Love Me (WITSEC #3)(12)

Was he mad that I’d pointed it out?

Knox is a man. You’re just a girl still in high school. Stephanie’s stupid voice filled my head.

Doing my best not to show what I was feeling, I looked away from him and stood from the table. “Speaking of school, I need to finish getting ready.” I passed Keelan to set my dirty plate in the sink.

I could feel them all watching me.

“We’ll take my car today,” Colt said. There was a hint of irritation in his voice.

I glanced at the table as I headed for the door. Colt held an unreadable expression as he stared at me. Creed and Keelan, though, were glaring at Knox.

“Okay,” I shot over my shoulder. As I went to close the front door behind me, I could have sworn I heard Colt say, “Seriously, Knox?”





3





At lunch, Colt, Creed, and Ethan were planning out the Halloween party. I listened as I ate a Greek pasta salad that had been my mother’s recipe. It was so good that Creed kept stealing bites of it.

As I chewed, I caught Isabelle staring at the chunk of her neon green hair she was playing with. The look she held wasn’t a happy one.

“Over the green?” I asked her as I went to take another bite. Creed grabbed my wrist and pulled the fork to his mouth. I didn’t resist. I still had a bunch left over at home and I loved it when others enjoyed my food.

“A little,” Isabelle said. “The neon won’t look good with the costume I’m making to wear for the Halloween party.”

“Then change it,” I suggested. “Want me to go with you?”

Isabelle nodded. “Do you have a costume picked out?”

I glanced at Colt. “I would if I knew what I was going as.”

He appeared puzzled for a moment, and I had the pleasure of seeing his oh yeah moment. Colt had beaten Creed and I in the last race the three of us had had with Ethan. His and Creed’s stakes had been who would get to take me on a date first, and with me, Colt had won the privilege of picking my costume for the Halloween party. “Let me think about it and I’ll tell you later today,” Colt said.

“Want to go out tomorrow?” Isabelle asked me.

“I’m doing a mud run tomorrow.”

Her brows rose. “A mud run? Like with muddy obstacles?”

I nodded.

“Desert Stone is hosting it, right?” Ethan asked Colt and Creed.

Creed nodded as he chewed more stolen pasta salad.

“I want to do it,” Isabelle said excitedly. “Is it too late to sign up?”

Crap. I glanced at Colt again. “Was I supposed to sign up?” What I vaguely remembered from the flyer I had seen at the gym was that there was going to be a mud run, location and time info, and a website to… Cheese and rice! There was a website to sign up.

Laughter filled Colt’s eyes. “Keelan got you signed up after you asked him about it.” He looked at Isabelle. “It’s not too late to sign up. Tickets are one hundred dollars.”

Isabelle seemed to deflate at that.

“Text me the link and I’ll get us signed up,” Ethan said to Colt as he pulled his phone out.

Isabelle’s head whipped toward Ethan and she began to protest. “Ethan—”

Ethan cut her off with a quick kiss. “I got it.”

His attempt to reassure her didn’t work. There was a tightness to her face, as if she was fighting not to show her unease. “That’s a lot of money,” she said in a low voice.

“Then I’ll pay for half of your ticket,” I said as I reached into my bag for my wallet. They all looked at me. I saw Isabelle getting ready to protest again. “I didn’t have to pay for my ticket, and I really want you to come. In fact, I insist you come, which means it’s only fair I pay.” I pulled out fifty dollars and held it out to Ethan.

Ignoring the money, Ethan tapped away on his phone. “You’re not paying for my girlfriend.”

“I’m helping pay for my friend,” I said.

“All signed up,” Ethan announced as he put his phone in his back pocket. He leveled serious green eyes with mine. “I got it, Shi.”

If he wanted to pay, then I wasn’t going to argue. I was just trying to make Isabelle more comfortable about it. “All right.” I put my money back in my wallet.

“Thank you,” Isabelle said to me and then grabbed Ethan and whispered something in his ear. A smile spread across his mouth.

I leaned toward Creed and asked in a low voice, “Why didn’t anyone tell me that the mud run cost a hundred dollars?”

Creed took my fork and took over the pasta retrieval. “Because you would have been difficult if you found out that we paid for it.”

“Technically, Keelan paid for it,” Colt corrected, having overheard.

I felt terrible. Keelan had paid for us to do the run together and now he couldn’t participate. Not with his injuries. I sighed. “Is it wrong that I want to pay for myself?”

Creed put a big bite of pasta in my mouth. “No,” he agreed. “But Keelan wanted to do it.”

“And you have a hard time letting others do things for you,” Colt whispered.

“I’ve been working on it,” I grumbled around my food. I really had been and would continue to do so twice a week until the unforeseeable future, thanks to the take-no-prisoners Dr. Bolton. She was taking things at my pace, but wasn’t letting anything slide this time around. I appreciated that. I was determined to move forward, and I needed someone who would make me do the work.