I went home that night and pretended nothing had happened. I'd wrapped the hockey stick in plastic so T.J's blood wouldn't mess up my trunk and only after midnight, I came back to the car. There wasn't much blood on it, I'd made sure I'd hit him hard enough to not kill him but put him in a hospital bed.

I'd cleaned any access marks from the hockey stick with the hose outside the old barn.

The next day, there was news that T.J had gotten assaulted by someone in the parking lot. It didn't come as a shock when none of my teammates reacted to the news. T.J had it coming. The entire team knew that T.J had a lot of beef going on with a lot of people, inside and outside of school. It wasn't a surprise that someone had taken a club to his head.

Someone had to do the dirty work, and it had to be me.

"Can you believe it?" Vicky asked me the next evening. She and I were hanging out in her house the next evening. She was seated on the couch with the coffee table stacked with an assortment of snacks. "I should be feeling bad for him, but he had it coming, didn't he? I guess karma does exist."

It's not karma's doing. It was me.

I had that on the tip of my tongue but I didn't say it.

"Yeah, guess you're right." I agreed. "Too bad, I'll have to find a temporary replacement for him on the team."

I kept my tone light, playing pretense. If Vicky knew I'd done this, she would probably stop talking to me and I couldn't bear that.

Archer was in the kitchen making tacos. He loved cooking, and baking, god knows why he was playing hockey.

Oh right, because I'd pushed him to.

"How's your assignment coming along?" I asked Vicky, changing the subject.

"Noah and I just finished it this week, but I'm not sure we will be getting any good grade for it. How about you?"

"You already know I don't get along well with Harper. She calls me up so we could meet up and complete the assignment but all she wants to do is get in my pants."

Vicky laughed, "Can't really blame her, can you? I mean you are really hot." She fanned herself dramatically. "She probably thinks she would get lucky one day."

"She would have better luck at winning the lottery, trust me," I said.

Vicky giggled.

"Well, doesn't it bother you when other girls eye-fuck me?" I teased her.

She gave me a smile, "If it were up to me, Tyler Lockhart, I would have gouged out their eyeballs by now." She traced her finger from my cheek down to my jawline. "And if I did that, more than half of the girls' population in school would be missing them."

"You have my permission." I grinned.

"And what about you?" She asked, "what if someone were to let's say... 'eye-fuck' me?"

"I'd take a hockey-stick to their head," I said and instantly regretted.

She was laughing and then she stopped, her eyes going wide when it registered what I'd just said. It was, of course, easy to put two and two together for someone who knew me too well. By the looks of it, Vicky had done the math.

"Did you do it, Tyler?" She asked point-blank.

"Do what?"

"Did you or did you not hit T.J last night with your hockey-stick?" She asked me in a whisper, as if the walls, the couch or the tv could hear her.

"What makes you think I did?"

"I'm not stupid, Tyler. You saw T.J and me talking yesterday, and I saw how you practically wanted to murder him. Kyle told me that he was talking shit about me in the boy's locker. Then you guys went for pizza that night, and the next thing in the morning, he's been admitted to a hospital for assault." She finished it, "when I heard what happened, I assumed it was a coincidence."

Her expressions were wounded, and she was giving me that look again, one that was judging me.

"He said something really bad about you, Vicky, and I couldn't take it!" My voice went a notch up.

"It's high school, Ty! Everyone talks shit like that. But that doesn't mean we hurt them."

"I was really fucking angry, alright?" I exploded, "I wasn't thinking what I was doing."

"And next time you'd kill someone just because..." she quoted with her fingers, "you were angry!"

"I didn't hit him very hard, just hard enough to put him where he is."

"And you seem particularly proud to have done that!" She accused me.

I didn't say anything because I hated arguing with Vicky. I picked up the console on the table and pressed play on the paused game.

"I thought you had changed since middle school, you seemed to have, but I'm probably wrong to assume that, right?"

I ignored her and continued to press the buttons on the console, I was pressing so hard, my fingers were taking the punishment.

"I'm not talking to the walls, Tyler!"

She caught the end of my shirt and began shaking it.

"Look at me!" She yelled frustrated, and during the process, she tore a button from my shirt.

What was Archer doing? Had he suddenly decided to play deaf? Or was he kidnapped by aliens in the midst of his own kitchen? There was no other way to explain why he hadn't heard the ruckus.

When I still wasn't paying attention, she did the most cliché thing anyone would do in these situations. She unplugged the TV. It wasn't my house, nor was it my TV so I couldn't just walk away or yell at her. I placed the console back on the table.

"You don't seem sorry for what you did." She pointed out.

"That's because I'm not," I said flatly.

She came back on the couch and sat down beside me, she took my hand. "It upsets me when you do this, Ty. I don't want you hurting someone."

Now her silver eyes were swimming with fresh tears. It was probably just pure instinct when it happened. I didn't even plan it this way. Heck, I'd promised I wouldn't think of it. But the minute I saw her crying, so hurt on my account, it just riled up feelings inside me.

My lips met hers in a fierce kiss.

Vicky's lips were warm and she tasted of the cherry lip-gloss that I knew was her favorite. And god if it didn't taste like heaven. I coxed her mouth to open and when her lips parted; I took full advantage and plunged my tongue into her mouth, getting rewarded by a deep moan. Her little hands curled around my shirt front and then slid up into my hair where she caught it tightly by the roots and truthfully it hurt, but I could feel the desperation, all the tension she'd kept hidden for years surfacing into this kiss.

Our tongues got tangled and I kissed her open-mouthed, sensual and as deep as I could go. She whimpered, holding onto me for dear life, neither of us letting go for fear that the spell would be broken. I wasn't the type of guy to think deep into a kiss, but with Vicky, I felt like my soul was meeting hers; rejoicing. I could tell how much she did love me. Deeply wouldn't even begin to explain it. My hands were holding her face firmly against mine. I caught her tongue in my mouth and sucked so hard, she dug her nails into my scalp.

"Ah." That hurt.

I bit into her lower lip, and she pressed her soft breasts against my chest. I was hard and if things continued this way, I'd fuck her right here and she wouldn't even know it was happening.

I was dangerous, especially around Vicky.

And I knew this would happen, the moment I would allow myself to kiss her, we would be like those explosives waiting in the closet for years to blow up.

And look what happened, we were seconds away from tearing our clothes off each other.

"Guys, tacos are ready."

Upon hearing Archer's voice, we broke apart like two very powerful magnets who wanted to remain attached. Her eyes were heady and diluted. Her cheeks were tear-stained, as she climbed to her feet. Her breathing wasn't normal as she reached for her asthma inhaler.

"Are you okay?"

She held up a hand to stop me from coming towards her and backed away. "Don't...don't you ever talk to me." She managed to utter breathlessly.

Archer stood at the doorway holding the tray of food and giving us a confused look. Between his sister who was breathing erratically and me who just sat there staring, he was the only person in this room with a logical mind at present, considering ours were fogged up with lust, hate, and sheer bafflement.

The kiss was supposed to solve the problem. The kiss was supposed to make her forget about what we were arguing about. Had I tried to manipulate the situation? Yes? Maybe?

But what had I acquired in return? The look of hurt on Vicky's face because she'd figured it out. I for one hadn't expected the kiss to be so consuming, now all I could think about was her bruised pink lips and when I could do it again.

"Dude, what happened to your hair?" Archer asked. "Why do the two of you always fight when I'm not around?"

"Do you mind if I go after her?" I asked Archer.

Archer shook his head. "Go. Just make it fast, the tacos will get cold."

I climbed the stairs two at a time and reached the first landing. I stood outside her bedroom door and knocked. "Vicky, we need to talk."

In a sobbing breathless voice, she said, "Just leave, Tyler!"

"Don't force me to create a scene. Open the door."

The door didn't budge. Vicky knew I was bluffing and wouldn't risk Archer finding out what I had done with T.J.

I let out a sigh. I didn't want her to give her more distress than I'd already had. "Victoria..." I said softly, "At least talk to me."

No sound came from inside the bedroom.

"If you're feeling unwell, let us know. I'm downstairs with Archer."

I went downstairs to join her brother. He looked suspiciously at me but didn't comment. I brushed my hair with my fingers and settled down on the couch next to him.

"Tyler...Can I ask you something?" He took a sip from the can of beer.

"You already are."

"I mean no offense when I say this but you should stop doing this."

I gave him a questioning look. He continued, "She's my sister and she likes you. I like you too, but I know you're not into commitment and things like that."

"What gives you the idea that I'm not?"

He shrugged. "Well, you never dated so I assumed that you weren't really interested."

"Archer...get to the fucking point," I said.

"You either give her what she wants, which is date her, or just stop giving her wrong ideas."

I was feeling that tick start to grow now, any minute I knew I'd blow.

"I can't watch her get miserable every time you say something. Look, I understand you're not like the other guys, and frankly, I trust you with my sister more than I can trust them with anybody else."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said sarcastically.

"But you're her weakness, and she'd do anything for you, don't use that to your advantage."

"WHAT THE FUCK, ARCHER?!" I thumped the can of beer on the table so hard, the liquid sloshed on the top.

"What does everyone expect from me?" I asked. "Look, I'm trying my darn hardest to work out with my things at home, I hang out with you and Vicky here because I'm fucking done being the "perfect" son that everyone at home expects me to be which I'm not. All I want is to belong somewhere, do what I want to do and you guys are giving me a hard time too. I told her to stay away from me but she tempts me in school by blatantly flirting with other boys. A few months back your sister had no problem locking lips with McCloy, she said she didn't really kiss him but wanted to get a reaction out of me. Now, I kiss her and she gets a panic attack. Blame it on me, why don't you."

I picked up my car keys and headed to my car.

"Ty, listen."

"It's my fault, man," I said looking directly at him. "She's having breathing problems upstairs because of me. Too intense." I looked away; you couldn't just look your best friend in the eyes and confess you've had the best fucking kiss with his sister. "She was vulnerable, and I used it to my advantage." I threw his words back at him.

"Ty."

I sat down in my car and didn't even know where I was driving. For the first time in my life, I felt two very strong emotions.

Miserable and utterly lonely.

I pulled out a flask that I'd stolen from my dad's study and took a long swig from it. I never drank and drove but tonight I was feeling especially rebellious. I was actually hoping I'd be stopped by a patrol car.

Instead, I received a text message.