Chapter 0028
BAILEE
He was nowhere to be found for the rest of the day, and after dinner that night, I walked down to the docks and dangled my feet
into the water.
It wasn’t long before I heard footsteps on the wooden planks behind me.
The hair rose on the back of my neck, and tingles of nerves shot through my skin as Alex approached and kicked off his shoes to
join me.
“Are you okay?” He asked, sitting next to me, his thigh touching mine.
“Were you suspended?” I whispered, guilt flooding through me at the thought because I knew how hard he was working to better his life since his dad had been sent to prison. I had overheard him telling Ben about his plans to get into a law school, and this could ruin that.
Alex let out a bitter laugh before sighing. “Yeah.”
“Are your foster parents angry?”
“Don’t worry about me, Bailee. I can handle it. I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He hadn’t answered my question directly,
so I knew that was a yes.
“Me? I wasn’t the one in a fight today!” I exclaimed in disbelief.
“That’s not true. You defended me when Liam tried to hit me from behind.” Alex said, and my cheeks burned hot as I looked up at him from the corner of my eyes with embarrassment.
“I wasn’t really fighting. Plus, you were defending me, too. Why wouldn’t I have your back?” I lifted my chin as I met his gaze, pushing down my humiliation of him having seen me throw myself on Liam’s back like that.
“I was defending you because you’re worth it. You deserve to have someone fight for you.” His voice lowered, and my lips parted in awe as I looked into his gorgeous gray eyes.
“And you don’t think you deserve someone to fight for you, too?” I asked, knowing he had just thrown his future away to defend
“I know I don’t.” He stared out over the lake, moving one foot and causing a ripple to roll out over the water, making the purple and pink sunset dance in the reflection.
He looked tense, turning to face me every few seconds as if he wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure how to bring it up.
There was a long silence before I couldn’t take it anymore. I knew what Alex wanted to say. He looked so uncomfortable being close to me, and he shifted but didn’t move away like he wanted to.
He didn’t want me to believe what Jacob had said.
“Look, Alex, I know where we stand, and I know Jacob was talking out of his ass when he said you had a thing for me, so you don’t need to worry about things being weird between us,” I said, pressing my thighs together so mine wouldn’t be touching his
anymore.
My nose burned with the promise of tears. I could feel them threatening to form in my eyes, and I attempted to blink them back, looking away so Alex wouldn’t see them if I lost the battle.
The thought of him not wanting me wasn’t sad, but it was humiliating to know that while I thought about him all the time, he probably had never even considered me to be anything more than Ben’s little sister.
So, I was stunned when he reached over, cupping my cheek and forcing me to look at him.
1/2
“Bailee, he wasn’t wrong.”
My heart went into overdrive, slamming against my ribcage as he leaned in. My eyes widened for a split second as he pressed his lips to mine.
He was kissing me.
Alexander Kingston was kissing me.
I leaned into him, wanting more, but he pulled away.
“You’re so beautiful.”
I licked my lips, stuttering, “Thank you,” before trying to capture his lips again. It was my first kiss, and I hadn’t been ready for it to end so soon.
“Ben can’t know about this,” Alex whispered, and butterflies of excitement flew free in my stomach at the thought of sneaking around with him.
“Okay,” I whispered as I nodded eagerly, and Alex gave me a heart-stopping smile before he leaned in to kiss me again.
