Free The Fragile Fall by Kristy Love Page B

giving him time to change his mind or time to remind myself why it was such a bad idea to be so close to him. He wrapped his arm around me and rested his cheek on my head. “I’ve got you. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He kissed the top of my head.
    Holy. Fucking. Shit.
    He stiffened and moved away from me a little. “I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I, uh, I shouldn’t have done that. I got caught up in the moment, I guess.”
    “No, it’s okay.” I moved closer to his side and wrapped my arm around his waist. “You’re making me feel safe.”
    He relaxed and put his cheek back on my head.
    I freaked out even more, though this time it was over Will. Being this close and smelling him, feeling his arm wrapped around me and his muscles through his shirt did things to me that were completely unacceptable. I liked how warm he felt against me and the tingles he sent all over my body as his thumb rubbed circles on my arm. I loved how I perfectly fit against him.
    I stayed snuggled up to him through the rest of the movie, learning the rhythm of Will’s heart. When the movie was over, he adjusted on the couch a little. “Are you okay?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Good. I didn’t think you’d get so scared.” He chuckled.
    “Yeah, I’m a complete baby. I should have remembered that when I picked it.” Though I was glad I hadn’t. Spending the time wrapped up with Will was more than worth it.
    “It all worked out in the end.” His lips curved in a lopsided grin. I was far too comfortable being this close to him, so I sat up and stretched. Will pulled his phone out and checked the time. “I guess I need to head back. It’s almost midnight.” He stood and stretched, causing his shirt to ride up and his abs to be revealed. I looked away, needing to get control of myself.
    “Yeah, I guess that’s a good idea.” The last thing I wanted was for Will to leave. I was completely freaked out over the movie, but I knew Jax would flip out if he knew Will and I had watched a movie alone and I didn’t want to ruin a perfectly good evening by having it end in a ridiculous fight.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    I hated when he left. I felt like a part of me went with him.
    I felt alone.

    Courtney was helping me get ready for homecoming. It felt like I was back in high school as we danced around my room and she fixed my hair.
    “So you’re going to a high school dance with a nice hunk of jail bait,” Courtney said as she twisted my hair and put a pin in to hold it in place.
    “He’s not jail bait, Court. We’re just friends.”
    She sprayed more hair spray. “I’ve seen the way you two are around each other. You have some kind of weird telepathy or something. You always seem to know where each other is, even if you aren’t in the same room, and you look at him like he’s the only person you see.”
    “He’s a good friend. I like hanging out with him.”
    Courtney put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “I know Jax is giving you a hard time, but you need to ignore him.”
    “He’s a friend, Court. I’m not stirring up shit with Jax.”
    “You need to stop letting your brother determine life.” She put a final twist in my hair and sprayed a cloud of hair spray around me, causing me to cough from the fumes. “All done. Now, I’ll do your makeup and then you can look.” She smiled at me.
    I wanted to stop caring about what Jax said. He certainly didn’t let me weigh in on his life the way I let him weigh in on mine. Being close to Will last night, feeling his arms around me and the way he offered me comfort when I was scared, made me realize that we couldn’t go back to being strictly friends. I wanted … needed to act on the feelings that were boiling over inside me.
    “Do you think it’d be weird?”
    “Would what be weird?” She brushed powder over my cheeks.
    “If something were to happen between Will and me? I know he’s still seventeen, but it doesn’t feel like that when he’s around,