Read The Kiss for Free Online Page B

that.
    ‘Did you love him?’
    ‘I just said I dumped him, didn’t I?’ I snap, groping for focus.
    ‘Doesn’t mean you didn’t love the guy. Just that you had your reasons.’
    We walk on in silence for a while, which is just as well because I am trying not to cry. As we reach the road that will lead us back down towards the Gaslight, the town lies at our feet like a glittering carpet. The moon shines large and bright over our heads.
    ‘Aphrodite’s moon,’ Jem says, turning to me. ‘Isn’t that what they call the really full, fat ones?’
    The view spreads behind him like a spangled magician’s cloak. Bloody moon , I think with ecstatic dread as he leans forward to kiss me. Bloody Aphro-bloody-dite.
    He’s hardly started when he pulls back like I’ve electrocuted him. His eyes are wide.
    ‘Whoa,’ he says. He sounds shaken.
    I have that panicky sensation I had when I was fourteen and kissing a boy for the first time. That need to appear confident with absolutely no experience to back it up. If used incorrectly while kissing, tongues are little better than slugs. Have I just done a slug?
    ‘What?’ I ask nervously.
    He mutters something I can’t hear, gathers me back into him and kisses me harder. The kiss is deep and full and, frankly, lush. I soften and mould myself to him. If I’m honest, I practically start climbing him like one of those ropes in an old-school gym.
    A chuckle from the shadows breaks the spell. I fling myself out of Jem’s arms like a spring-loaded sucker toy as Studs walks into the glow of a street lamp, fists thrust deep into the pockets of his denim jacket.
    ‘Jem,’ he remarks, grinning. ‘Doing fine, I see.’
    Jem is having difficulty focusing on the change in circumstances. I hunch myself into my clothes, wishing and wishing that my hair wasn’t so distinctive. It’s hopeless.
    ‘And Deli-la-lah,’ whistles Studs, suddenly recognizing me. ‘Naughty girl, messing with this one.’
    ‘You know each other?’ Jem says, surprised.
    ‘Depends how you define “know”,’ I mutter.
    ‘Delilah and me got a mutual friend,’ Studs says, smiling slyly.
    Recovering, Jem exchanges a complicated palm-and-knuckle routine with Studs that speaks volumes: the kind of routine you come up with when you’re ten and hone for years until it’s second nature. Any fool can see that these guys have a history. Studs winks at me and vanishes again. There’s no denying he has that melting-into-the-shadows thing down.
    My heart hardens. How many cars have Studs and Jem robbed together in the dark of night, sneaking around, spraying their territory like skunks?
    ‘Kiss me again,’ Jem whispers, sliding his warm hand under my hair to rest on my neck, bringing me back
to him.
    I bat him off and run down the hill, keeping in the glow of the streetlights. The moon feels like it’s burning my skin. It’s only when I reach the safe haven of the High Street and fling myself on the almost-departing forty-two bus that I realize something crucial.
    I haven’t given him Sam’s number.
    ‘Lilah! It’s nearly ten o’clock! Where have you been? You haven’t answered your phone or anything . I’ve been worried sick! How did it go?’
    I wonder how to explain the evening to Tabby as I kick my shoes off.
    ‘Not brilliantly,’ I say at last, sinking on to my bed.
    ‘Did he say he wouldn’t do it?’
    ‘I . . . forgot to give him the number.’ I hold the phone away from me as Tabby squawks. ‘I’m sorry!’ I say at a safe distance. ‘I got distracted, OK?’
    ‘I left you at the Gaslight nearly five hours ago! What have you been doing ?’
    ‘Tab, please don’t go on,’ I beg. ‘I’ve just walked back from town and my head and feet are killing me.’
    ‘You walked? Are you nuts? Lilah, it’s over a mile and it’s dark . Why didn’t you get the bus?’
    ‘I did! But the bus driver threw me off because I didn’t have any cash on me to buy a ticket so I went to the cash point