Matches | √

Chapter Twenty-Four

explode | burst or shatter violently

• • •

4/2/17

I WATCH ASHER tie off and toss his condom into the small trash can in the corner of the moonlit conference room. My stomach twists in a mix of relief and disappointment in myself. Pure relief that he remembered to use one and utter disappointment that I didn't even care. That I didn't even notice. I ignored every protest my brain broadcast and let my heart and body take over.

I let my heart take the lead and that choice has already led me in a reckless direction.

"You ripped my dress," I tell Asher as he tucks himself back into his trousers and messes with his jacket. I examine my powder blue dress and the torn strap and the now puckered bodice.

He flips around running a hand through his silky hair. "It's your fault," he states with a flippant shrug.

My eyebrows draw together as confusion fills my light eyes. "How?" I ask with a tinge of annoyance in my tone.

The smallest touch of a smile lifts his lips and stops my heart all together. "You made me lose my mind," he tells me openly. And in this moment I push every fear, every red flag, and every ounce of apprehension that fills my bones away, and I listen to my heart instead of my head.

Even if I know it's wrong. I no longer care.

Asher and I have started something we can't turn back on now. We have lit an inextinguishable fire in our souls. It is going to ruin us. Destroy the world around us. The fire is going to burn wildly and neither of us is going to have time to prepare for what happens when it finally burns out.

But we don't want to either. We enjoy the thrill too much.

I slide off the desk and let the skirt of my dress fall past my thighs once again covering me. "That doesn't make us even," I argue with a faint smirk. I take a few steps towards him and let my fingers trace over the lapels of his tuxedo jacket.

His dark eyes rake over my slightly disheveled form. He takes in my messy hair, my flushed cheeks, and the bite mark on my shoulder. "Why not?" he questions his words coming out breathy as if he wants to push me back up against the table and go another round.

I take a step backwards towards the conference room door knowing if we don't leave now we would once again let each other consume one another. "Because you made me lose mine a long time ago," I answer him. Telling him my truth. Giving him even more of my heart.

Asher takes a few strides forward to open the door for me. We step into the hallway and a sliver of doubt fills my veins as bright yellow light fills my eyes. We are back in the real world. In that dark conference room time stopped and we became one with each other. But out here it's senior prom and music slips through my ears bringing me back to our surroundings.

My head drops with fear clouding my chest when Asher slides up next to me and wraps his arm around my waist drawing me in as if I've always belonged there. My head lifts and our gazes meet and a genuine smile lifts his perfect pink lips and he steadies the storm, and stops the flames of doubt from burning me.

My fingers lift to trace the mauve smudge near his chin. "You have lipstick on you," I murmur letting myself fall once again into this bubble only we can create.

"Is it my color?" he quickly teases. His eyes wash over me as a calmness spreads over his face. Asher once looked at me with an inquisitive gaze as if he was trying to figure me out. Dissect me and take me apart so he could later put together the pieces. But now it's as if he's put together the entire puzzle, as if he's got me all figured out, and with that knowledge he's found peace.