We stopped in a circle, right beside the entrance to the line. I could see around CJ’s shoulder and noticed that the people already there were glancing over in our direction. At them. None of the guys were abnormally tall, but it was something about their postures that said “Look at me.” So I sidestepped to the left so that CJ’s ripped up body could hide me a little better.
If he noticed he was being watched, it didn’t register on his face as he asked, “What’s on the menu this week?”
“Vanilla mug cake and another attempt at those stupid brownies I screwed up.”
“I can do another one whenever you want,” Amari piped up. “It was fun.”
“Yeah, whenever you want.” I didn’t want him to feel obligated. People always offered to do nice things, but only to be polite.
The extremely handsome man pulled his cell out of his pocket. “What’s your number? I’ll text you.”
I didn’t even think twice about it. I rattled the number off to him.
But I felt something weird and glanced up to find Zac staring at Amari. And I mean, staring at him. What the hell was that about?
A very deep voice, almost as nice as CJ’s, called out some way that had us all turning to find a man the size of Zac and Amari combined making his way over with three normal-sized human beings trailing behind him, two of which were dressed in black clothing and held walkie-talkies and had different things clipped to their belts. The huge guy lifted a hand in greeting, and if the people in line hadn’t been paying attention before, they were now.
I stood there as the big man slapped Zac, CJ, and Amari’s back before Zac introduced me. “This is Bianca.”
I held my hand out to him, and he shook it. “Hi, thank you for letting me come too.”
The man made a face, squinted his eyes, and lifted up a finger to point at me afterward. “You’re the baker girl, aren’t you?”
Well, shit. I pressed my lips together and nodded.
“Yeah, yeah. Nice. Thanks for coming.”
I was pretty sure my face went hot and pink. The baker girl. Well, well, well.
Zac’s elbow nudged at mine, and I looked up to see him making a face. “See? You’re famous,” he mouthed, and I rolled my eyes and elbowed him back. But seriously, I was pretty sure my heart started beating faster.
“I’ll get you in line to go through first, take a few pictures, and you can walk through in no time,” the man explained while I daydreamed about him knowing who I was.
I elbowed Zac a little more as we were led toward the line, and the guys stopped to sign autographs for the people who had figured out who they were. I stood there and took a few pictures for them and pretended like I didn’t notice the curious glances being shot my way. But they were mostly all teenagers. No one minded when the biggest man maneuvered our small group to the front of the line, and I could hear the clicking of more phone cameras going off behind us.
Then the person holding the “real” camera started gesturing the guys together, and I tried to take a step back to hide behind Zac, but the big man said, “Baker girl! You too! Say, are you coming to my party?”
Party? What party?
I didn’t get a chance to ask before Zac reached behind and took my wrist. “Come on, kiddo. Front and center.”
That had me snorting and settling in beside him, my left side totally lined up to his, Zac’s arm sliding over my shoulders, his hand draped in front of my chest. On my right, CJ stood an inch or two away, close but not touching me. The flash started going, and it was right then that I realized what they were going to use these pictures for.
For the internet. For social media.
At least the good part was, I wasn’t trying to hide my friendship with Snack Pack. I’d already been busted by the one person I had wanted to keep it a secret from.
I just… you know….
Whatever. I smiled and tried not to look constipated.
The sound of a chainsaw going off inside the building had me meeting Amari’s gaze, and he shot me a funny expression.
“You scared?”
He tilted his head to the side. “Why? If I say yes, will you hold my hand?”
Well, I hadn’t been asking to flirt. I’d just been joking.