“Ugh, this is a fucking joke.”
“Nah, man, it’s school spirit. I heard they did this once way back before our time, and some of the guys ended up with enough numbers to fill his calendar for the year.”
“I’m not sure that’s the point, Saul.”
“If some chick wants to ram her tongue down my throat and give me her number all in the name of charity, I’m here for it.”
“Okay, ladies.” A low rumble of snickers and giggles filled the air. “Will the first four guys, Saul, Brad, Cooper, and Dev step forward.”
A sigh of relief slipped from my lips. At least, I didn’t have to go first.
“Masks on,” Vic ordered. “Now ladies, if you’ll please form an orderly line. Payment goes in Cadence’s bucket, collect your masks from Kira. And remember, in the spirit of the kissing booth, you shall not reveal your identity to one another until after I end the round. Happy kissing!”
“Come to daddy.” Saul smacked his lips together and a huddle of girls all shrieked with delight.
Jesus. I rolled my eyes.
Twenty minutes later, twenty-four girls were all thoroughly kissed, and Cadence’s bucket had at least two hundred bucks in it.
“What do we say to our first volunteers?” Vic said, and the room exploded with applause. “Give it up for Saul, Brad, Cooper, and Dev. Next up, we have Joel, Tyrese, Kaiden, and Andre.”
The guys moved forward and applied their masks.
“Girls. You know the drill by now. Get those dollars ready and join the line.”
I noticed some girls sneak back into the line and I smirked. Sure, it was for charity, but still.
A commotion beyond the room caught everyone’s attention and a new group of girls appeared. “We heard there was a kissing booth?”
“You heard right.” Victoria grinned. “We were just getting started on our second round.”
“Sign me up.” One of the girls said, licking her lips. It wasn’t until they moved deeper into the room that I spotted her.
Calli.
What the fuck was she doing here?
She caught my eye, but instead of cowering, she lifted her chin in defiance. Disbelief burned through me as I watched her and Josie join the line, laughing and giggling with the other girls.
Joel was up there.
Calli was going to pay money to kiss one of my teammates... and fucking Joel was up there.
White hot fury exploded in my veins as I watched Calli inch closer to the front of the line. She was up with Josie and two other girls. Masks in place, they let Vic and the other girls line them up in front of their guy. Obviously, Josie couldn’t go with Joel, so she got Andre. One of the other girls got Tyrese, leaving Joel and Kaiden, Calli and another girl.
Vic caught my eye and smiled. I didn’t think anything of it until she started to position Calli in front of Joel. But there was no way she could know.
No way she could possibly know that I wanted to storm over there and tear Calli away from him.
I was rooted to the spot, powerless to stop it as their hands reached out, touching and feeling. Calli’s mouth curved, her nervous laughter ringing in my ears. She was laughing. It was such a beautiful sound, soft and full of innocence. But no matter how sweet it was, it hit me like a poisoned arrow through my heart.
Here I was, drowning in anger and hatred, suffocating in bitterness... and she was laughing as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
It happened in slow motion. Joel’s hands cupped Calli’s face, brushing her cheek reassuringly as he leaned down, aligning their lips with perfect precision. Calli’s hands found his t-shirt, curling into the material to steady her as she went up on her tiptoes to meet him in the kiss.
My teeth ground together so hard I half-expected to crack enamel.
She was kissing him.
Sure it was awkward and clumsy, but it didn’t remain that way. Her lips were on that motherfucker’s. Joel deepened the kiss, parting her lips with his tongue... His. Fucking. Tongue. I wanted to yell out that it was no tongues allowed, but I’d watched half the guys slip their more-than-willing girls the tongue. Victoria had even said it was optional, so I couldn’t use that excuse.
The seconds ticked by. Maybe it was my mind playing tricks, but all the other rounds seemed to finish quicker.
I knew I wasn’t making it up when Brad nudged my ribs, “Holy shit, would you look at Joel macking on her.”
Look?
I couldn’t take my fucking eyes off them.
My fists clenched so tight, I knew if I looked down my knuckles would be white.
“Oh wow, is it getting hot in here, or am I just imagining things?” Victoria fanned herself and some of the girls chuckled.
Her words were enough to break whatever spell Joel and Calli were under though because I refused to believe it was anything more than his annoying habit of always giving one hundred and ten percent.
Calli slipped off her mask, her eyes wide and lips parted with surprise. Color exploded in her cheeks, running down her neck. I wanted to claw my own fucking eyes out at how hot and bothered she looked.
Hot and bothered because of Joel’s kiss.
He pulled off his own mask and everyone cheered and whooped. Someone even wolf whistled. Calli buried her face in her hands and Joel leaned in to whisper something to her.
“You okay, man?” Brad asked.
“Uh, what?” I blinked over at him.
“You look a little pale.”
“I really don’t want to go up there.” The lie rolled off my tongue.
“Not scared of a little lip on lip action, are you? Some of these girls are creaming their panties at the thought of getting a taste of you, Messiah.”
“Fuck off,” I grumbled.
When I looked back over to where Joel and Calli had been standing, they were gone. I found her huddled with Josie over by the wall. Joel was standing by Andre wearing a smile so wide it almost took over his face. Smug bastard.
“Okay, time to bring up the final four.” Vic winked at me. “Todd, Benji, Milo, and our star attraction, Zach Messiah.”
Brad and Saul, the fuckers, wolf whistled, sending the girls into some kind of mating frenzy. Irritation rippled up my spine.
“Masks please.”
I gripped the elastic so tight I was sure it would snap. My eyes drilled holes at Calli, willing her to look at me. Finally, she lifted her gaze. Fuck, she was beautiful. All heavy-lidded and flushed. But she was wearing his kiss.
Motherfucker.
An angry inferno licked my insides as I slid the mask into place. No matter how hard I tried to avoid her, the universe had a strange way of forcing us back together.
“Okay, ladies... get those dollar bills ready because this is the round you’ve all been waiting for.”
I focused on my breathing, letting the steady rhythm of my heartbeat drown out the laughter and chatter. Over the last couple of years, I’d gotten good at filtering out all the bullshit, the day to day background noise. When your life wasn’t your own, and you were expected to play a part, you need to build impenetrable walls. And I’d mastered it.
But being around Calli again was like being under siege.
Bottom line, she was under my skin, and I needed to do something, anything, to regain the upper hand.
“Hi,” a meek voice said, and I felt the air shift in front of me. “Go easy on me. I’ve never been kissed before.”