Page 77 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Tuesday

The kiss thief had texted me a picture of him dressed up as the Empire High mascot. A huge eagles’ head covered his head. And he was wearing big feathered arms with a jersey over top.

He was sitting on a bench in the locker room somehow managing to balance a football on one feathered finger.

I laughed again. He’d sent me his own adorable picture in response to the one I’d sent him.

“Scarlett, don’t encourage your brother,” my mom said.

WHAT?! I looked up, but realized none of them were looking at my phone. They weren’t saying Liam was the Empire High mascot. Liam must have said something I’d missed. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said that Uncle Matt should bench Axel for the first game because he sucks balls.”

I expected my dad to say “language.” But instead he nodded his head. “Who is the backup?”

What were they even talking about? The backup wasn’t going to replace Axel as the starting quarterback in the opening game of the season. “Axel will be fine in the first game.”

“If he gets his head out of his ass,” Liam said.

My dad laughed. But then he cleared his throat. “Language, Liam.”

Liam just shrugged. “Maybe you could talk to him, Scar? If anyone can get through to him, it’s you.”

I had no idea why he thought that. If Axel cared about my opinion at all he wouldn’t be texting Gigi nonstop.

“Please,” Liam said. “The team went undefeated last year. I don’t want to start our season out with a loss. They’ll blame all the new players. And I think only you can fix it.”

What had he said before? That Axel wasn’t handing the ball off to Jacob at all? I exhaled slowly. Yeah, that seemed like it was probably my fault. I couldn’t believe Axel was being so petty about our deal. “Yeah, sure,” I said. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Thanks.”

My phone buzzed again. I looked down at the kiss thief’s next text: “I came prepared. I figured Sophie had stolen your phone and sent that other text about sending pics.”

Okay, so this guy knew Sophie too. Well. Shit, could it be one of her six?

For some reason I was smiling, despite the fact that Sophie had maybe seen this guy’s penis. This picture was hilarious.

Wait. Was my kiss thief the guy that dressed up for the games as the Empire High mascot? I tried to think of who that was...but I had no idea. This was my first real clue about his identity. And it was a huge one. “May I be excused?” I asked.

My mom nodded.

I hurried back to my room as I texted Sophie, asking her if she knew who our mascot was.

“I don’t know? Some nerd probably? Why?”

I bit the inside of my lip. “Because my kiss thief just sent me this.” I saved the picture to my phone and then texted it to her.

“I take back the nerd thing. We know your kiss thief isn’t a nerd. Unless it’s like a sexy nerd situation. And by that I mean a hot guy in glasses.”

I laughed.

“Wait, what picture did you send him that made him send that one?” she asked.

I didn’t want her to pester me about this. “One of the ones of me jumping on the bed.”

“Good choice. If he’s sending pictures back, try to get his location out of him. Show him a picture of your room and he’ll send you one of his. There will be so many clues!”

That was good thinking. “Okay, I’ll report back on what I find.”

I snapped a picture of my room and sent it to him. “My current view. Your turn.”

He texted back a picture of his apparent current view, which was just a snapshot of the New York City skyline.

Seriously? That was a clue...I guess. But I’d never seen that exact view before. And he wasn’t even necessarily at home. I tried to rack my brain for an idea that would reveal his identity. I took a picture of the red panda stuffed animal on my bed and sent it to him.

Eek. No. Why had I just sent that? A stuffed animal was something a five-year-old would send. And I didn’t know any guys’ favorite animals. What information had I been trying to get from this? I groaned.

“You’re adorable,” he responded.

Gah! “Well...show me yours.” An animal might be able to narrow it down. Somehow.

He texted me back a picture of pillow with a white pillow case. It was the most non-incriminating photo in the world. “I don’t sleep with any stuffed animals.”

Because of course he didn’t.

“But I’m looking forward to falling asleep with you in my arms.”

My heart started racing. I needed to know who this guy was. I grabbed a photo of me with my friends off my nightstand and took a picture of it. “My best friends. Your turn.” I could learn a lot from a picture of his friends. Especially if he just happened to be in it.

“If you’re trying to trick me into revealing who I am, it’s not going to work.”

Damn, he was so onto me. I was so bad at this. “How about 21 questions?”

“Fire away, baby.”

I smiled. No one had ever called me that before. “What’s your favorite animal?” I immediately cringed. Why was I so stuck on that?

“I’m starting to think it’s a red panda.”

I was smiling so hard. Even though it wasn’t a real answer. And gave me zero information. But he was saying he liked me. “Are you the Empire High mascot?”

“I was earlier today.”

“What does that mean?”

“I think I’m actually only supposed to answer yes or no. So technically...yes.”

Yes just because he dressed up as it today? Or yes because he was? Gah! “Are you on the varsity football team?”

His response took a few minutes, but it finally came. “Yes.”

Oh thank God. The baker’s dozen was real. “Are you single?”

“Yes. But not for long.”

My heart started beating faster. “Because of me?”

“Yes.”

Wait, was he saying he wasn’t going to be single because he’d be dating me? Or something else? I didn’t like this yes or no stuff. I wanted so many more details. “Are you a senior?”

“Yes.”

I opened up my computer and scanned the baker’s dozen. But that didn’t narrow it down any more. “Have you ever dated Sophie?”

“No.” And then he texted again. “I’ve always had a thing for redheads.”

I put my hand over my mouth and shook my head. This guy was too much. “Will you show me your face?”

“No.”

“Will you tell me your name?”

“No.”

“What about your initials?”

“No.”

I kept firing away question after question.

“You only have one question left,” he texted.

Crap. I’d wasted so many questions just asking him if he was willing to tell me information.

And I hadn’t narrowed down my list of kiss thieves at all.

But I was smiling so hard. And I knew what I wanted to ask him as my last questions.

“Did you know you were stealing my first kiss before I told you that you had?”

“I hoped I wasn’t too late.”

I had no idea who I was talking to. But I was glad he wasn’t too late either.

I stared at his words. And for some reason, I went into my gallery and clicked on one of the pictures of me in the emerald green ski bikini.

It wasn’t actually that provocative. It was just a bikini.

Plenty of guys had seen me in a bikini. I pressed send before I could chicken out.

The seconds ticked by. And it felt like my heart was beating in my throat. God, what had I been thinking? I’d just gotten so lost in the moment. I tended to do that with him. And it kept getting me in trouble. I bit my lip as I stared at my screen.

His response finally came: “What are you trying to do to me, baby?”

Well, that was easy. “I’m trying to make you reveal your identity.”

“Goodnight, Scarlett.”

The conversation ended so abruptly. But when I glanced at the time, it was well past midnight. We’d been texting all night. “Sweet dreams, Kiss Thief,” I typed out and hit send.

I had several missed texts from Sophie. I called her and caught her up on everything.

“But he could be lying,” she said.

“About which thing?”

“Well...all of it?”

I pressed my lips together as I thought about our conversation. “I don’t think he’s a liar.”

“I hate to break it to you, but stalkers probably lie all the time, Scar.”

I sighed. She was probably right.

“And I’m so confused,” Sophie said. “You had 21 questions. Why didn’t you just go through the list of guys we think the kiss thief could be? You could have named each one and he had to say yes or no if it was him.”

“I didn’t want to spook him. I was trying to get him comfortable. And then I was going to give him the hard questions. But we texted back and forth so much, I lost track of how many questions I’d asked. It was really fun just hanging out with him.”

“Hanging out? You weren’t hanging out. You’ve never even seen his face.”

“I have if he’s one of the guys on our list.” But I understood her point.

“Fair. I can’t believe you didn’t get a single clue out of him though. He’s so mysterious and so hot.”

Yeah. I’d totally flubbed it. How had I not learned anything? Was there really not a single clue?

“So...you’re officially ungrounded. Are you excited for your date with Jacob tomorrow during lunch? I’m so tempted to come and spy.”

I gasped. “Sophie.”

“Fine, I won’t.”

“No, not that. I used to go with Jacob to the zoo all the time when I was little. And he always used to stand with me at the red panda exhibit because he knew they were my favorite.”

“And?”

“I think he’s the kiss thief. Just think about it. He knew I hadn’t had my first kiss yet. Jacob knew that. And he’s not willing to show me a picture of his friends because I’d be in it! And he’s a senior on the varsity football team.”

“But he’s not the mascot? And how is this guy on the team and a mascot anyway? None of it makes any sense.”

“I don’t know.” I sighed.

“And I’m getting much more dominant vibes from this guy. Don’t get me wrong. Jacob is a wonderful guy and I’m still Team Jacob. But...I’m not sure he’ll tie you up in bed, you know what I mean?”

I honestly had no idea what she was talking about. I didn’t want to be tied up in bed. And now I was starting to feel guilty about sending any photos to my kiss thief. Because what if it wasn’t Jacob? When had my life become such a tangled mess?

“Easy to figure out though,” she said.

I already knew what she was going to say.

“You just gotta plop one on him tomorrow on your date.”

“Soph.”

“Scar.”

I sighed. “I can’t just mouth rape him.”

She laughed. “Trust me, boy wants it. He’s been drooling over you ever since the first day of school.”

I smiled thinking of Jacob.

“Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to tell him he has ice cream on his face.”

“Okay...”

“And he’s going to try to get it. But you’re going to tell him it’s still there.”

“But is there actually ice cream there?” I asked. “And where are the napkins in this situation?”

“Scar, focus. No, there’s no ice cream. It’s just a way for you to get your fingers on his mouth.”

“I don’t know how touching his mouth is going to compare to kissing...”

“Would you just listen for five seconds?” Sophie sighed. “You’re going to lightly touch his lip. And lock eyes. And then he’ll do all the work. Trust me.”

I pictured myself reaching out and touching Jacob’s lips. That didn’t sound bad to me at all. And if he was going to do all the work... “Okay. I’ll try touching his lips.”

“Good,” she said. “Now can I tell you about how I’m going to make Mr. Halifax jealous tomorrow?”

Oh, I had a pretty good idea. I was 99 percent sure she was going to make out with Pavel right in front of Mr. Halifax. We were about to see if he was actually into Sophie or not.