Private (Private 1)

in the hallway and jumped away.

I swallowed hard. In that moment I knew. I knew that I was

He stepped forward and took my hand, tugging me toward the

going to give him what he wanted. I was going to give him every-neat-as-a-pin bed. “It’s okay,” he said. “No one’s coming down

thing.

here. I promise.”

“Okay,” I said.

“How do you know?” I asked, my heart pounding in my throat.

And he smiled and kissed me, leaning me slowly backward onto

“I have ways,” Thomas replied.

his bed.

He pulled me down on his bed and my leg hooked over his. He

slid his hands underneath my hair and pulled me to him. His kiss was urgent. Almost violent. And I knew for sure what he wanted.

Why I was there.

He slid his hands under my shirt and my breath caught in

anticipation. But to my surprise, his palms stopped on my stomach.

He pulled back and looked into my eyes.

“You know I love you, right?” he whispered.

I was so shocked I almost laughed.

“You don’t have to say that,” I said.

P R I V A T E

143

around in her backpack? And where the hell would one even get

that kind of thing in this cloistered place?

“What’s eating you, glass-licker?” Noelle asked, jogging to catch up with me.

A GIFT

I flinched, feeling as if I had just been caught. An answer. An answer. I needed an answer.

“It’s parents’ weekend,” I said.

Noelle laughed. “Thomas rubbing off on you?”

I flushed, thinking of Thomas’s room. Of his body. Of his skin