“Eh. Your parents' property. Doesn’t count. In fact, I’m almost certain your dad would say I’m welcome anytime I wanna come here.”
He’s probably right. My dad is pretty tight with Jagger’s dad—and Crew’s as well as Neo and Maddie’s. It’s how I imagine Crew, Jagger, and Neo will be one day.
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Just because I haven’t been here in a couple years, doesn’t mean you can just take it from me.”
“I’ll tell ya what,” he slides closer, until his knee is bumping mine, “we’ll share it.”
“Share?” I laugh. “Yeah, right.”
His shoulders waggle. “Sure. Why not?”
“How about because you hate me and the feeling is mutual?”
He quirks a brow. “You hate me?”
The expression on his face almost makes me feel guilty for saying so. “Well, yeah. Don’t you hate me?”
Why did I ask that?Of course he does.
“No,” he deadpans.
I wasn’t expecting that response. Maybe I don’t hate him so much either. But it doesn’t change anything. We still can’t share this treehouse.
“What would Crew and Neo think if they knew you were sharing anything at all with me?”
“Well, since it’s yours, it’d be you sharing with me. Besides, they’d never have to know.”
My eyebrows rise. “A secret?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
I roll my lips, searching for any sign he’s joking. I mean, he has to be. Jagger is Neo’s follower, meaning he does whatever Neo wants, and what he would never approve of is Jagger being anything but malicious toward me.
“Whatever.” I wave my hand in the air, blowing out a heavy breath. “It’s not like I come here often anyways. Probably won’t ever come back now that I know you might be here.”
I go to push myself up off the floor, but Jagger’s hand lands on my knee, keeping me down. “You really hate me, Scar?”
My mouth opens to speak, but the words don’t come out. I’m not sure how to respond to that question. “I…I don’t know. I guess I have no feelings whatsoever toward you. You just…sort of exist in my world.”
His hand is still on my knee, and the warmth of his touch spreads like wildfire through my body. “Just so you know, I do have a mind of my own.”
“Okaaay.” I drag out the word, unsure why he’s telling me this.
“What I mean is, Neo and Crew don’t make decisions for me. If I wanna share a treehouse with you, then I’ll share a treehouse with you.”
Is he looking at my lips? Why is he looking at my lips?My heart is back to galloping in my chest. “That’s good to know,” I whisper.Oh no! I just looked at his lips, too.
His mouth curls up, and when I look him in the eyes, I see him staring back at me. “I like you, Scar. You fight back, and that’s not something most girls do when it comes to us.”
I do?
I’m glad he sees it that way, but I’ve always assumed I appear weak in their eyes. I suppose I’ll have to just keep up the front of being tough because they only see what I show them. “I guess you should keep that in mind when you’re pushing me around out there.”
He bites his lip and the gesture does something strange to my stomach. “Maybe I will.”
Did he move closer to me? He definitely did. Oh my god, is he going to kiss me?
My body freezes when he leans into my space. His lips softly brush against mine.