Price of a Kiss (Forbidden Men, #1)(32)

I straightened my spine. “Sometimes it’s more about the quality than the quantity that counts.”

His eyes darkened with feeling. “That bad, huh?” His features softened as if he might want to comfort me, which, okay, I wouldn’t mind. Really. “What did he do? Cheat on you?”

I tried to pull my hand away again. No luck. But I didn’t try too hard. I didn’t really want him to let go, and it warmed me that he initially refused.

“Among other things.” I kept my voice light, trying to play it down.

Mason’s face darkened. “What other things?”

Thank God I was saved from answering, because my mind went blank, trying to concoct a good lie.

“See, they are dating,” a voice said as a trio of girls passed by our table about twenty feet away. “He’s holding her hand. I told you he couldn’t be a gigolo.”

Mason jerked his hand from mine and scooted backward to put some space between us. The way he shuttered away his expression, like a house yanking down its blinds, sent a bolt of fury straight through me. I wanted to maim everyone who’d ever hurt him with their barbed gossip.

I glared at the passing girls. “We can hear you, you know.”

All three of them snapped their gazes to us and just as quickly looked away again. Hustling into a light jog, they hurried off until their giggling echoed back.

“Don’t listen to them,” I told Mason. “They’re…ignorant”

“Doesn’t matter.” He shook his head as he slammed his calculus book shut and shoved it into his bag. Sending me a tight smile, he stood up. “Have a good Labor Day weekend, okay?”

Before I could respond, he turned and strode off, his shoulders rigid and hands fisted at his sides.

I sighed.

Depression hit hard as I remembered it really was going to be Labor Day weekend. Dawn had taken off work at her night job for Friday, and the café where she worked would be closed on Monday, so I wouldn’t be going to the Arnosta house until the next Wednesday. And since school was closed for the holiday, I wouldn’t even have a good reason to see Mason around campus until Tuesday.

Strangely, I missed him already.





CHAPTER TEN




I’d give my cousin this: The girl sure knew how to throw a party.

As I watched the music-thumping activities around me, my nostril smarted from the diamond stud embedded in the side of my nose. Yes, Eva had finally peer pressured me into it.

Hey, I’m not perfect.

My weakness had started as soon as I’d seen how cute the silver hoop she’d gotten for herself looked. Then she’d glanced at me, said, “Jeremy would hate seeing you with a nose ring,” and my resistance had sunk like the Titanic. God forbid I do anything he would approve of.

Worried how much goo would catch on it whenever I sneezed, however, I had opted for a stud instead of a hoop. The redness and swelling had gone down, and it had never bled the way Eva’s piercing had, so no one could tell it was only a couple of hours old.

I glanced across Aunt Mads and Uncle Shaw’s living room to watch Alec lift a shot of tequila from Eva’s cleavage with his teeth and tip the jigger up without touching it. E. cheered him on as a trickle of alcohol dribbled down his chin. But she licked it off him as soon as he dropped his shot glass into his hands.

I shook my head even as my lips quirked with amusement. Crazy kids.

I’d been worried about her and Alec dating when I’d first met him. He seemed as rich, spoiled, and pretentious as Eva was. Two likes, in that regard, usually didn’t attract. I figured they wouldn’t last a week, each of them expecting the other to pamper them as much as their parents did.

But they’d been together almost three months now and still seemed content.

Standing with my back against a wall so I could take it all in without missing anything, I felt like I was supervising instead of joining the fun. Ever since May, though, I’d been a little too leery of diving into a group of complete strangers.

I’d just taken a sip from my plastic red cup when someone approached me from the side. “Hey. You were looking lonely standing over here all by yourself. Thought I’d keep you company.”

“Oh!” I almost spilled frothy beer down my shirt, I jumped so hard. Wiping my chin and feeling like a moron, I turned to the stranger. “I didn’t see you there.”

He grinned, his teeth perfect enough to tell me he must’ve worn braces at some point. “Sorry. I guess all my secret ninja training is paying off after all.”

I smiled but couldn’t manage a laugh.

He held out his hand. “I’m Ty.”

“Reese.” I shook with him, pulling back immediately.

I swear I didn’t throw off any flirty signals. But he still leaned against the wall beside me as if I’d invited him and took a drink from the longneck bottle he held. Surveying the crowd with me, he asked, “So, do you know Eva or did you just hear about the party?”

“I know Eva.” I turned to watch him instead of everyone else, since he seemed like the bigger threat. “She’s my cousin.”

“Hmm.” He stopped people watching to twist to me as well. “She’s never mentioned you before.”

I shrugged. Eva and I may have grown up halfway across the country from each other, but every holiday our families had gotten together; we’d always been inseparable. Facebook had helped keep us tight too. But I had no idea why this stranger thought she ever should’ve mentioned me to him.