Page 6 of King of Hearts

“Aw hell,” I muttered, lying flat on my back, breathing hard. Sweat dotted my hairline while a few black dots danced along the edges of my vision. Faces came in and out of focus as a few people stood over me. Where was that damn Hydro Flask? Had it rolled away?

“Help her up, omagosh, is she okay?” a female asked briskly between bubble gum chews.

“I didn’t see her…she just ran into me,” a guy murmured as hands came to my elbows to help me up.

“It’s really fine, it’s not a big de…” I faltered as dizziness danced inside my head.

One of the guy’s hands shifted from my elbow, easing me back down.

“Be careful. You don’t want to…”

A familiar, deliciously tempting smell wrapped around me as the guy helping me tipped his head back.

“Remove your hands from her body.” Crisp and cold, Juan’s voice echoed around the circle like a war drum.

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. Two seconds and I was already annoyed with him.

“I didn’t see her,” the guy repeated, letting go of me like he’d just been caught robbing a bank.

“How can younotsee her?” Juan snapped, helping me to my feet.

I didn’t want to stick around to see if he gestured to my stomach or not, or if he said anything else. I tried to walk forward, but Juan held me in place.

Looking down, I saw my bookbag and the Hydro flask rolling around, water spilling out because I had never secured the lid. I bent to get it but was again stopped by Juan’s hands.

“Stop trying to fucking hurt yourself,” he snapped, bending down to grab my things. People dispersed, moving on from the random person who’d just fallen like a pancake in front of them. I could hear a few people murmuring things under their breath about me, about my condition, and my eyes narrowed as anger swept through my chest.

“Come here.” Juan tugged me into the shade, finding a tree with lush grass beneath it.

I peered down at it but wasn’t sure what he wanted me to do. I wasn’t one to sit on the ground; I hated the outdoors and nature.

“Sit.” He eyed the grass, the bark of the large tree, and then my stomach.

Feeling a fresh wave of heat hit my face, I did as he said, and he helped me lower myself to the grass, gripping my hands in the process. Once my back was against the tree, I could feel a cool breeze blow across campus, and the sensation immediately helped to calm me down.

Juan settled in across from me, watching me with a calculated look. In his hands, he gripped my water bottle with the lid open.

“Can I have my water?”

His whiskey eyes narrowed. “How about a please, or a thank you?”

“I was fine.” My voice was shuddery as I tried to push down my anger. It was difficult to stay irritated with him as the sun peeked in and out of the tree branches above us, casting Juan in a glow so beautiful I wanted to grab my phone and snap a picture.

He turned his head to the side, giving me his profile, and that jaw of his…fuck, he had a really great jawline. I was no stranger to being around good-looking men, but there was something about Juan that was devastating, in a teenage-crush sort of way. A man who was unattainable but impossible not to watch, to crave.

“So, what…you fainted on purpose? You that desperate for everyone to see your little bump?” Juan asked, ripping out a patch of grass near his knee. The way his eyes flicked to my stomach and to the lush lawn we sat on made me think he was hiding emotions. I still wondered how he’d responded to the news of my pregnancy…actually, it was likely a good thing I hadn’t been there for that conversation. He had likely said I was a slut or something; maybe he’d bet on me getting knocked up. Either way, he’d made it more than clear the previous spring how he felt about me.

A little flame licked at my spine, tingling, whispering of things I wanted from this man but would die before ever asking for. I would admit I grew up deranged and with monsters, but there was a villain inside of Juan Hernandez that called to me. It always felt like we were in this dark room, playing hide and seek with one another, him always beckoning me to come and play.

“I didn’t faint. I was trying to get through the crowd and ran into someone. Besides, it’s not such a little bump anymore.” I rubbed a hand down my stomach, feeling protective as this was the first time Juan had ever acknowledged it. A few people walked past our tree, smiling and nodding at Juan in a manner I had seen men do with my father while growing up.

Everyone knew Juan was on the local hockey team and was powerful in his own right, but even beyond that, he just wasn’t the kind of guy one would mess with. Danger radiated from him, anger a palpable taste when you got too close to the man—which reminded me that he shouldn’t have been on campus. He should have been on the ice, prepping for his first season with the Hornets.

Juan’s eyes raked over my body as if he was collecting what little details about me that he could. I wondered if he would ever pull out those tiny pieces to inspect later, like I did. His perusal was always a challenge, but this time, he seemed more worried than prickish. I hated it. Maybe once upon a time I would have preferred his kindness, but not now. Now I was only interested in his indifference.

I had successfully avoided him and everyone else for the past several months, but with me failing out of school the year before and leaving with my sister…it had been more like four or five months since I’d seen him. During those first few weeks, I had no issues hiding it, and after that, I utilized massive sweatshirts, but it was September now, and I was too hot for that sort of coverup.

Juan had briefly seen me at my sister’s wedding in June, but the way the cut of my dress had fallen across my body, there was no way anyone would notice that I was knocked up. He had been there with a date, so it wasn’t like he’d paid attention to me anyway.

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