a stickler for the drinking age, and I wasn’t twenty-one yet. Now I just had to snag a willing lady who I could take into the bathroom for a quickie. When I finally made it through the sweaty dancers, the bar came into view. Leo was working tonight. Pay dirt! He always let me down a beer or two when Kade wasn’t watching. A drink first, then I’d find a lady.
I came up alongside Lynn, one of the waitresses at the drink station on one side of the bar.
“Christ, what happened to you?” she asked, her frown full of concern. “Please tell me you didn’t just have sex in the bathroom.”
I smirked. “Not yet.”
She punched me lightly in the shoulder. “Kelton, I have to clean those bathrooms. I’m closing tonight.”
“Don’t freak. I always clean up after myself.” I acknowledged Leo, the tattoo-laden bartender, with a flick of my head.