Not letting her get to me, I put on the fakest smile I can manage, resting my chin in my hand. Elbow on the display case.
“You know you’re the reason no one likes you, right?” I respond with no tact at all.
Her finger stalls, fixing a smudged spot of lipstick. That small gesture enough to know I got to her.
The disgust I was accustomed to seeing as just her face flickered to something else and then it was gone. Anguish, that’s what her expression carried.
Maybe she was human after all.
Righting myself, I signal the jeweler back over. Pointing to the pearls. “She’ll take those.” Deciding for Hailey.
“We can have them ready next week.”
“Perfect.” Slinging my book bag over my shoulder. It was time to go.
The blaring noise of an alarm going off echoes around the store as I pass the threshold. Everything happening in slow motion after that.
Hailey’s eyes going wide, the jeweler yelling something but all I hear is the alarms going off in my head. Madison crossing her arms, looking smug. Another man, bulkier, coming out of nowhere and charging me.
My brain prioritizing the only plausible thing I was good at in time of crisis. Every other function working on autopilot.
I ran.
twenty-two
Cole
Iwassittingatthe stoplight, my thumbs tapping along the steering wheel in impatience. Waiting for my damn light to turn green already.
Traffic was always a nightmare downtown. But especially today, or maybe that was just me.
Not the nightmare part—or maybe I was, either way, it was an inconvenience.
The sun had timed itself perfectly with where I was sitting. The gleam of the steel skyscraper’s windows had me squinting as I pulled forward. One car away from making my right turn toward Hardin.
Why I ended up heading this direction when Finn’s house was on the other side of town was beyond me.
I was lying.
I knew exactly why I was heading this direction and it had everything to do with a silver-eyed princess.
I had to know what she was up to.
Finn mentioning she’d gone to work with Abram between bites of his sandwich at lunch.
He might not have thought anything of it, ditching her like he had but I knew better. I needed to know her agenda.
Rory wouldn’t go to appease her father. She didn’t owe him any favors after he said sayonara and kicked her out of his life by the heel of his leather patent shoes.
She had to be going there for other reasons, and I needed to know what those reasons were.
After our scrimmage, I tell Finn and Eli I needed to head downtown instead of meeting at his house. Still needing to get my physical done before the season starts.
The lie coming out as easy as dribbling a basketball.
Bonus foul point shot; it was a great excuse to not hang out with Madison. She was being clingy lately and I was one bad toe stub away from ripping her a new one and not thinking twice about it.
I wasn’t completely lying. I did need to get it done and I did. One turn, cough, and squeeze away from getting my medical done for another year.