MADDIE
“Are you sure nobody is in here?” I asked, following Alec into the Redwood hockey team locker room after all the guys and Coach had turned the showers off, gotten dressed, and cleared out for the night.
He flicked on a light, illuminating the dark room, and gently pulled my hips toward his body, his mouth finding the crook of my neck again. “Stop worrying, Cupcake. Nobody’s in here. We just watched everyone leave.”
“But …”
“I’d love to take you back to my place, but you don’t want anyone finding out about us, right?” he asked, throwing those words back at me. “My parents are home tonight, and my father will do nothing but run his mouth to his rich friends anyway. If they see you with me, all of Redwood will know about us by the morning.”
I stared at Alec and gulped. Something inside me told me that we really shouldn’t be in public together like this. It was bad enough Alec had snuck me into a classroom on Monday. If we kept sneaking around at school, someone was bound to find out.
Still … I didn’t really want to sneak around with him anymore.
“Unless you want me to bring you home,” Alec said.
Hell no.
Oliver was throwing another party. If I showed up with Alec …
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You can’t.”
“We need to talk here then.”
“About what?”
Alec pulled himself away from me for the first time since I had snuck down the hallway to find him, then looked down at his feet, suddenly quiet. An unreadable expression crossed his face, and his lips pulled into a frown.
“After the game, all the guys get to celebrate with their girlfriends.” He paused. “And I want that too. I want more than this.” He gestured to the locker room we were hiding in so nobody would find us. “I want to be able to hug you …”
In a moment, he wrapped his strong arms around my waist and pulled me closer until our chests met. I inhaled sharply at our closeness, but this time, it wasn’t sexual. This touch, this moment … it was so intimate.
“I want to be able to kiss you,” he said. He shoved one hand into my hair to tug it back, then grasped my chin in the other. Dipping his head, he kissed me on the lips, his tongue making no move to slip inside my mouth, like our usual heated kisses.
This kiss meant something.
Not just to him, but to me too.
“People at Redwood are ruthless, Alec,” I said in a breathy whisper, my stomach twisting into knots. “Do you remember what happened to Jace and Allie? People have been whispering about them for weeks now … and they’re not even official, official yet again.”
Alec rested his forehead against mine. “Don’t you want us?” he asked, his voice so soft, so much more vulnerable than usual.
And I freaking hated it so much. If my brother wasn’t such an ass, then this could’ve been different.
“All this week at school, I …” I stared into his big brown eyes, my chest tightening. “I wanted this too.”
I liked Alec Wolfe. Maybe even loved him—not that I would ever tell him that to his face anytime soon. And I didn’t know how much longer I could just sneak around with him, didn’t know how much longer we could keep us a secret.
Unable to stop myself, I wrapped my arms around his torso and pulled him closer. “And, God, I want to be with you.”
Alec cupped my face. “Then, be with me.”
Still, it hurt so badly. We weren’t supposed to be together. After what Spencer had done, I hated the thought of going public with anyone. Especially a player like Alec. What if he does the same thing to me?
“Give me a couple of weeks, Alec,” I finally said, watching his eyes widen. “I need to … figure out how I’m going to tell Oliver. Please …”
“Okay …” he agreed. “A couple of weeks.”
When Alec grasped my hands to pull them to his lips, a sound echoed through the boys’ locker room. I didn’t know what it was, but it seemed like someone was nearby. Either just outside of the locker room or worse … here with us.
“Did you hear that?” I asked, glancing around as my heart pounded in my ears.
“Mads, you’re getting in your head again.”
“No, I definitely heard something,” I said.
“There’s nobody else here. I made sure of it before bringing you in.” Alec grasped the sides of my face and pulled me closer again until our lips touched. “You worry too much.”
When he pulled away, I glanced around the locker room and gnawed on the inside of my cheek. “I guess you’re right,” I whispered, but still feeling uneasy. Maybe it was because I had been waiting for that random number to text me back all week, but they hadn’t. Or maybe it was because I had been thinking about Spencer again.
And he always gave me the creeps.
“Come on,” Alec murmured. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, eyes wide as he pulled me along.
“On a date.”