Secret (Elemental) by Brigid Kemmerer

Author:Brigid Kemmerer [Kemmerer, Brigid]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

When Adam knocked on the front door, eagerness and panic were waging a full-on wrestling match in Nick’s stomach. What was he supposed to do, text everyone something like, Just want to make sure you’ll all be out past eleven. Nothing to see here. Just me and my textbook.

He’d taken the fastest shower in the history of time and changed clothes, but it left him feeling more on edge. The whole five minutes he’d been in the shower, he worried Adam would show up at the same time as one of his brothers.

But now Adam was here, knocking, and Nick couldn’t seem to get the door open fast enough.

Somehow Adam managed to look better every time he saw him. The porch light threaded his hair with gold and painted shadows under his cheekbones.

“You look nervous,” said Adam.

“I am nervous,” Nick breathed. But you’re here. You’re on my doorstep. You’re in my space, and I don’t want you to go.

Adam didn’t wait for an invitation. He moved across the threshold and pushed the door closed quietly behind him. “Are we still alone?”

“Yeah.”

Adam stepped forward and kissed him. Nothing hesitant, nothing unsure. Simply the soft pressure of his lips against SECRET

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Nick’s mouth. Then the first brush of tongue, lighting sparks in Nick’s body, sending his thoughts reeling. The room felt warmer, the air soft and welcoming, eager for the way his mood lightened in Adam’s presence.

Adam shifted closer, until Nick could feel the heat of his chest and the brush of his hips. Then closer, his hands finding Nick’s face and winding in his hair.

Nick made a low sound and slid his hands under Adam’s coat, finding the warm muscled span of his waist.

Adam drew back and smiled. His voice was soft in the space between them. “Keep going like that and we’ll never leave the foyer.”

“Is it wrong that I don’t care?”

Adam laughed. “I want to see where you live.”

“It’s very exciting. Here, give me your coat.” And your shirt, and your—

“It is exciting.” Adam shrugged out of his coat. “And I might not get another chance.”

Well, that was sobering. But Nick took his coat and stashed it in the front closet.

Adam followed him through the lower level without much comment, until they came full circle to the staircase.

“No pictures,” said Adam.

“What?”

“There aren’t any pictures anywhere. Of your family. Or—”

He hesitated, as if realizing he’d made a misstep. “Of your brothers.”

Nick shrugged, but his shoulders felt tense again. “We used to have some. They were destroyed.”

“Fire?”

Nick shook his head. “It’s—it’s a long story.”

A lie. It was a pretty short story, really. He didn’t want to relive it, but his brain was more than happy to supply the memories. While Nick and his brothers were at their parents’ funeral, Tyler and his best friend Seth had broken into the house. They’d destroyed every picture they could find.

Nick remembered coming home, still shaken from watching 174

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glossy wooden boxes lowered into the ground, and finding shattered glass everywhere. Michael had called the cops.

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