Page 20 of Fastlander Fealty

Remembering the game, she asked a question. “Have you ever been paired up?”

“With a mate?”

“No, with a Pilates instructor,” she teased. “Yes, with a mate.”

He belted out a laugh. “Okay sassy, the answer to your question is yes. I have been paired up. Almost.”

That little dark feeling washed through her again and she had to take a few seconds before she encouraged him, “Well tell the whole story.”

“If I do, will you tell me more about the King of your Pride?” he asked.

“You’re negotiating?”

“Yep. It’s fair. You share, and I share, and that way neither one of us can hurt the other with information.”

She chewed on her lip and considered his offer. “Fine.”

“The year was nineteen-ninety-three, and I was eight years old, and I had a crush on a girl named Lou-Ellen Hudson.”

“Oh my gosh, eight years old does not count as almost paired up.”

“It’s the closest I ever came. Don’t interrupt my story. She used to sit in the very front seat of the bus every single day on our way home from school, and I sat in the back of the bus because I was always in trouble and the bus driver, Mr. Craig, made a special assigned seat just for me as far away from him as he could put me.”

She giggled and took another sip of her canned margarita. “Did Lou-Ellen fall for the bad boy?”

“Not at first. She was two years older than me, and the prettiest girl in school, and she wore dresses every day and made good grades, and I would always wait until she was on the bus before I got on the bus because then I could walk past her and smile at her and tell her hello.”

“Very cute.”

“I had a lot of game back then.”

“What happened with Lou-Ellen? Did she ever go sit in the back with you?”

“Well,” he said, with a dramatic sigh. “It’s actually a tragic story.”

“I’m all ears,” she encouraged him.

“She didn’t notice me at all until she was a junior in high school, and I was a freshman, and I was fully in love with her at that point. She said hi to me in the hallway and I thought that was my chance.”

“To ask her out?”

“No, to make out with her.”

“Oh, you came on strong.”

“Too strong. I had listened to him idiot brother, Evan-the-Girlfriendless-Idiot, and my make-out session didn’t go well.”

“She rejected you?”

“Yes. With the open palm of her hand.”

Silver’s mouth fell open. “She slapped you?”

“Wouldn’t you? If someone tried to randomly kiss you?”

“Oooh, this is a tragic story.”

“She never talked to me again.”

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