“Hey.” Only half offended, I tried to pull my hand out of his grasp, but he tightened his grip so he could kiss my mangled middle finger.
Yes, yes, I know. He put his mouth on a part of my body. I’m surprised I’m still conscious enough to talk about it.
Examining my finger, he pulled his lips away. “I wouldn’t have taken you for the athletic type. You don’t move like a jock.”
I lifted one eyebrow. “Just how do I move?”
He shrugged before shooting me a wink. “Well, when you’re not tripping all over the place, you move like a girl.” He bunched up the features in his face as if deep in thought before adding, “Maybe like a cheerleader.”
I grimaced. “I don’t think so, scooter. All the cheerleaders at my school were dirty, vengeful sluts. I only dated one person all through high school, thank you very much.”
Jeremy had threatened away every other guy who came within twenty feet of me after I’d broken up with him.
“Oh, ho! So the truth comes out.” Mason cocked me an I-got-you-now smirk. “Pray tell, Miss Randall, how do you have such an awful track record when you’ve only had one boyfriend?”
I straightened my spine. “Sometimes it’s more about the quality than the quantity that counts.”
His eyes darkened with feeling. “That bad, huh?” His features softened as if he might want to comfort me, which, okay, I wouldn’t mind. Really. “What did he do? Cheat on you?”
I tried to pull my hand away again. No luck. But I didn’t try too hard. I didn’t really want him to let go, and it warmed me that he initially refused.
“Among other things.” I kept my voice light, trying to play it down.
Mason’s face darkened. “What other things?”
Thank God I was saved from answering, because my mind went blank, trying to concoct a good lie.
“See, they are dating,” a voice said as a trio of girls passed by our table about twenty feet away. “He’s holding her hand. I told you he couldn’t be a gigolo.”
Mason jerked his hand from mine and scooted backward to put some space between us. The way he shuttered away his expression, like a house yanking down its blinds, sent a bolt of fury straight through me. I wanted to maim everyone who’d ever hurt him with their barbed gossip.
I glared at the passing girls. “We can hear you, you know.”
All three of them snapped their gazes to us and just as quickly looked away again. Hustling into a light jog, they hurried off until their giggling echoed back.
“Don’t listen to them,” I told Mason. “They’re…ignorant”
“Doesn’t matter.” He shook his head as he slammed his calculus book shut and shoved it into his bag. Sending me a tight smile, he stood up. “Have a good Labor Day weekend, okay?”
Before I could respond, he turned and strode off, his shoulders rigid and hands fisted at his sides.
I sighed.
Depression hit hard as I remembered it really was going to be Labor Day weekend. Dawn had taken off work at her night job for Friday, and the café where she worked would be closed on Monday, so I wouldn’t be going to the Arnosta house until the next Wednesday. And since school was closed for the holiday, I wouldn’t even have a good reason to see Mason around campus until Tuesday.
Strangely, I missed him already.
CHAPTER TEN
I’d give my cousin this: The girl sure knew how to throw a party.
As I watched the music-thumping activities around me, my nostril smarted from the diamond stud embedded in the side of my nose. Yes, Eva had finally peer pressured me into it.
Hey, I’m not perfect.
My weakness had started as soon as I’d seen how cute the silver hoop she’d gotten for herself looked. Then she’d glanced at me, said, “Jeremy would hate seeing you with a nose ring,” and my resistance had sunk like the Titanic. God forbid I do anything he would approve of.
Worried how much goo would catch on it whenever I sneezed, however, I had opted for a stud instead of a hoop. The redness and swelling had gone down, and it had never bled the way Eva’s piercing had, so no one could tell it was only a couple of hours old.