Page 139 of The Surprise Play

I take another step away from them. I really don’t need to see this, and I want nothing more than to get away from her.

“I’ve been a busy boy.” Wily grins at her. “I’ve got myself a girlfriend now, and that’s taking up all my spare time.”

“Oh, really?” Jade laughs, slapping his arm playfully. “I can’t believe you’ve been taken off the market. I missed my chance.”

Wily forces out a laugh and inches around her. “Let me introduce you guys.”

I stiffen.No! No, no, no. I don’t want?—

“This is my girl, Satch.” He points at me, and I’m pretty sure I’m about to pass out.

Jade turns to face me, her eyes flashing me a warning before she puts on a sweet grin and holds out her hand. “Satch? Hi. I’m Jade.”

I stare down at her open hand, the one that cracked me across the face. The memory burns bright, and it takes everything in me to reach out and wrap my short digits around her long ones. “Um… hi.”

“Satch.” She repeats the word, her fingers crunching mine together. “So nice to meet you.”

Please let this stop.

“Uh, yeah, you too.” I try to pull my hand away, hot ants crawling all over my body as she eyes me up, then looks at Wily.

“Isn’t she a peach?” She giggles. “I’m really happy for you guys.”

Oh man, those words must be acid in her mouth.

I am so dead.

Yep, she’s definitely gonna kill me.

Giving me one last smirk, she makes a move to leave, then quickly swivels. Placing her hand on Wily’s shoulder, she reaches up on her tiptoes and whispers something in his ear that I can’t hear and… you know what? I don’t even want to know.

His eyebrows rise, his cheeks turning a touch red, before he leans away from her and politely smiles again. “Thanks, but I’m good. I’ll catch you around, Jane.”

“Jade,” she corrects him, lightly slapping his arm with a laugh. “I’ll see you in class.”

“Yep.” Wily nods, hurrying after me because I’m already walking away. “Hey, wait up.”

He reaches for my hand and tries to thread our fingers together, but I quickly shove my hand into my pocket before he can.

“Hey. Are you mad at me?”

“No.” I shake my head, throwing him a tight smile that seems to hurt for some reason. “Just don’t want to be late to class.”

“Satch.” He steps into my path, forcing me to stop. Leaning down, he waits until I’m looking at him, having to capture my chin and stop my head from moving. “You don’t have to worry about that girl.”

Yeah, right!

Part of me wonders if I should tell him. Maybe if he knew just how horrible she’d been to me over the years, he wouldn’t be so nice to her.

But I don’t want to.

How am I supposed to stand here and admit how shitty I’ve been treated? It’s so humiliating. I don’t want him to picture me like that. I just want him to look at me the way he did when I met him at Java Jeans this morning.

“I’d never cheat on you.” He catches my eye when my gaze starts to wander. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah.” I nod and force another smile—this one doesn’t hurt as much. “I trust you.”

And I do. Really. I know he’d never intentionally hurt me. He’s too sweet. Too nice.