Page 57 of The Bully's Dare

I pick up the landline in my room. “Hello?”

“Kenzi.” The voice on the other side sends my nerves on edge. Mr. King continues, “I heard you missed your appointment.”

I swallow. Hard. But better to be honest, right? “Yeah…I think I just need time. To think about it.”

“I see.” A lengthy pause. “Would a check help?”

“Sorry?”

“Money. I can help with your college fund, perhaps.”

“Oh, I’m not…I’m still waitlisted…I mean…” My head is spinning. Is he really trying to buy my pregnancy? I finally come out with: “No, thank you.”

“I’m disappointed,” he says. “I thought we were on the same page.”

“I just need to think about it,” I repeat. Dumb like a parrot, but at least I’m holding my ground.

The silence on the other end is so long, I think he’s ended the call. Then he finally says: “I’ll schedule a new appointment. I’d recommend you make this one.”

I hang up immediately. My hands are shaking and I can’t catch my breath, like I’m breathing through a straw. I lay down on the hardwood floor and close my eyes until the spinning stops.

“Are you avoiding me?”

I look up, and there he is. The man I have been avoiding. Jason King.

In the grocery store, of all places.

It takes a minute for my mouth to work. Pearl is down the opposite aisle and I stand there, like an idiot, with a jar of peanut butter in my hand, which I’ve been debating for the past five minutes because why this sudden craving for peanut butter?

He’s leaning against my shopping cart, wearing a green bomber jacket and a crooked grin. And…goddammit.

Two weeks of carefully crafted avoidance wasn’t long enough. The very sight of his tall frame, his dark hair, and mischievous blue eyes makes me flutter.

More than anything, in the sweets aisle of the grocery store, I want to grab his stupid, beautiful face and feel the warmth of his lips on mine.

But I don’t. Instead, I scoff. Throwing up my walls. “Don’t you have like…a person chef to do the shopping for you?”

He shrugs. “Most of the time. But she never buys…”—he pulls a box from the shelf—“Gushers.”

I can’t help the grin that lifts my lips. I missed his terrible sense of humor.

“Jason!” A voice barks his name and he winces.

“Also,” he adds, “my dad is really picky about his cuts of steak.”

My heart freezes. Mr. King is here.

My whole body goes numb. I shove the peanut butter away and grab the shopping cart. “I actually should find Pearl, we’re kind of on a time crunch…”

“Hold up.” He grips the rim of the shopping cart and he’s too strong for me to yank it back. “Answer my question first.”

I sigh dramatically. “What. Something about Gushers?”

“No. Are you avoiding me?”

When those blue eyes meet mine…part of my chest caves in. For someone so tall, he looks suddenly small. Vulnerable.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asks.

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