When her chest falls and rises faster, I know she’s mad. She shakes her head before whipping around, but I grab her arm and turn her back to me before she storms off. “And you’re not available. Don’t make me fuck the thought out of you.”
She snatches her arm away before shoving the dolphin back at me. “Stop being ridiculous, Liam.” She crosses her arms now. “I thought you were working on your anger?”
“Iam, and I'm improving, so stop pissing me off.”
“Stop being a possessivecaveman. I just wanted to be friends with them.” She walks off before I can tell her they certainly wanted to be more than friends, but I let her leave this time.
“Really?” Moon voices from beside me, and I drag my eyes away from her back to look at him.
“What were they doing that was so funny?” He opens his mouth, but I beat him to it. “You’re not getting a damn car.” I shove the dolphin into him before I walk past him to catch up with Sage, and he says I technically had a conversation with her, but I ignore him.
Sage ends up walking away every time I get too close, even if she’s in the middle of a game, so I take the damn hint and watch her from a distance.
One of the guys comes back to her, and he must be the first brain-dead person who can walk and talk because he’s a fucking moron. He puts a hand on his chest as he gestures between Sage and me. When she shakes her head and puts a hand on his arm, I realize he must be apologizing.
I let them talk, but when the conversation gets too long, I walk over, and he leaves before I can reach them. “What’d your little boyfriend say?”
Sage turns to me and crosses her arms. “He feelshorrible, Liam.”
I watch her for two seconds before rolling my eyes. “You were supposed to say he isn’t your boyfriend.”
She sends me a pointed look, and I lean against the game behind me. “He could be feeling a lot worse.”
She shakes her head, almost disappointedly, so when she tries to walk off, I catch an arm around her waist and drag herbetween my legs. She keeps her arms crossed and looks off to the side like a damn brat, but I wrap both arms around her waist and lock my hands behind her.
“Let me go.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shakes her head, and I pull her closer. “I’msorry, Dory.”
“You said that already, and I said we're no longer speaking.”
I sit there in silence and wait for her to look at me, and when she does, I can’t help but smile at how pretty she is. “Can I have a hug?”
“What?” She uncrosses her arms and tries to move my hands, but I keep her in place.
“Please. I’ll go say sorry to him. Just let me get a hug.”
She watches me like she’s confused, but I sit in silence for her answer. “Weren’t you just mad?”
“Just a bit. May I have a hug?”
Her eyes squint like she can’t understand me.
“This is the longest I’ve touched you in over three weeks. I think I’m touch-deprived, Sage. I miss you. I need to resort to other things when I'm upset, and this is me resorting to you. I just want one hug, and I’ll go kiss his ass.”
She looks between my eyes, and when she shakes her head, I think she’s going to say no, but she wraps her arms around my neck, and I immediately pull her closer.
I bury my face in her neck, and she smells so good. I squeeze her a bit tighter, and it’s like moving for the first time after sitting still for years. I stand up straight and slightly lift her off the ground, but she doesn’t say anything.
With my face still in her neck, I steal a few kisses, but after the first three, she squirms away. “Stop that.” She pulls away, and I kiss her neck one more time before letting her go.
She fluffs her curls as she avoids my eyes, but I watch her carefully. After a beat, she nods to the side. “Go.”
I fight every fiber in me not to roll my eyes as I push off the game and walk off to Ed, Edd, and Eddy. They whisper amongst each other as I approach them and stand a bit straighter. I try not to glare, and the smile from hugging her slowly appears.
“Hey.”
