The Peer and the Puppet (When Rivals Play, #1) (69)
After scaring twenty years off my life, she finally made her way toward town, and I followed her to the theater. Tyra looked amazed as she watched Four park. They said a few words before moving inside, and I watched them disappear as I typed a text.
Ten minutes later, I was walking into the theater with Vaughn. We stopped to load up on popcorn, soda, and candy and made our way into the theater showing the chick flick. Vaughn groaned again when we stood inside the dark room and heard the dialogue. Most of the seats were empty, and after a quick scan, I found our girls sitting in a dark corner on the far side.
Tyra didn’t seem all that surprised when she looked up and found us standing over them.
“I knew you’d find me,” she grumbled at Vaughn.
“Then why did you bother keeping it a secret?”
Four didn’t speak, though our gazes remained locked. Vaughn broke our stare down moments later when he asked her to move down a seat. I was surprised when she obliged. He immediately claimed the seat between Tyra and Four, and I sat next to Four on the end.
“What are you doing here?”
I noticed she didn’t have anything to snack on, so I tossed a pack of Twizzlers in her lap. She ignored the candy and repeated her question.
“Thought I’d see a movie.”
“And it just so happened to be this movie?”
“Is there a problem, Archer?”
“As a matter of fact, stalking is a very big problem.”
“Then why haven’t you asked me to leave yet?”
“I don’t like to waste my breath.”
“So, what would you call this?”
She seemed to think it over before turning in her seat to face the screen. I felt myself fighting a grin when she tore open the bag of Twizzlers a moment later. Vaughn had reclined his and Tyra’s seats, and I considered doing the same but decided even that small of a temptation was too risky, so I settled in to watch the movie.
“I can’t believe someone actually filmed this crap,” I muttered ten minutes into the movie.
She reluctantly met my gaze in the darkened theater. “Why do you say that?”
“Other than the cheesy dialogue?” She nodded, so I asked, “How does someone supposedly smart, successful, and sexy not see that he’s a psychopath?”
“Why are you so sure he’s crazy?”
“He’s trying too hard.”
“The movie is called The Perfect Guy.”
It killed me how na?ve she truly was. “There’s no such thing.”
“The girls at school would disagree. Some would say you’re the perfect guy.”
“It’s a fantasy. None of them know me.”
“I heard more than a few know a certain”—her gaze trailed to my lap—“part of you.”
“Not likely. I don’t have community dick.” After Olivia, I’d been particularly selective. Everyone at Brynwood assumed I would only touch a girl if she were hot enough but in truth, I only fucked the ones who were transparent and uncomplicated. And yeah those girls happened to be the ones who were hot, popular and shallow.
Four didn’t seem convinced, and I wasn’t about to discuss the girls I’d slept with, so I said, “Wanna make it interesting?”
“How so?”
“I bet you he does something fucked up to the cat.”
“What?” she snorted as she laughed. “That’s oddly specific. You sure you haven’t seen this movie?”
“Chick flicks aren’t my thing.”
“Because you’re so macho?” she teased.
Movement behind her caught my eye, and I glanced up just in time to catch Vaughn’s hand traveling up Tyra’s skirt. They were no longer pretending to watch the movie as they made out in their darkened corner.
“Because I prefer not to spend ninety minutes bleeding from my eyeballs.”
“It’s not that bad.” She giggled, and it felt like a fist had punched its way inside my chest and seized my heart in its grip.
“Do you accept?”
“Depends on what you want.”
I pretended to think it over even though I knew exactly what I wanted. “The kiss you weaseled your way out of earlier.”
“You have a girlfriend, but I’m the weasel?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Doesn’t matter. Pick something else.”
“No.”
“Then no bet.”
“There’s got to be something you want.” I was aware that I was borderline begging but couldn’t bring myself to care.
“What I want you can’t give me.”
“What if I offered to release you from our deal?”
Her gaze narrowed on me. “You’re that sure you’ll win?”
I had no fucking clue, but to be honest, I didn’t need the deal to control her. Every day, she lost some of her drive for revenge to her determination to resist me. “You in or you out?”
She hesitated for only a split second before saying, “In.”
I held out my hand, and she shook it before settling in to finish watching the movie.
Vaughn and Tyra continued to make out.
Sometime later, I heard her soft groan when the cat went missing, and a later scene showed Mr. Perfect with the cat in his home as he watched the heroine through a hidden camera. To fuck with her, I reached into my pocket for my Chapstick.