High and Tight by Vanessa North

Author:Vanessa North [North, Vanessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2014-05-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Adam said his goodbyes to his family, promising Emily he’d be home early to see the kids open their presents.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Em.” He grinned as he said it, but then sobered quickly. “Harris and I...we have to sort some stuff out, okay?”

She sighed, a heavy sound that hit him hard while he waited for her answer.

“I was warning you to stay away from him, but now I’m wondering if you’re the one who’s going to get hurt this time.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. “You and Harris...I love you guys both so much. But if it was going to work out between you, surely it would have happened by now?”

“It ‘happened’ when we were seventeen and sixteen years old, Em. I’ve been in love with your best friend almost half my life.”

“Why didn’t you do this two years ago, after DADT was repealed?”

“I made a mistake. I was stupid.”

“You flew me and Tommy and Tommy Jr. out to Hawaii for vacation rather than come home. You specifically avoided him.”

“I was stupid.”

“Please, don’t be stupid anymore, okay? I’ll see you in the morning.”

“See you.” He hugged Emily, then found Harris by the front door, holding their coats. He shrugged into his and smiled at Harris. “Ready?”

Harris smiled back. “Let’s go.” He walked with Adam to the passenger side of the car, opening it for him as if they were on a date. Maybe in a weird Adam-and-Harris way, they were.

“Thanks.” Adam reached across the front seat to return the favor, and Harris laughed.

They didn’t speak on the ride to Harris’s house. Harris watched the road, and Adam watched Harris, the conversation with Emily replaying in his head.

It happened when we were seventeen and sixteen years old.

Harris had been hanging out with Emily a lot that year. He had a girlfriend, some goth-looking girl a year behind him in school, but he spent more time at the Walker house with Emily and Adam than he did with her. One night he was at the house late, studying, and Adam came home from a post-basketball-game date with Kelly. Even all these years later, heat rushed into Adam’s face when he remembered that awful, awkward, wonderful conversation with Harris, which he did all the time because it was one of the greatest memories of his life.

He came into the kitchen and Harris was sitting at the table, his books spread out everywhere while he quizzed Emily on the conjugations of irregular French verbs.

“Oh, the conquering hero returns. Great game, Adam. Did you get some action tonight, stud?” Harris teased.

“Shut up, Hair, he’s my brother.” Emily laughed.

Adam blushed, his face hot with embarrassment. All the action that night had happened on the basketball court. What happened after was...humiliating. He and Kelly had been making out, and he’d stuck his hand up her shirt. He just wanted to see if it would get him hotter. It didn’t. She’d grabbed the front of his jeans and realized just how not-into-it he was.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.