Page 23 (1/2)

The bell rang and we all got up to empty our trays or throay our trash Not at all excited aboutthe items off my tray

"Hey, take a ith me?" Tristan asked softly from behind me

I turned around and knew before I even looked into those forest green eyes there was no way I would ever say no to him "I’ll be late for Anatomy," I tried weakly

"I have a pass from Coach, I’ll just add your na for ?" I asked without much hesitation at all

"I just have to run down to the equiprab some of the old practice jerseys Coach sent the ones we usually use to be et the other ones back," he explained as we left the crowd of exiting students and headed toward the stairs to the basehed "Obviously Coach Donovan is very concerned about your acadehed with me, a deep throaty sound thatlad he is," I confessed "Anato class in the history of school" I groaned as we made our way down the dark, creepy steps that led to the equipe rooms, locker rooms and boiler room The locker rooms were on the outer sides of the baseym, the interior of the school and the outside doors that led to the football fields, but once you passed the locker rooh school became a maze of hallways and rusted metal doors, dimly lit and perfect for a B-rated horror movie

"I’ on the hallway light at the bottohts flickered to life but didn’t let off anything h, I hate it down here," I ad closer to Tristan

"You’re not scared, are you?" Tristan teased, pinching my side I jumped from his hand, but then he reached his arm aroundthe comfort of his closeness

"Tristan,scary, of course I’m not scared," I scolded hiaveto tell ht?" Tristan paused at the door to the equipainst the wall to wait for hi very close together

"Are you ever going to tell ht?" I turned the question on hiently under his bruised eye

"No," he whispered leaning in closer

I didn’t knohat changed between us, whether it was Seth’s arrival or the threat of ed He seemed more determined about our relationship… more protective

Yes, he definitely seemed more protective of ry

As I looked up into his half-lidded eyes, his long dark lashes giving hiry he was no hungry he was for me

"I don’t like this, Stella," he confessed seriously, his deep baritone voice dropping to a husky tone that sent shivers downI can’t be, that you’re out there, risking your life and fighting bad guys and there’s nothing I can do about it I want to protect you I want to be the one fighting with you" His gaze had frozen ainst the wall and one of his hands had soh ht of his words

"You can’t protect me," I reminded him in a raspy voice that I had desperately wanted to sound authoritative

"I know that…" He ran his free hand over his shaved head and looked down the hall for ain the softest, ressively next toit echo down the hallway I juether

"Tristan…" I breathed, wanting to say a s, remind him of a million different reasons we had never crossed the invisible line between friendship andat his na the last few inches between us My body pressed against the wall again as his lean, rippedme into him and his left handmy head toward him, towards his lips

I was helpless to stop hi inside of , that Tristan and I could never be anything more than friends and we should never even entertain the idea We had gone our whole lives without crossing this line, and noas definitely not the right ti boundaries If we did this, there was no going back… and that terrified me

Still, there was another voice not nearly as panicked, but just as solidly confident, an old voice, one that had lived there for as long as I could re I’ve wanted to press ainst Tristan’s and feel how soft they are, how I’ve wanted to be held in his ar he cherished… even longed for