Free Forever Red by Carina Adams Page B

up. “Why?” Moving my fingertips across my swollen lips and sliding my tongue over the rough metal of the braces on the outside of my teeth, I looked up at him, smiling. “I’m not.”
    “I just fucking mauled you.” He looked utterly disgusted with himself as he backed up to the couch and collapsed. “I don’t…” He shook his head.
    “Hey.” I moved next to him, sitting close but far enough away to look at him. “Talk to me. What is going on?”
    “Missy and Julie were at the dance.”
    “Oh.” Well, at least that explained why they’d bailed. I had thought it was because I’d been such a raging bitch after we left Neil at the game. I moved slightly, turning back toward the TV so I didn’t have to see his face when he told me whatever it was that he’d come here to say. One of them must have told him the truth.
    “You didn’t know they were going.” It wasn’t a question, but I shook my head anyway. He nudged my leg with his. “Do you have some sort of competition with them to sleep with me?”
    He sounded sad, like I had just betrayed him. I guess I had. “They do.” I thought about the kiss we’d just shared and then sighed. “Apparently, I’m in it, too. We all assumed I was out since you and I were just friends.”
    “Why would you do that? Is it because I’m new?” he asked and all I could do was shake my head. “Then why me?”
    I didn’t know how to answer that; it wasn’t a simple answer. So, instead, I told him everything. Why The Game had been created, how we chose the boys or men we did, what we had to do in order to win, and, finally, how we kept each other honest. For the first time, I let someone from outside in on our secret, and it felt amazing to trust him with that much information.
    “That’s pretty fucked up. You know that, right?”
    I did. The three of us were screwed up beyond measure.
    “Okay.” He stood, making me imagine the worst before he sat back down sideways on the couch, looking at me, one knee up on the cushion between us. “How do we get them to stop?”
    I turned, mirroring his position. “It isn’t that easy. They’re not going to stop pursuing you just because you know. They’ll keep going until someone wins.”
    He chewed on his lip in thought, distracting me. I wanted to kiss him again. Shit, I wanted to yank him into the bedroom and have my way with him. Do things to him that would have him so obsessed with me he’d forget about everything he’d learned tonight.
    “Lia?” His hand touched mine. “Did you hear me?”
    “Sorry.”
    His lips curved in a knowing way. “I asked how many points you got for our little kiss earlier.”
    I frowned, trying to remember back to the conversation in class the day I met Neil. “I don’t remember,” I answered truthfully and he grunted, putting me on the defensive. “I haven’t been playing, remember? I didn’t think you were attracted to me.”
    He made an “hmmm” sound as if I were an idiot.
    “It doesn’t matter anyway. I have no proof.”
    “We’ll just do it again then. In front of them.”
    I wanted to laugh like a maniac at the idea of kissing him again. “You’re not pissed at me?”
    He shrugged. “It’s stupid and childish, and I can’t imagine doing something like that. But, it doesn’t change how I feel about you.” He glanced around the TV-lit living room. “What time’s your mom coming home?”
    “She isn’t. Why?”
    He stood, grinning. “I wanna take you somewhere. Come with me?”
    I’d go anywhere with him, as long as he kept looking at me like that.
    He ran out to his truck to get his bag, leaving me to gather as many blankets and pillows as I could find. Half an hour later, he pulled onto a creepy dirt path that wasn’t even nice enough to be considered a road.
    “Uh, where are we going?”
    He didn’t answer, just shot me what I thought was a smile and kept driving. Minutes later, the trail opened into a giant field that went on until it met the sky,