Free Her Kiss (Griffin) by Melanie Marks Page B

she offered all breathy and I’m-an-easy-score -like.
    Her hand crept up my thigh. “We can
have some fun,” she purred.
    I pushed her hand away, pissed I
was here instead of making sure Ally got home okay. “I’m not interested,
Fauna—not even slightly.”
    “Geez, Griff. You seem mad,” she
pouted, acting like it was rude of me not to let her get me heated. “I’m the
one that should be mad. You dragged me away from Aiden.”
    I glared up at the ceiling. “The
guy has a girlfriend. Leave him alone.”
    Fauna scoffed. “Geez, what do you
care? You don’t even like Aiden. You took his girlfriend into the closet just to get him riled-up. It seems like
you’d be as glad as me if they broke up.”
    My stomach shriveled. “Ally
wouldn’t be glad, though. She’d be hurt.”
    Fauna blinked. Then she gave an
incredulous laugh—like she couldn’t believe her ears. “You can not seriously be into Ally Grange.”
    I didn’t say anything, just stared
out the window.
    Fauna made this huff noise. She
sounded irritated. Almost as irritated as Hailey always did when Ally was
involved in a conversation that had to do with me. Like just the thought of us
together made her mad.
    Fauna’s voice was bitter, “You can
have pretty much any girl you want—why her?”
    I could have pretty much any girl I
want? I was not aware of that. But either way—if I could or
couldn’t—unfortunately, the girl I wanted was Ally. And no, I couldn’t
have her. She normally ran from me. In fact, she wouldn’t let me near her
unless it had something to do with her boyfriend. Still, I wasn’t going to
discuss it with Fauna. I wanted the loser out of my car.
    She wasn’t getting the hint though.
Instead she drawled out with an evil smirk, “Look Grief-Master, we’re alike.”
    I raised my eyebrows at her, my
silent: No way on earth .
    She laughed. “Yes we are! We’re in
the same boat. The exact same situation. Why don’t you
just lead her away from
Aiden?”
    “She doesn’t seem to want to be led
away.”
    Fauna shrugged. “So? You could just lead her anyway.”
    I shook my head slowly, letting her
know—no matter what she said—we weren’t the same. Not even close.
“I don’t do that. Now get out of my car.”

 
 
 
    CHAPTER 17

 
 
    Monday morning Ally and Poser looked as though they’d made up. Well, pretty much. But not exactly. They were walking down the school hallway
together. But they weren’t holding hands or being all cuddly like they usually
were.
    As they passed my locker I smiled
at Ally. I couldn’t help it. She was staring at me, but it was like she was
trying her hardest not to . It was so cute. And it got
my heart all craving her.
    “Hey, my Three Minutes in Heaven,”
I drawled near her ear as she and Poser walked by me.
    Poser stiffened. Actually Ally did
too. She did a cute little gasp and turned all pink. My eyes washed over her,
drinking her in. I was craving, craving, craving. But she didn’t say a word to
me as she walked by. (No shock there.) She just kept walking—though now
kind of unsteady.
    But I saw her peek back at me after
they’d passed by me a bit. I gave her my best smile and a wink. She quickly
darted her head back around as though we’d both been doing something naughty.
Maybe we had. My heart was sure drumming faster than normal. But that was
because, hey, she looked back at me. Didn’t act like I was invisible like she
usually did—well, like she usually tried to do.
    My eyes lingered on her, until
Hailey nudged me with a growl. “She’s so not your type! ” she hissed. “The girl goes to church .”
    I shrugged. “I could go to church.”
    Hailey howled a laugh. “Yeah,
right!”
    I set my jaw, but couldn’t help
grinning. The building would probably burn up if I took a step in it. I knew
that as well as Hailey, but I liked messing with her. She was so belligerent, all over Ally who
practically went up in flames whenever I came near her. It wasn’t like