Page 62 of Getting It Twisted

I sling my arm over the back of the chair. “Lovely to see you too.”

Daniel pushes past his cousin. The sight of him in gym clothes and sweaty hair makes saliva pool in my mouth.

“You’re late,” I tell him. I get up from the chair and cross my arms, leaning against the table.

“Gym session. If you’d checked your phone, you would’ve known.” His eyes flit between the three of us. “April, can you make sure these two don’t kill each other while I go change?”

“Sure thing,” April says.

George rounds on me. “So he doesn’t even check his phone?” he says, talking to me in third person as if I’m a child. “Whatdoeshe do?”

“Go back to your law books, Georgie.”

“Fuck off,” he growls.

A thrill goes through me, sizzling down to my very bones. Once I smell blood in the air, I’m hopeless to resist. Today I’m strung tight enough to snap, and given the right opportunity, I will. George’s face in front of mine is an opportunity if I ever saw one.

“Why are you here, anyway?” he asks. “I don’t see an invitation.”

“Daniel invited me. I guess he needed a break from you.”

“It’syouhe needs a break from. You were always like this—popping up where you weren’t wanted. Following him around like a lost puppy.”

“Why do you care so much about him anyway?” I cup my jaw in exaggerated contemplation. “It’s a little creepy if you ask me. Is there something you haven’t told us?”

April snorts with laughter. “Oh, honey, come on, that was pretty funny,” she says when George shoots her a glare.

He turns back to me, nostrils flaring. “You should leave. Nobody wants you here. Well, Daniel might, but he sure as hell doesn’tneedyou.”

“Daniel needs me,” I say. Right on cue, Daniel comes down the stairs, looking hot as ever in a tight blue T-shirt and ripped jeans. “You need me, right, babe?”

He gestures to the hallway. “Let’s go. My car’s low on gas, so we’ll take yours, but I’m driving.”

George whirls around. “Where are you going withhim?”

“See?” I stick my tongue out at George as I pass him in the hallway. “Daniel loves me. He hates you.”

“Now listen here, you little shit . . .”

“He eats my ass too.”

“We’re leaving.” Daniel grabs my arm and pulls me outside, but not before I get one last glance at George, who looks like he’s about to explode. He’s lucky Daniel’s grip on me is tight like a vise. I wouldn’t mind staying a bit longer and showing him exactly what it means to mess with me. But I better not.

Daniel chose me. He chose me over George. The thought is enough to put a spring in my step as I hurry to keep up with his long strides. He climbs into my car and slams the door shut. As soon as I land in the passenger seat, he turns to me.

“Would you stop acting like a three-year-old around him for one fucking day?”

“Me? What abouthim?”

“Look.” He sighs. “I want you to get along with my friends, okay?”

“George is your cousin, not your friend.”

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“They should be.”

“Can you at leasttryto be civil with him?”

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