Page 10 of Siren's Heart

"I'm trying," I grit back, biting my lip. I really am. But the steps he's showing us are complicated, and I’m tired, and my thoughts are all over the place.

"How about we finish here today?" Mike asks, and without the conscious decision to do it, I tackle him in a hug.

"I've been waiting for these words all day!"

He chuckles at the audible relief in my voice. "Don't be too happy too soon. I'm seeing you right back here, first thing tomorrow morning, motivated and ready to go."

"Of course you will." I nod eagerly and let him go, hurrying to my bag so I can throw on a hoodie and some loose sweatpants over my tight sports attire consisting of a bra and those pants that are so tight they ride up your asscrack. Kayla is right behind me, and within seconds, we sling our bags over our shoulders and wave Mike bye-bye.

"Seriously, Millie, what's going on with you? Is it actually the guy?" Kayla asks in disbelief.

"It's nothing.” I clear my throat. “I'm just a bit flustered. It will go away."

"Sure, it will." I can hear the eye-roll in her voice. "How about you, you know, talk to him?"

"I could," I answer with a shrug. "Of course, I could. But I've decided that maybe I should take a bit of a break from dating."

"You did?" Her eyes grow wide, and she clasps my shoulder to stop me. "Why?"

"Because dating me only brings destruction with it." Another shrug as I evade her eyes and look to the ground. "The media is on my ass whenever I look at a guy wrong, and it’s exhausting."

"Ignore the media," she says, slinging her arm over my shoulder as she resumes walking. "Fuck them." I sigh. Sometimes, I want to hit her with a pillow. If it were that easy to ignore them, I wouldn’t be having this conversation with her.

"That's a lot easier said than done," I say softly and sink against her, sliding my arm around her hip. Hugging and touching my friends is my love language, but she doesn't really like it that much. So, I'm always happy when she tolerates it, or sees I need a hug and initiates it.

"When they report on you, it’s more factual, but have you seen what they write about me? They’re tearing me apart." It's fascinating, really. We could do the same thing, but for me, it’s scandalous. How dare she? No matter who I’m seen with, it’s a bad thing.

She meets her friends with benefits she’s had a thing with for years? Oh, they’re just friends, it’s fine. Look at this touching reunion. It’s been months since they were seen together. Good for them!

"Right," she admits just as quietly. "But you can't let them dictate your life, Mil." I shake my head. She doesn’t get it. It’s not me letting them dictate my life; it’s them scaring off anyone who’s getting close to me.

"I'm happily single," I assure her, quickening my step when we round a corner not to fall behind. "It's fine. I'm fine." If I say it often enough, maybe I'll actually start to believe it, and maybe that will make it real. "It's not like I'm saying I'll stay celibate from now on, but I won't go out of my way to date."

An annoyed sigh falls from her lips, but luckily, she drops it. We're almost at the parking lot when we hear a chatter of male voices coming from around the corner, bouncing off the plain white walls, echoing like they’re coming from all sides.

Shooting each other a quick glance, both of us let out a deep sigh and straighten our spines, squaring our shoulders. Of course, we know the chance of anything happening to us here is slim, and there's too much security, but we've had some... experiences with men in show business. Now make them a group, and we're bound to be a bit wary and get our defenses up and running. I’d rather do it a lot of times unnecessarily than once too little.

As soon as we round the corner, the voices fall silent, all the guys freezing in their tracks and staring at the both of us. Well, most of them.

“What’s going on?” I ask Kayla through gritted teeth and without moving my lips.

“I have no idea,” she grits back.

"Hi guys," both of us greet them, faces stretched in a tight but hopefully not too defensive smile.

After a second of silence, all of them grumble back a greeting. Kayla's eyes are fixated on a wall somewhere behind them, but I’m apparently a glutton for punishment–a masochist putting herself in the ways of temptation.

I try to look past him at first. I really do. But his moss-green eyes attract mine like a damn magnet. And when they meet, sparks ignite between us, invisible to anyone else.

Well, for all I know, they could be invisible to him, too, and all of this is just made up in my head. But a girl can dream…I look away quickly, pretending my world hasn’t just turned upside down. Once is a coincidence, but twice? Fuck. I’m in trouble.

He's in the back of the group, almost hidden by a bunch of taller and wider bodies. But the guys around him suddenly scramble, and my heart starts beating nervously in my throat, and I quickly look away, before the intensity of the moment takes my breath away completely.

"You know, Luca, thanks for saving my cat from that river with raging currents last winter," Tanner, one of the Walker brothers, says way too loudly and way out of context, shooting Luca a thumbs up that I think is supposed to be discrete. His brothers snicker.

"And that one time you took a bullet for me," Reed, another one of them, adds and hits his shoulder in a friendly way. “Appreciate it, man.”

"Hey man, remember when you did the Heimlich on me?" More snickering. “You’re a real one, man.” My eyes jump between all the men talking, confused. Are they making fun of us? Why are they giggling like fifteen-year-old boys looking at a stolen naughty magazine?

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