by Vera Hollins
“I wouldn’t say you were forcing me, but you were definitely annoying.”
I pouted. “It’s nice to hear you have such a high opinion of me.” I kicked a small rock. “I just thought you two would be perfect together, but since you’re blind to how perfect she is . . .” I leaned closer to him. “Seriously, I heard she got over thirty cards on Valentine’s Day! Guys want her!” I said conspiratorially.
He pressed his hand over his mouth and widened his eyes at me, mimicking me. “No! Who would’ve thought?”
I drew back, raising my hands in the air. “Okay, okay. I get it. I won’t push it anymore.” I made a zipping motion with my hand over my lips.
He sighed and looked at Shreya. His expression turned pensive.
“Does asking her to take one ride with me count as asking her out?” he asked.
Okay, this was jaw-dropping.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Something’s fishy here. Why the sudden change?”
“So I can be done with it. This way I don’t have to go all out for something I don’t even want.”
I grimaced. “I told you, I won’t push it anymore, so forget about it.”
“It’s too late, because—first, she’s already seen us, and secondly, you look too miserable for me to deny you. I’ll give her one chance.” He raised his finger in the air. “Just one.”
I raised my fist in a celebratory manner. “Yes! But put forth some effort, okay? Don’t look like you would rather eat your shit than spend time with her.”
He didn’t have time to answer me, since Shreya, Trish, and Jaya had already reached us.
“Hi, Melissa,” Shreya greeted me with a smile, but then she looked at Mateo, and her smile grew even bigger. “Hello,” she said shyly.
I waited for Mateo’s reaction, silently hoping he would at least give her a tiny smile, if nothing else.
But he went ahead and did something I hadn’t expected at all.
“Hi,” Mateo told her, quite suave. “This day just got so much more beautiful, angel.” He winked at her.
I raised my eyebrows at him. He was even smiling at her, and it wasn’t just some ordinary smile. No, it was a I-will-take-your-clothes-off smile. He’d switched into his former womanizer mode in the blink of an eye, and Shreya and her friends were lapping it up.
I wanted to gag. I couldn’t unsee this, watching the cringe-show unfold in front of my eyes as he continued to compliment her friends with more cliché phrases. Was he doing this on purpose? Overdoing it so Shreya would be disgusted by him and never look in his direction again?
But if that was his goal, he was failing it big time, because the stars in her eyes just got bigger and shinier.
Yep. It was gagging time.
“Do you want to take a ride with me?” he asked Shreya, and Jaya and Trish practically started squealing.
Shreya couldn’t have looked more shocked. She played with the ends of her hair nervously. “You’re really asking me?” She glanced at me for confirmation, and I nodded. Her eyes lit with a happiness that nipped at my insides. I didn’t want to see her face when Mateo told her this was all she would get.
Melissa Brooks, you’re an idiot and the world’s worst matchmaker.
I cleared my throat. “Mateo, take her on the Ferris wheel. It’s safe, if you know what I mean.” I was sure his ego wouldn’t let him show her how afraid he was of roller coasters and the like, so he wouldn’t risk it.
“Safe?” Shreya asked. “What do you mean by that?”
Mateo glared at me like there was no tomorrow.
I grinned. “I mean, it’s romantic. Yes. The Ferris wheel and a couple”—I snickered—“we all know it’s a recipe for the most epic love story of all time. Or rather, the biggest cliché love story of all time, but who cares anyway as long as you two kids are happy? So you should go there right away and maybe sneak in a kiss at the top, yes.” My jabbering earned me chuckles from Trish and Jaya and a stronger glare from Mateo.
“Fine,” he grumbled. “Let’s go.”
“Go,” Jaya and Trish encouraged Shreya.
She mouthed “Thank you” at me and scurried after him, but then he stopped and looked at me and her friends. “Come on. Let’s go.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Go where, silly? You two need privacy.”
Trish and Jaya nodded in unison. “Yes,” Trish said. “Totally.”
“I don’t want to leave you all by yourself,” he told me, frowning.
“All by myself?” I motioned with my head to Shreya’s friends. “And what are Jaya and Trish? A puff of air? Go. Shoo. I’ll be fine.” I shooed him away and raised my thumbs at Shreya.
After what seemed like decades of mulling over it, Mateo reactivated his womanizer mode and motioned for Shreya to follow him. I took out my phone and sent him a quick text.
“Be nice and don’t turn her down harshly.”
I looked at Trish and Jaya, who stood awkwardly by my side. This was weird already.
I grinned. “That worked out well.”
Jaya nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah. Shreya has talked about him for days, so this is huge.”
“I can’t wait to hear the details.” Trish beamed.
“Me, too. I bet it’s going to be the most beautiful fairy tale of all time. I’m already getting goosebumps.” I rubbed my upper arms to chase away the imaginary goosebumps. “Okay, then. See ya.” I turned around.
“Hey, where are you going?” Trish asked.
Did they think I wanted to be their third wheel? No, thanks. I’d rather be alone. “To Mars. And then to the restroom because I have to pee badly. Have fun, you two!” I waved at them and skipped away before they could say anything.
I didn’t really need to pee, so I walked around idly, passing various arcade games and food stalls. I chuckled when I heard screams coming from the pirate ship ride nearby, wondering where Mateo and Shreya would go. Would it be too much to hope for a miracle that he would fall for her? I frowned at my shoes. Yep. It would be too much.
“Melissa!”
I raised my head at the sound of my name and spotted Eli in the distance. He moved in my direction with Masen by his side.
My heart gave a little lurch, and I cursed silently because:
1) Of my physical reaction to Masen.
2) I couldn’t escape him wherever I went.
It was as if someone was conspiring against me by constantly sending him my way.
I smiled at Eli as I approached them, my pulse drumming stronger the closer I got to Masen.
Okay, what the hell was with that? Why were all my body functions acting ridiculously today?
“Hi, General Fabulous.” I cast a cold gaze at Masen. “And Barbie.”
Masen acknowledged me with a nod. “Satan.”
Eli chuckled, looking between us. “Barbie and Satan? You two have a strange taste for nicknames.”
Masen half-smiled. “Look at her and tell me she’s not like Satan. Look at that glare. I bet she’s thinking of a hundred ways to turn me into ashes.”
I placed my hand on my hip. “Of course I am, but not a hundred ways—a million.”
He smirked. “Good luck with that. You’d need a brain like Einstein’s to be that creative.”
“Why are you here all by yourself?” Eli asked me. “Are you waiting for someone?”
“Not really. I came here with a friend, but I’ve sent him on a mission to save the world from drugged hippos.”
Masen smirked. “You mean he ran away from you because he couldn’t stand you anymore?”
“Mace!” Eli frowned at him.
“What? Someone has to state the facts.”
“That someone is asking for a fist to their private parts,” I said.
Masen’s smile turned diabolical. “So, you’re obsessing over my private parts again. This is getting better and better.”
This. Shithead. “Listen, you—”
“Do you want to join us?” Eli asked me before I could star
t World War III. “Until your friend comes back.”
He looked so adorable asking me this that I didn’t have it in me to refuse him, even if it meant I had to spend time with his stupid brother.
Something pleasant stirred in my belly. I clamped my teeth together hard, angry with myself, because this was getting out of control too quickly. I made sure to be as far away from Masen as I could as we passed stalls, with Eli between us, but it didn’t work, because he was still too damn close, and the urge to look at him was almost unbearable.
A few people walked by, staring curiously at Eli. I almost wanted to tell them they were going to run into the first utility pole they came across if they continued not paying attention to where they walked. A glance at Eli told me he didn’t notice it or care.
“Do they always stare this much?” I asked him, looking over my shoulder to see if they were still staring. Yes, one of them was still at it.
“Sometimes, yes.”
“And it doesn’t bother you?”
“Not that much. It bothered me a lot after the accident, but I got used to it.”
No one should be used to it, because that shouldn’t even happen in the first place. “They’re stupid.”
“They’re just curious. I can’t blame them for that.”
“Still, do they have any common sense? You’re in a wheelchair, not in a UFO.”
“Maybe they don’t see people with quadriplegia often,” he offered.
A couple coming in our direction also fixed their gazes on Eli. Their faces were sympathetic, which ruffled my feathers even more. I glared at them.
“Either way, staring at someone like they’re a circus attraction is irritating and rude,” I said loud enough for them to hear me. They snapped their gazes in another direction, shame coating their faces. “Maybe they don’t see people with quadriplegia often, but that doesn’t give them the right to stare at you like that. No one likes to be stared at as if they came from some other planet.”
I felt Masen’s gaze on me, and I looked back at him, ready to confront him about the staring, but my retort died on my lips. His face was fierce with wonder and gratitude, and he didn’t even bother to mask it. The memories of him cupping my chin in his room and that moment in my pool slid deeper into my mind, spreading heat all over my skin, and once again, I couldn’t control it. I couldn’t control a single thing.
My head snapped away from him. There was no way I was going to let him see my flustered expression.
“Erm, I know you told me I didn’t have to buy you a present, but I can’t stop thinking about it. I really want to get you something,” Eli said, his voice holding a bashful note.
“A present?” Masen asked him. “What for?”
“It was her birthday.”
He looked at me. “When was your birthday?”
Swallowing became a chore all of a sudden. I didn’t like the genuine curiosity I found in his eyes. It made him look as though he cared.
“On the day I was born,” I deadpanned.
“It was on April sixteenth,” Eli said before Masen could respond, and Masen’s eyes grew wide.
“Sixteenth . . . But that was the day of—”
“Yep,” I interrupted him. Needles filled my throat. “Great deducing skills. Amazing. Didn’t your buddies tell you about this already?”
“It’s not as if we talk about you.”
I looked away. “I can clearly see that now.”
Something indescribable passed over his face, and the air grew thicker with unspoken words. I needed to guide our conversation in another direction.
I attempted a lighthearted smile at Eli. “As I told you, you really don’t have to get me anything, but here’s what you can do: beside your unconditional loyalty, you can also pledge your lifelong servitude to me.” I winked at him.
That was supposed to put an end to this conversation, but it didn’t, because Masen wouldn’t have it.
“I’ll win her a stuffed toy,” he said to Eli, and Eli nodded, a silent understanding passing between them.
I stopped to gape at both of them, my heart starting a marathon. “Wait, what? What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said. I’m good at shooting, so I’ll win you a toy, and it will be your birthday present from Eli,” he said in an impassive voice, but then he added quietly, “And me.”
My stomach flipped for him once fucking again.
This stupidity container wanted to win a present for me. A fricking stuffed toy, no less. I didn’t even like stuffed toys. I hated them. It made no sense for him to do this.
So why was I smiling like an idiot, looking to the side so they wouldn’t see?
“Let’s go.” Masen headed for the shooting gallery, and Eli followed him.
I glared at him with my hands glued to my hips. “Hey, I never agreed to this!”
Eli turned his wheelchair to look at me. “Please, let him do it.” He cast me a pleading look from which I couldn’t remain immune unless I had no soul and was a direct descendant of Satan.
I muttered curses into my chin as my feet shifted in their direction begrudgingly. I couldn’t get rid of that warm feeling in my chest, now mixed with giddiness, because he’d do this for me. He’d give me a stupid birthday present.
I shouldn’t be happy about this at all. It wasn’t even important. It was just some stupid present I didn’t even want. Big deal.
“Lighten up, Satan. You look like you’re going to start eating babies,” Masen said, observing me closely with an amused look on his face. Could he see through me? Could he see I felt grateful?
I crossed my arms across my chest and looked away. “It’s natural for me to be concerned. You’re probably going to slip a bomb into it while I’m not looking.”
He feigned a shocked gasp. “Your CIA-level skills of perception amaze me every time.”
“My cut-your-tongue-out skills will amaze you even more.”
He rolled his eyes. “You know what would amaze me the most? You not always having to have the last word.”
“When hell freezes over, Barbie.”
He gave up, his only response another roll of the eyes.
Maybe I was getting all flustered for nothing, because there was a chance he wouldn’t hit all the targets. Yes. He would most likely miss some of them, and it would be the most magnificent failure I could retell to everyone time and time again.
We stopped at the shooting range, which had moving yellow ducks for targets, and I would have laughed if only I hadn’t been so confused and flustered. Masen was all business, grabbing the rifle and aiming at the targets like a pro, and I watched him, stunned. My eyes swept over his masculine frame, clad in tight washed-out jeans and a red T-shirt that clung to his sculpted muscles. His arms flexed as he focused on the targets, and I stopped breathing.
I’d never seen anything sexier in my life.
Everything blurred around me as my mind twirled between panic and exhilaration, the realization falling over me like an avalanche.
This shouldn’t even be possible. After the night he’d ruined me, I’d resigned myself to being defective and not normal. I’d resigned myself to my aversion toward guys and their touch. I lived with it just fine.
But after Steven’s death, something had changed in me. I was starting to see more sides to Masen, and before I’d known what was happening, he’d infiltrated my system and made me feel something I hadn’t felt ever since him. Furthermore, I didn’t have an aversion to his touch anymore.
All my hate had gone down the sink, leaving only this. I didn’t want it, but, yes, he had gotten under my skin, and despite how wrong this was or how many flaws he had . . . I—I . . .
This was so difficult to say.
I actually like him.
I, Melissa Brooks, like Masen fucking Brown.
Shit, shit, shit.
Out of everyone on this planet, I liked East Willow High’s biggest man whore and womanizer. How stupid was that?
Eli
asked me something, and I winced, yanked out of my frantic thoughts. “What?” I blinked as I focused on him.
“I said, are you okay?”
I wasn’t okay. I wasn’t okay at all. “Yeah, I—” My gaze drifted to the targets and my eyes widened. Not only was Masen already done, but he’d also hit all the targets.
Fuck.
“Here you go,” Masen said with a smirk and held out a stuffed lizard for me to take.
I reached for it, and our hands brushed against each other, sending a tremor through me. I glanced at his hand, which purposefully lingered on mine for a second longer, but instead of feeling anger, all I felt was the need for more. He bit down on the corner of his lip and pulled his hand away, his eyes growing darker as they roamed over my face.
“Oh, come on, Mace,” Eli said before either of us could say anything, and we whipped our gazes away from each other. “You could’ve gotten her any other toy. Why that lizard? It’s ugly.”
Masen cleared his throat. “I think it suits her.”
I glared at him. He thought it suited—
Jerk.
“It suits me, all right. Just like the knife I’m going to use to chop you into pieces,” I said. “Since you did this out of pity, you can take it back.” I shoved the lizard back at him.
He snorted, refusing to take it. “And here she is, acting all ungrateful again. Can’t you just take that gift without second-guessing? And I didn’t do it out of pity. I did it because I wanted to. There. Satisfied now?”
I opened then closed my mouth, my angry retort remaining unsaid. The flare of my anger ended as quickly as it had started, doused by the feelings I absolutely didn’t want. But did I have a choice at this point?
“Fine,” I mumbled, staring at the ground. “Thank you.”
“What was that? Say that again,” he said, directing his ear at me.
I sent him a nasty scowl, fisting my hand. No curse in this world was enough insult against him.
I looked pointedly at Eli with a smile that could melt glaciers, refusing to give Masen the satisfaction. “Thank you for the present, General Fabulous. I’ll keep it close to my heart forever and ever.”
Eli refused to play along. “I didn’t do anything. This is all on Mace. But since Mace and I were planning to go to the haunted house, now we can all go together, and I can hold your hand if you get scared?” He offered me a hopeful smile. “That is, if you want to come with us and meet your friend later.”