“D, don’t you and El have some shit to do?” Blaise cuts steroid freak off, crossing the room toward us.
“Wait. Your names are El and D?” My gaze flicks between the two guys standing near me, and I snicker. “Let me guess. You shortened your real names so you could remember them. Or did you just forget them altogether and picked a letter from the alphabet?”
D glowers at me, but with a quick, stern look from Blaise, he looks away to El. “Let’s get out of here. We’ve got a lot of shit to get done, and I’m over dealing with girl drama.”
“Yeah, like I’m the one who started it,” I mutter as El and D move for the door.
D throws me a dirty look before walking out, and El follows, slamming the door.
Blaise immediately gapes at me. “Seriously, how has that mouth of yours never gotten you in trouble before?”
“Who says it hasn’t?” When he shakes his head unfathomably, I shrug. “You should already know I speak my mind. It’s what made you hate me right from the start.”
“I didn’t and still don’t hate you,” he insists, stuffing his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “You just … I don’t know, threw me off a bit. You’re very …” He considers something carefully. “Well, I think Alex said it best when he said you’re feisty.”
“I’m not feisty,” I deny. “I just don’t like to put up with guy drama.”
“Guy drama?” His brow cocks. “All I did was call you sweetheart, and you told me to go fuck myself and then some.”
“Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I like to be called vomit-inducing pet names,” I scoff. “Guys need to realize that.”
“No one’s ever complained about me doing it before,” Blaise points out. “In fact, most girls like it when I call them, as you put it, vomit-inducing pet names.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a special kind of girl then, I guess. But I know I’m not one of a kind. You should consider that the next time you start throwing around gross pet names to complete strangers.”
He silently stares at me, either irritated or utterly thrown off—I can’t tell. “I’ll make sure to do that.” He pauses. “But I definitely disagree with you not being one of a kind. You’re very odd.”
“Gee, thanks … I think.”
“It’s not a bad thing,” he quickly says. “Just different and intriguing.”
“I wouldn’t care if it was bad or not,” I tell him confidently. “I’ve been called a hell of a lot worse than odd.”
“Yeah, I’m not that surprised.”
When I attempt to glare at him, although my lips become traitorous bastards and threaten to turn upward, he chuckles and shakes his head.
“You almost just broke a drug dealer’s arm, and I’m guessing that probably isn’t the first time you’ve done something like that,” he says. “That’s not normal.”
“Hey, I’ve never tried to break a drug dealer’s arm before,” I deny indignantly. As his brows elevate in doubt, I heave a dramatic sigh. “Okay, it may have happened one other time. But in my defense, both times the guys deserved it. The first dude screwed around with my sister and cheated on her. And that D guy”—I aim a finger at the door—“was reaching for me first before I grabbed his arm. It was total self-defense.”
“I believe you. D can be a real prick, which is part of the reason I didn’t have you come in here with me to begin with.”
I raise my hands in front of me. “Look, you left me in the car with the windows up for over an hour, and we’re in the middle of nowhere; what else was I supposed to do? It’s not like I could’ve texted you. I don’t even have your number.”
He bites back a smile. “Is that your way of asking for my number?”
“What? No.” I pull a repulsed face. “That’s the last thing I want.”
“Sure it is.” His cockiness returns in full form, smirk and all. It makes me want to smack that smugness right of his pretty boy face.
Instead, I settle for poking him in the chest. “Didn’t I just tell you not to assume I want certain things?”
His smirk doubles. “It’s not an assumption if you just said you wanted it.”
“Good God, you’re so annoying,” I growl out. Then I raise my chin and turn for the door. “You know what? I’m out of here. I’ve done my favor for the day. I don’t need to deal with this crap.”
He snags the bottom of my shirt before I make it too far. “I’m not going to just let you walk home. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”