Page 31 of Missed Steps

“Kyle!”

A warm hand presses to my back as I turn, and Mark’s spicy cologne fills my nose. His tall frame is at my back, and as I meet his gaze, he has an expression of pleasant surprise.

“Hi,” I say.Yes!There are witnesses but I say it normally! I even smile at him. He rubs the back of his neck and grins down at me.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” he says. For some reason, and I really can’t guess why, he seems embarrassed. But not a bad embarrassment—he’s smiling too, so it’s more bashfulthanoh god, why is this guy here?At least I think so anyway.

“Eddie invited me,” I say.

Mark’s eyebrows shoot up. “He did?”

“He didn’t look happy about it.”

“Did he apologise?” Mark asks.

“Apologise?”

Mark glances across the room, casting Eddie—still cornered by Bethany—a narrow-eyed look. “He said that he would.”

“For what?”

“For being a dick to you.”

“Cause I’ve always been such a positive presence in his life…” I sip my drink.

Mark grunts, noncommittal.

“Hi, Mark,” Louis says. “Happy birthday.”

“Louis.” Mark nods at him.

I’m not upset by Louis and Mark hooking up in the past—I’m not stupid. Me having a crush on Mark didn’t have any effect on his romantic pursuits. However, now that I know about it, I can’t help but think about how they might be thinking about it… Louis’s gaze does seem to be lingering on Mark, after all. Hasn’t it always, now that I think about it? It’s a stupid, ungrounded thought. How would I know where Louis was looking? I’m always too busy checking out Mark and pretending not to.

“Enjoying yourselves?” Mark swaps the hand on my back over, and steps so that he’s standing between me and Louis. I frown at the manoeuvre. Especiallywhen I see that Louisnotices the move, and Louis doesn’t tend to notice subtle things. Which means getting closer to Louis wasn’t subtle…hang on.

Mark’s gaze darts down to my left leg—the one he’s now standing next to—as Louis answers him, and he adjusts his position several times. Eventually, Louis has to take a step back after Mark’s shuffling knocks into his drink, at which point Mark goes still with a satisfied expression.

Unless my eyes aren’t working right, Mark just inserted himself at my left side to make Louis step back from my prosthetic leg. Or was he just moving closer to Louis? I frown. Which is it? Is Mark interested in me, or not? Maybe it’s a general interest? Like, he got turned on in the apartment because of the heat of the moment, and not because of genuine interest?

Hm. Wondering to myself won’t answer my questions.

I tune back in as Louis leaves, heading toward the drinks table to get Mark a promised birthday drink. Mark leans over to me. He talked loudly to be heard over the music with Louis, but he drops his voice down and speaks close to my ear to be heard.

“If that’s not the replacement and you’re just balancing here with your crutches in the coat closet…Kyle, I’m going to be mad,” Mark says, his voice rumbling right against my ear.

I grin. Okay, he definitelymoved to my left side because of me, not Louis. That also explains why his hand is solidly placed against my lower back.

“Crutches aren’t cool, Mark. I can just lean against the wall if I lose my balance.”

Mark curses. He straightens abruptly, his eyes dark and furious as he pulls back enough to meet my eyes. He’s full-on scowling. “That isbeyond—” he stops mid-sentence. The scowl eases to a narrow-eyed look, like the one he directed at Eddie earlier. “You’re screwing with me,” he says.

“Yeah.”

“You’re going to be mean to me on my birthday?”

“When am I evernotmean to you?”

“You were pretty sweet the other day,” Mark remarks wryly.