heart was currently racing, and the way my entire body felt tight and overly alert from being too close to her, were huge red flags that I was getting in over my head where this complicated girl was concerned.
It was unfortunate that I’d never been the type to abide by those pesky little warning signs. If I had, maybe I could’ve stopped Sawyer from ruining all our lives with his selfishness.
I didn’t pay attention all those years ago, and the monster nearly ate me alive.
I wouldn’t make that same mistake this time.
Ollie
“Do you think he was going to kiss you? It sounds like he was coming onto you, which is weird since all I’ve heard from the moment you moved to town is how much he hates you. Are you sure you didn’t misread the situation? It’s not like you have a ton of dating experience.”
Mercer stirred her straw around her second margarita. She’d finally appeared out of nowhere and asked me if I wanted to meet for lunch. She immediately shrugged off my concern about her whereabouts and sudden attachment to her new boyfriend. She told me repeatedly that I was blowing the situation out of proportion and once again rubbed my innocence in my face. I was sure she didn’t do it to be hurtful, but on top of Huck’s weirdly forward behavior out of the blue, I didn’t have a solid hold on my emotions, and I was overly sensitive about everything.
I traced a falling drop of water on the side of my glass and looked down at the table as I muttered, “I might not know much about dating, but I know everything there is to know about Huck. He wouldn’t try to get close to me all of a sudden without a reason.” And without acknowledging my apology or discussing what happened between us in the past.
He wouldn’t get close physically or emotionally without a purpose. When we were younger, it was because he wanted to protect me and he liked the added benefit of pissing off Sawyer and Sawyer’s mother. Now, I knew all the way down to my bones that he was scheming something. He was playing a game and I didn’t know the rules, but I knew he intended for me to be the loser no matter what.
He’d grown up a lot in the years we’d been apart. Back in the day, his tricks and pranks had been mostly harmless and rarely hurt anyone. It didn’t seem like that would be the case now. He’d grown up adjacent to evil, but always seemed to be unaffected by the darker influences around him. The adult version of Huck made me question that childish belief. There were times he was just as cold, calculating, and unscrupulous as Sawyer.
“So, what’s his reason for suddenly being so flirty if you know him so well?” The second margarita was gone as quickly as the first, and Mercer signaled the waitress for a refill. While it wasn’t uncommon for her to have a cocktail during lunch, full-on day-drinking was something new, and the worry that had been eating at me while she went quiet started to tingle along my senses once again.
I frowned at her as I aimlessly picked at the chips and salsa sitting between us. “I think he’s going to try and get me into bed.”
And I knew if I succumbed, he would immediately flip the script and freeze me out. He wanted to betray me the way I’d betrayed him. He wanted me disappointed and disillusioned the way he’d been. He wanted me to feel ashamed and embarrassed enough to leave the house on my own without dragging the landlord into our situation. He wanted to destroy any lingering infatuation I might have for the boy he’d once been.
Mercer sipped on her drink and lifted her eyebrows. “Well, that sounds like fun, not a threat.” She continued to look at me questioningly as I sighed heavily.
It might sound like fun to someone else, but for me, I knew it would only end badly if I let myself fall into his trap.
She cocked her head and asked, “Why don’t you give it a shot? If you know what his intentions are, why can’t you have a little fun? If anyone deserves a couple of mind-blowing orgasms and some thoroughly distracting sex, it’s you. Maybe he’s got a magical dick and it can heal all that’s wrong in your world at the moment.”