frown as he hitches a shoulder. “That’s unimaginative.”
Amusement crosses his face. “We could always use the true version: you sent me a wrong number nude and I was like aight.”
“You ass! We are not using that. And I wasn’t naked.”
“Yet. Shortly after?” Connor hums, shifting in the driver’s seat. “So gloriously naked.”
With a scandalized squeal, I swat his arm, overwhelmed by his proximity and what he’s saying. He drives me to things I never do.
He laughs. The corner of his mouth tugs up in a crooked grin as he turns the wheel with the heel of his palm, entering the student parking lot.
“You want a whirlwind romance, or something? I’m just trying to make it easy. It’s not like it’s real.”
The words slice me and I suck in a pained gasp.
It’s not real.
Right.
For as big as his SUV is, I’m suffocated by being so near to him while my emotions spiral.
Connor is my first actual boyfriend, but it’s all fake. I stare at my lap.
“Is it cool if I drop you off here?”
I look up, blinking out of my depressing thoughts. He took the loop that cuts off from the student lot for pick ups and drop offs up the hill where the school stands flanked by tall pine trees. His friends gather in the parking lot at the base of the hill. Devlin Murphy’s flashy red sports car stands out like a beacon, and a few people gather around it as he leans against the side.
We didn’t get to cover much on the ride. Not knowing what to anticipate being Connor’s puppet is grating on me.
“Don’t want to be seen with your nerdy girlfriend? Too big of a dent to your shiny popular soccer captain image? I thought that was the whole point of this.” The acidic bite in my voice surprises me.
“I, no,” Connor says, furrowing his brow. He drags his fingers through his messy light brown hair. “I just thought—because of yesterday. I didn’t think you’d want to show up with me yet.”
The hot and cold nature of his cruelty and his unexpected consideration is giving me whiplash.
“Okay.” I’m ready to escape the car anyway. I pop the door handle and grab my bag from the floor. “Thanks. Bye, I guess.”
His voice halts me when I turn to join the flow of students making their way into school. “Wait for me after homeroom. We’ll walk together to first period.”
My brows wrinkle in confusion as I spin to face him. “We don’t have first period together.”
“The way to your first class has the most foot traffic. We’ll get the rumor mill going early and by lunch they’ll all have heard about it. You should sit at my table today.”
“Uh, yeah, no. No thank you.”
Did he forget the point he made about my discomfort with his friends? Or do guys just get over stuff that easily and he thinks I’ll be dandy by lunch?
His expression darkens. “Yes.”
“No.” I fold my arms over the open window, lifting on my tiptoes to reach. “I already have standing lunch plans every day with my friends. And yours are very rude, so. That’s that.”
Connor releases an aggravated sound. “Just be in the hall after homeroom.”
He pulls off before I can say anything.
I won’t be waiting around for him. He needs to apologize to me for real to make up for yesterday before I play the perfect doting girlfriend. I only got in the SUV because I didn’t want to be late.
After I part ways with Maisy at the end of lunch, a hand clamps on my arm from behind and a dark voice growls in my ear, making me yelp in the empty covered walkway between the north and south buildings.
“Somewhere you forgot to be?”
I toss an unimpressed look over my shoulder as my stomach clenches. “I told you I wasn’t eating lunch with you.”
He squeezes my arm. “I’m talking about this morning. We’ll have to do it all over again tomorrow morning. Or—” My body collides with his chest as he spins me around to face him “—we take more drastic measures. Hold still.”
Before I register what’s happening, Connor tips my chin up, presses his forehead to mine, and holds his other arm up. He flicks his eyes to the side to check, then I hear the digital click sound of his camera. He keeps his piercing eyes locked on mine and kisses my cheek. I gasp, pushing against his chest. His arm is like an iron band around me as he