The Peer and the Puppet (When Rivals Play, #1) (62)

“He’s bad for her.”

He shrugged and pulled me by my elbow into the kitchen. “If she couldn’t handle him, he’d have moved on already.”

“You better be right.”

He pulled two bottles of water from the fridge. “Or what?”

“Or after I’m done kicking his ass, you’ll be next.”

I took the water he offered just as Jamie ran into the kitchen wearing black jeans, T-shirt, and a thin puffy vest with a silver chain hooked on his jeans.

“You two are so cute that I throw up in my mouth every time I lay eyes on you.”

“Jealous?” I quipped even though there was nothing to be jealous of. Ever and I weren’t a thing. We were a giant meteor heading straight for Earth with nothing in its path to stop it.

Jamie looked ready to say something, but then he shook his head and began raiding Vaughn’s refrigerator. I kept forgetting Ever’s relationship status was a touchy subject for him. Maybe because it also meant admitting he already belonged to someone.

Tossing a bag of bagels and cream cheese on the island, Jamie started slathering as Vaughn entered holding hands with Tyra.

“No one said you could eat my food, Buchanan.”

“That’s because I didn’t ask,” he said with a mouth full of bagel.

While Vaughn and Jamie traded insults, Tyra rolled her eyes at Ever and pulled me into a hug.

“Loving the tiara, birthday girl!”

“I got that for her,” Jamie bragged, abandoning his bickering with Vaughn, who then cuffed him on the back of the head.

“Stop hitting on her,” he chewed out.

Unfazed, Jamie winked at me and headed for the door with Vaughn and Tyra on his heels.

I started to follow, but a tug on my belt loop and the sudden wall of flame at my back kept me rooted.

“You better not be blushing,” Ever warned.

“Jealous?”

“Murderous,” he growled.

“Yeah, well, you should work on that.” I felt him staring as I walked away, so I swayed my hips. Jamie hadn’t made me blush, but the deep trill of Ever’s appreciative groan sure did.




The Statue of Liberty had been our first stop. We then rode to the top of the Empire State Building while Jamie blasted Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s ‘Empire State of Mind,’ frolicked in Central Park, and eventually, stopped for my first taste of authentic New York style pizza.

If anyone ever asked, I’d say it was the best day of my life. Every year, I pretended to forget my birthday so Rosalyn would continue to take her pills.

My friends—well, it was still under review whether I could call the guys my friends—sacrificed their grades and risked their parents’ wrath to celebrate me. I wasn’t sure if it should, but it felt good.

“How do you like the pizza, princess?”

My stomach did that fluttering thing again as I took another bite. “It’s greasy perfection,” I said with a mouth full. I eyed the loaded foot-long sub Ever opted to eat instead. “You don’t like pizza?”

“You always talk with your mouth full?” He seemed amused rather than disgusted, so I shrugged.

“Told you I’m no princess.” I reached up to take off the tiara.

“Leave it.”

“Why?” I questioned even as my hand slowly fell to the table. I didn’t care about the tiara, and my birthday was just another day, but Ever seemed determined to prove me wrong.

“Because today, the world should be yours.”

“And you think this piece of plastic will give me that?”

“Maybe not, but it’s a start.”

Jamie was busy chatting up some redhead by the door, and Vaughn and Tyra were too into each other across the booth to notice Ever hammering away at my walls. Since arriving, I’d worked to keep a physical and emotional space, and he’d worked even harder to make sure that didn’t happen. His hand would find mine whenever we crossed a street or be at my back, steering me through the crowd. Even when he hung back and offered me space, his eyes never left me. As close as he kept me, somehow, I never felt suffocated.

“Why are you being so nice? Why now?”

He leaned back with a sigh. “I told you I’m making up for last night.”

“The note you left me this morning was different from the others. You didn’t write once upon a puppet. Why?”

“It was an apology, Four. I can’t force you to forgive me.”

“Oh.” I can’t say why I was disappointed in his response. I guess I was hoping that after touching me the way he did, he’d finally release me from our deal. I needed to know Rosalyn was safe before I went any further with him. “So the notes are your twisted version of Simon Says? Once upon a puppet means I don’t have a choice?”

“In a way.” He glanced across the booth before changing the subject. “What else would you like to do today?”

“Is it possible to experience the entire city in one day?”

“Not really, no.”

“Then maybe we should get going. School will be out soon.”

Ever didn’t argue and paid the tab. On the walk back to the car, Ever dipped inside one of the shops, and Vaughn and Jamie followed, leaving Tyra and me on the sidewalk. Tyra was telling me about some naked cowboy when something slammed into me.