Mack Daddy(26)

“You’re lucky I like you, Frankie Jane. I think that was proof I’d do just about anything for you.”

His words gave me serious butterflies. He always made me feel like he would do anything for me.

“Thank you.”

“You know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think subconsciously you’re just trying to avoid going out with him.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because no one stays locked up in a bathroom because of a floating tampon.” He took his gloves off and discarded them in the trash. “Why don’t you just tell them you’re sick or something? Stay home.”

“That would be rude at this point.”

“And disappearing into the bathroom isn’t?”

I changed the subject off of me. “What was with the boy band act? You’re such an attention whore.”

“Only when it comes to your attention.”

My heart started to beat faster. I was a lost cause.

“Well, next time you’re tantruming for my attention, try not to be so insulting to other people.”

“You’re right. It was immature.”

“You did make me laugh, though.”

“That’s because you have the same sense of humor I do. And neither of us is that nice, which is why we get along so well.”

“Maybe.”

Our eyes locked, and the tension in the air was transparent. His hair was messed up from the hat he’d been wearing, but in a way, that made him look even more handsome. I wanted so badly to run my fingers through that hair, to tug on it, pull him into my mouth and just suck on his lips. If he only knew that just thinking about that was making me wet.

Could he tell how badly I wanted him?

When he reached his hand over to my waist, I flinched. For a split second, I’d thought he was going to pull me into him or something. It turned out he was just fixing my shirt.

“It was halfway untucked,” he said. “You’re a bit of a mess.”

My pulse was still recovering from the excitement of that brief contact when Moses entered without knocking.

“What the f*ck is going on?” he spewed.

“Nothing. Mack was just helping me with a toilet mishap.”

“Whatever. You’re being f*cking rude, Frankie.”

“You’re right. I’ll be right there.”

Moses exited the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

“He hates me right now,” Mack joked. He and I continued to stare at each other for a few seconds before he said, “I should let you go.” Grabbing the bucket, he started to leave before stopping at the door one last time to say, “I really need to learn how to be better at that—letting you go.”

It was the first real implication of his jealousy. Why did I feel badly that my going out with Emmett was upsetting him? Mack had a girlfriend! God, our relationship was so f*cked-up.





The school year was coming to an end. I knew Mack would be heading home to D.C. soon for the summer. He was supposed to be home from his weekend away any minute. On this particular Sunday night, though, I decided to forego meeting him down in the laundry room. Instead, I made my way up to the rooftop of our building.

Lights from nearby Fenway Park lit up the night sky. A Red Sox game against the Orioles had gone into overtime, and the cheers from the crowd could be heard. Feeling super emotional tonight, I let the sounds from the park serve as the backdrop to the multitude of thoughts going through my head.

After about an hour alone up there, Mack’s voice startled me. “Frankie?”

Shit.

I turned around. “Hi.”

“You threw me off. I was expecting you to be down in the basement. I don’t know what made me decide to check up here, but I had a feeling.”

“I wasn’t in the mood for laundry tonight, for some reason.”

He sat down next to me as we both gazed out at Fenway.

“Nothing like baseball on a balmy night in Boston,” I said.

“You don’t normally come up here alone. Something’s up. Did that f*cking Emmett do something?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m not even seeing him anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Nothing. It just fizzled away.”

“Well, I couldn’t see you with him anyway.”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

His tone became more insistent. “Something is bothering you. Talk to me.”

I looked up at the stars. How could I tell him what was really eating away at me? That I felt like I was falling in love with him. That I wasn’t sure I could handle my jealousy anymore. That I was miserable at the thought of him leaving for the entire summer. That I feared he might decide not to come back and that I’d never see him again. That in some ways, I feared him coming back again even more. That I’d never been more confused in my entire life.

Probably sensing my inner turmoil, he said, “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

“I don’t know how to talk to you about you.”

He simply nodded. He knew exactly what was wrong.

Mack shocked me when he reached over and grabbed my hand, firmly locking my fingers into his. He stared down at our hands for a while. “This conversation has been a long time coming, hasn’t it?”