Page 17

Alex

That didn’t take long.

But I knew it wouldn’t. The PlayStation is older than me, but with all those games, I knew Dallas finding everything hidden under her bed would be like Christmas morning. Because that’s how she is. She appreciates that kind of thing— like me .

I switch seats today and decide to sit on the other side of the table because it’s easier to see her on the opposite end of the cafeteria. She and her friends sit along the wall, against the floor-to-ceiling windows that line the west side of the room. But she’s not there yet. I’m still scanning the room for her when someone appears at my shoulder, and when I look up, I wish that I hadn’t.

Jordy plucks one of my French fries off my plate and pops it into her mouth. “Have you made up your mind about prom yet?” she asks with an impatient sigh.

“When is it? I’ll have to check my schedule.”

“Saturday, Alex, ” she replies in the same sarcastic tone.

I shift my gaze across the cafeteria, letting my eyes wander while she waits for my response.

“That depends,” I tip my head back, “what’s your dress look like?”

Jordy’s eyes glimmer as a coy smile seeps across her face. “It’s nude, with diamonds on it.”

By diamonds, I assume she means some glitter and cheap rhinestones.

I run my eyes up and down her figure. “Is it tight?”

“Skin tight,” she replies smugly.

“Long or short?”

“Short.”

I tilt my head with a bored look, then lower my voice. “Can I see your pussy when you bend over?”

“You can see my pussy anyway, ” she murmurs with a flash of her eyes. “Want to see a picture of it?”

The corner of my mouth curls ever so slightly.

At that, she turns and leans against the edge of the table while she whips out her phone and starts swiping. But instead of handing it to me, she tucks it back into her pocket after a few seconds.

“I just sent it to you.”

My phone vibrates as soon as I pull it out of my jeans. And when I open it, it’s a picture of Jordy, but instead of posing in a sparkly prom dress, she’s kneeling on the floor in front of a mirror. I recognize the reflection of her bedroom behind her while she sits on the carpet with her knees splayed open, totally naked except for the diamond necklace and earring set shimmering around her face.

I glance up at Jordy, staring down at me with the same fiery gaze that hooked me the first time around. One thing is for certain; she knows how to negotiate. Exhaling, I close the text and slide my phone back into my pocket.

“If I go with you, what’s in it for me?”

She arches one eyebrow. “Was it not clear?”

“If I want pictures, I can find my own for free.”

She hitches her leg up and swings it over my knees, scanning our surroundings as she lowers herself onto my lap. I remain still, watching her intently as she runs her hands up my chest.

“I’ll finally let you fuck me in the ass,” she murmurs loud enough for only me to hear. “I know it’s what you want.” Her hands move further up, her eyes boring into mine. “And I’ll let you do it whenever you want.”

“You mean if I let you be my woman again?”

As much as she tries to hide behind her sultry persona, I can still see the hope dancing behind Jordy’s eyes. She’s much easier to read than she lets on, especially with the desperation radiating from between her thighs.

I raise my chin and study her condescendingly. “Are you ready to come back?”

She nods, running her fingers along the curve of my neck. “I’m going to sleep in your bed with you tonight, Alex,” she whispers.

Jordy might be good at negotiating, but when it comes down to it, I make the final call.

I grab her arms before she can come any closer and toss them away from my neck. Then I plant my boots on the tile and shove away from the table, sliding her off of me as I go. Jordy tumbles ass-first onto the floor and there’s a mixture of gasps and laughter as she disappears beneath the table.

Play bitch games, win bitch prizes.

I move to stand. “Find some other dumpster to sleep in,” I glare down at her shocked face.

I grab my half-eaten basket of fries and sub sandwich and step over Jordy as I lament both their contamination and my sudden lack of appetite. I calmly walk away, chucking it in the first garbage can I pass.

“Alex!” Josh calls after me. “If you don’t want her, I’ll hit that.”

“Have at it,” I call back, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Just load up on Cipro first.”

I make a mental note to scrub the photo from my phone and don’t bother to listen to whether she yells something back at me, though I’m sure she won’t. If she’s still trying to weasel her way back into my good graces, she’s not going to throw a tantrum just yet. Anyway, I have my mind on something— someone —much more important.

I decide to do a lap around the cafeteria before I lose my shit in front of everyone. Where the hell is Dallas, anyway? I was in the middle of watching for her before I was rudely interrupted. I finally catch sight of her mass of long black hair when I circle back toward my table, relieved that Jordy is nowhere in sight. Dallas is standing in the snack line with her back to me while she talks to Austin Bostwick.

I slow down when I see him lean down and whisper something in her ear that makes her laugh.

Fucking Bostwick.

I never paid much attention to him—or to any of Dallas’s friends. He’s always just been some preppy guy who’s on the basketball team and says dumb shit in class. But now that I know Dallas, and he’s standing way too close to her, I can’t tolerate his bullshit in the slightest.

I’ve also calmed down enough to regain some semblance of an appetite, and I need to eat if I’m planning on lifting after school. Reaching between a couple of girls who throw me a dirty look for cutting line, I grab a bag of chips, a couple of protein bars, and a Gatorade before meeting her at the front of the line and throwing them down on the counter with a $10 bill.

She looks me up and down. "Ooh, moneybags," she mutters sarcastically.

“Play any new games lately?” I ask, acutely aware that Bostwick’s listening over her shoulder.

“Nothing exciting,” she chirps. “Austin, you know Alex, right?”

“I know of him,” Bostwick replies with a hint of amusement.

Something’s off. Dallas doesn’t sound like herself, like she wishes this conversation was already over.

“He’s Colson’s friend,” she says to him, her eyes locked on mine. “It's great having him, Mason, and Aiden around. They’re like three more annoying big brothers for the price of one .”

Brothers?

She doesn’t look away, her jaw shifting back and forth while she chews her gum. Studying each other suspiciously, I take my change and she slides her food off the counter. After leaving the line, Bostwick sees another basketball player and breaks away. And when he does, I take Dallas by the crook of her elbow and gently pull her to a stop.

“What the hell was that?” I nod ahead to Bostwick.

“It’s just Austin,” she shrugs, “one of my friends.” Then her eyes wander over my shoulder, “Like her .”

I look over my shoulder to the far end of the wall, where Jordy’s at another table talking to a couple of girls. Letting out a curse under my breath, it dawns on me why I couldn’t find Dallas. She was probably standing right behind me during Jordy’s fruitless attempt at reconciliation. When I finally turn back to Dallas, I do a double-take. I have to blink a couple of times, because I can’t believe what I’m seeing.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Dallas looks exactly like Colson right now. The eyes that seem to get more vibrant the angrier he gets, the angle his jaw sits when he’s sizing someone up, his nostrils flaring like he might start to breathe fire, the way his upper lip twitches on one side when he’s ramping up to fight—she’s looking at me like Colson looks when he’s about to devour his next victim.

But since I know him, I also know what Dallas is thinking. Because just like a Lutz, she’ll never be the one to suffer disappointment first. I'll leave you before you leave me . I've seen Colson do it a thousand times. She might not have the same explosive rage as Colson, but she has the look down to a T.

“Friend, huh?” I echo with an edge.

“Yeah, you’d probably like him,” her words awash with sarcasm, “you know, because you’re the nice one.”

I feel a vein pop in my neck and all I can do is stare down at her blankly.

The nice one?

Dallas stares right back up at me, then her tongue pops out and she starts blowing a giant pink bubble right in my face. Now she doesn’t seem to have any trouble looking me in the eye.

You goddamn little hellion.

I’d scare the hell out of her just for fun if it didn’t mean Colson would find out and start asking questions. Maybe if I scared her enough, she'd decide she wants nothing to do with me. It'd make all of this a hell of a lot easier. But that would also be… devastating.

“Dallas!” Bostwick shouts in the distance. “Pick you up at 6:30?”

She nods back and I let out a snicker. “Have a date?”

“Do you even care?” she snarls before turning on her heel and following Bostwick to their table.

I could get angry, yell at her, shake her, and tell her that she doesn’t know what she saw. But what would be the fun in that? And maybe Dallas is right about me being the “nice” one, just not in the way she thinks. Besides, there's only one reason why she's brushing me off right now, and it has to do with the night I grabbed her by the shirt and kissed her while Colson was banging down her door. And because of that, my week just got a little more interesting.

Because now she’s going to find out how nice I can be.

●●●

I’m not a stalker. I’ve never encountered anyone interesting enough to warrant that kind of devotion. Searching for Bowen just so we can fuck with him doesn’t count; that’s vengeance, plain and simple. But tonight, I’m making a special exception for Dallas.

It's not difficult to find out what movie she’s seeing and where. I already know what time she’s going and all I have to do is wait for one of them to say something about it on social media and tag the location. Before I know it, I’m standing 10 bodies behind Dallas in line at the old indie theatre, waiting to buy a ticket for Zero Reckoning.

She’s cute, with her pink sneakers, oversized hoodies, and neon running shorts she usually wears to school, but I think I like what she looks like outside of school better. I don’t know whether she chose it for this particular occasion or if this is what she normally looks like when she goes out, but I probably wouldn’t have recognized her if I hadn’t been waiting in the parking lot for them to show up in Bostwick’s Range Rover.

Dallas is wearing high-waist black skinny jeans that might as well be painted on, and a loose cropped black t-shirt. And those thick-framed black glasses. Her hair is hanging down her back in shiny waves and the only reason she doesn’t look like a dwarf next to Bostwick is because she’s wearing a pair of chunky black platform boots with gold and leopard print accents on them. What’s more, when she finally turns to the side, I can see her dramatic winged eyeliner and oxblood lips that pop against her skin.

She looks like she could turn someone into a smoldering pile of ash with one look. And I’m so fucking here for it.

I stroll in behind them a few minutes later, at which point they’re leaving the snack bar and heading into the theatre. They pick a row in the upper section with fewer people and file in just as the lights dim and the previews start. Dallas takes the last seat next to the aisle and settles in.

Perfect.

“Thanks,” I say as I reach over her shoulder, snatch her popcorn out of her hands, and drop a clear plastic bag in her lap.

Like I said, I’m not a stalker, I’m here to make myself known. And it works like a charm because as soon as I sit down behind her, Bostwick rises from his and turns around, ready to go head-to-head with whoever swiped Dallas’s snack.

“What the fuck’s your problem?” he demands, garnering the attention of more than a few people who glance over uncomfortably.

The rest of her friends whip around to see what’s going on.

“Sit down, Bos,” I drawl, tossing a few kernels of popcorn into my mouth, “before you cause a scene.”

Bostwick squints at me, registering who I am as Dallas stares at me with eyes wide and mouth ajar like she’s seen a ghost. Before he can embarrass himself further, she lets out an irritated huff and gives his arm a tug.

“Just let it go,” she mumbles and turns back around.

He shoots me another dirty look, but I’ve already moved on, focusing on the back of Dallas’s head. After everyone settles back down, she looks down at her lap. She stays that way for a few seconds before I hear the package crinkle as she slowly moves it in her hands.

I know as soon as she saw what I dropped in her lap that part of her would want to crawl straight over that seat and into mine. But she won’t. She doesn’t want to answer any difficult questions from her friends. Besides, the Lutz fury probably hasn’t completely dissipated, so she still needs another hour or so before deciding it’s acceptable to speak to me again.

In the meantime, I let her settle into a false sense of security. The movie’s pretty good, and once everyone is fully engrossed in hordes of drooling mutants, I lean forward, just inches from her hair dangling over the back of her seat. Slowly, I start combing my fingertips through the ends, twisting the tendrils around my fingers before letting them fall.

Over, and over, and over.

Dallas swivels her head to the side when she feels the gentle tug at her scalp, but says nothing.

Keeping my eyes on everyone to her left, I reach up with my right hand and run my fingers through her hair and up her scalp. She immediately goes rigid, but relaxes the longer I massage the back of her neck, hidden by her blanket of hair.

It’s not Dallas’s fault; she doesn’t know that I’m good with my hands, that I can turn her into a melting puddle of desperation in a matter of minutes. I’ve done it countless times before and, angry or not, she’s finished and she doesn’t even know it yet.

She tenses again when I slide my hand around the side of her neck and I can only imagine her eyes are darting all over the place like pinballs, hoping no one looks in her direction. I brush my thumb up and down her cheek, caressing the underside of her chin with the rest of my fingers until, finally, she moves to stand and I lean back into my seat, like I haven’t moved a muscle.

She doesn’t look at me as she silently makes her way down the stairs to the exit. Bostwick glances at her as she leaves, but once he turns away, I get up and cut across the empty row behind me to the stairs on the other side. Once outside in the corridor, I catch sight of Dallas walking toward the restrooms.

Fortunately for me—not so much for her—the carpet makes my footsteps nearly silent as I break into a jog to catch up with her. I also grew up coming to this theatre, so when she approaches the red door on her right that blends in with the matching wall, it only takes a couple of seconds to throw it open and whisk her inside.

Dallas lets out a gasp and grabs my shoulders, thrashing around until I flip the light switch and she sees that it’s me. I release her and she spins around a couple times, her eyes darting over the janitorial closet lined with metal racks of bleach, hand soap, and boxes of toilet paper.

“ What the hell are you doing? ” she hisses as she tries to push past me.

“No offense to your friends, but you’d be having more fun at this movie if I didn’t have to sit behind you the entire time.”

“What are you even doing here?” she scowls.

“Isn’t this what Ponyboy did—watched a movie with Cherry Valance?”

Dallas narrows her eyes. “Yeah, and she was a senior while he was just a freshman.”

“So?” I shrug. “Someone told me that society picks arbitrary ages to define maturity. You should be thanking me. I’m just keeping an eye on you. You know, what friends do.”

“What for? It seems that you’re already pretty friendly with someone else.” Then she narrows her eyes. “What’d she whisper while she was hanging all over you, Alex? Did she tell you that she was in the restroom that one day, when she and her friends were talking about Evie and Colson?”

Jordy was there with Jamie?

“Did she tell you all about it before she kissed you?” Dallas says through clenched teeth.

I just stare at Dallas, her blue eyes shining more vibrant than ever while she burns holes through mine.

“How long were you watching?” I finally ask.

“What?” she squints up at me with disgust.

“Did you see me kiss her?”

“No,” she seethes. “I didn’t want to look at you anymore. Just like I don’t want to look at you now. ”

“Cool, cool,” I nod. “So, you didn’t see me kiss Jordy. Just like you didn’t see me dump her ass onto the floor right after you decided you hated my guts.”

Dallas doesn’t answer, only continues to glare up at me. After a few seconds of silence, I step closer, leaning down until my nose brushes hers. Then I turn and look at the side of her face.

“ Rude. ”

She’s not about to admit that she was wrong, so I don’t press her on it. Instead, I grab a beat-up black metal chair that’s shoved haphazardly in the corner and slide it in front of the door. I take a seat, planting my boots on the tile in front of her. She looks me up and down suspiciously.

“Don’t be scared, Dallas, I’m the nice one, remember?” I nod at her black leather purse hanging from her shoulder. “You still have what I gave you?”

She shoots me another dubious look before slowly sliding the bag off her shoulder. Then she unzips it and pulls out the clear plastic bag, still sealed at the top.

Her face relaxes the longer she turns it over in her hands. “Where did you find them?”

I hold my hand out until she gently places the bag full of yellow Haribo bears into it.

“You can find anything on the Internet,” I smile. “But I’ll make you a deal.”

“What kind of deal?”

“Play a game with me and I’ll let you out of here.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, OK. ”

“It’s very simple, Dallas. If you eat five of these bears, I promise I’ll get up and you can leave here to loathe me for another day.”

She hesitates, glaring at me with that hateful little look of hers.

I tear open the top of the bag. “Come on, I know they’re your favorite. We’re past pretending they’re not.”

“Fine,” she sighs, thrusting her hand out.

I place one of the yellow bears on the top of my knee and she begins to reach for it.

“ Don’t— ” I snap, “use your hands.”

She freezes for a moment before slowly raising her eyes to meet mine.

“It’s very simple, Mariposita, ” I whisper with a smile that all but guarantees she’ll be plotting my murder by the time I let her out of here.

Dallas squints up at me and then slowly crouches down and plucks the bear off my knee with her teeth. I reach into the bag for another as she chews, and as soon as she swallows it, I balance another on top of my belt buckle. When she sees it, she shoots me a warning look.

I respond with one of my own. “Play the game, Dallas.”

Without a word, she plants her hands roughly on the tops of my thighs and leans forward. I let my hands hang at my sides at a safe distance as she tilts her head and slowly steals the bear off my belt. She eyes me curiously as she chews, and then watches me fish another one out of the bag and place it carefully on my left shoulder.

Dallas stands up and carefully takes a step forward, much taller in her platforms. She gingerly sets her hands on my shoulders for balance and leans forward. As soon as the bear disappears into her mouth, I throw one arm around her waist and pull her onto my lap. She sucks in a gasp and braces herself as she lands on my leg, straddling my thigh. I expect her to try and wriggle away, or maybe smack me upside the head, but she doesn’t.

The look she’s giving me is one of curiosity rather than hatred. Embracing the silence, I just look back at her, watching her eyes subtly move over my face.

“Did you like what I left for you?” I ask softly.

She hesitates, but then nods. “Yes.”

“That thing you thought I did,” I pull her closer, “I would never do that to you, Dal.”

Dallas nods again, and I bring another bear to my mouth, placing it between my teeth. She stares at it for nearly a minute while I wait patiently for her to decide whether she’s going to comply or spend the night in a movie theatre closet. Finally, she leans forward, maneuvering carefully around my face like she’s trying not to detonate a landmine.

Her lips brush against mine for an instant before she bites down, and she lingers for a few moments as though she’s waiting to see if I’ll move. When I don’t, she pulls away and lets the candy disappear into her mouth.

“That was only four,” Dallas mutters like I’m the biggest moron on the planet.

With a flash of my eyes, I tip my chin up and open my mouth. Her jaw slows and her face drops as I let my tongue fall out of my mouth. A yellow bear rests in the middle, the tang of the lemon flavor seeping over my taste buds while I savor the utter disbelief in her eyes.

“You’re not going to let me win, are you?” I ask, unable to contain my amusement.

In true Lutz fashion, Dallas pulls her hateful little mask back down and waits for me to present the yellow gummy bear. When I do, she takes a deep breath, steeling herself before leaning in and opening her mouth.

I can feel her heart pumping against my chest as she tilts her head and carefully closes her lips around the candy. My eyes start to roll as she sucks the candy off my tongue, pulls back, and starts to chew. But as soon as she does, she rocks forward again, as though in a trance.

I seize her beneath her chin just before her lips graze mine, making her flinch in surprise.

“What are you doing?” she creaks out.

“I believe the proper phrase is, fuck around and find out ,” I say as I hold her face just shy of mine, “and I’m going to have a lot of fun watching you do so.”

I squeeze Dallas around the waist and stand up, lifting her with me. I let her feet dangle helplessly at my calves, smirking at her the entire time.

“Should be a lot more entertaining now that I know you want my dick, ” I murmur just inches from her mouth.

She lets out an incredulous huff as I drop her back to her feet. “10 days, Angelína ,” I declare, sliding the chair away from the door.

“10 days until what?” she sneers with as much venom as she can muster.

I cast a knowing glance over my shoulder. “Until you’re hopelessly and irrevocably addicted to me.”

Something between fear and confusion washes over her cerulean eyes as I drop the bag of yellow Haribo bears into her hand. Then I disappear into the hallway, letting the door swing shut behind me.