Page 49 of Set on You

I level him with my sternest authoritarian glare. “No. Let’s just go check out.”

He persists. “Get on the cart.”

I sigh, relenting. My feet could use a break after going through this maze of a department store in the hideous leopard ballet flats that were two for ten dollars at Target. Life lesson: you can’t count on five-dollar flats for proper arch support.

I settle onto the cart, my back to him. His face is so closebehind me, his alluring aftershave fills my nostrils, sending a buzz of electricity to my toes. I desperately want to lean back into him. Is this what dating Scott could be like? Laughing and doing dumb shit together while doing the most mundane of errands?

I’m practically doubled over with laughter as we fly down the wide aisles, one after another, only very narrowly dodging innocent bystanders.

As we whiz by a bookshelf display, a frazzled, gray-haired IKEA employee gasps in horror. “Ma’am, it’s against store policy to sit on the carts unless you’re under ten years old.” As Scott abruptly stops the cart, she practically fires lasers at me with her hawkish eyes like I’m a shameful criminal.

“Sorry,” I murmur, promptly stepping back onto the floor.

Scott and I stifle our amusement before he speeds down another aisle ahead of me, nearly ramming the cart into a couple loading a long, skinny box.

By the time I catch up to him, he’s profusely apologizing to a blond woman with thick bangs. She stares at him, doll-like blue eyes wide, lips pulled back, miffed, as if he’d nearly crushed them flat.

I palm Scott’s shoulder as I inch forward. “I am so sorry for him. I left him unsupervised for one second. I really need to get him a leash—”

When the man whips his head around, the air expels from my lungs. The overly tousled hair. The piercing ice-blue eyes. Neil.

Neil rips himself from the embrace of the woman, whom I now recognize as Cammie. She looks different with her new, thick bangs. Neil takes a step backward, nearly tripping on the front bed of Scott’s cart as he swivels to face me, mouth open. “Crystal.”

Cammie’s eyes narrow, examining me. I have no idea if sheknows who I am. I wouldn’t be surprised if he never told her about my existence at all.

“Neil... Hi,” I manage. Barely. Blood rushes to my ears. The distant chatter around us echoes, as if we’re in a fishbowl.

Scott flashes me a worried glance and backs up his cart. He’s standing next to me now, shoulders pulled back, arm grazing mine. His touch grounds me, preventing me from being sucked into Neil’s twister.

“What are you doing here?” Neil asks, voice octaves higher than normal. He’s doing a piss-poor job at masking his shock. A single bead of sweat trickles down his forehead, illuminated by the warehouse lighting. I think he’s about to wet himself at the sight of Cammie and me in the same place, and quite frankly, so am I.

“I, uh...”

“We’re picking up a dresser,” Scott cuts in. The way he sayswe’reisn’t lost on me. It’s daring, but I’m thankful.

Seeing the two of them face-to-face is interesting. Neil isn’t a weakling. But Scott still towers over him by about five inches and forty pounds of muscle.

“We’re getting new living room furniture, for our new place,” Neil informs us, glancing nervously at me.

“New living room furniture?” I register their cart stacked with boxes.

Cammie dips her chin in a nod, maintaining her doe-eyed, innocent vibe.

“We just moved in together,” Neil admits. It strikes me as odd yet unsurprising that they’d be moving in together a few weeks after he texted me, likely to complain about her.

“Really? Us too.” Scott’s tone is overly jovial. I can tell he’sbeing fake, but only because I know him so well. He must sense my unease, because he throws his arm over my shoulder, pulling me snug into his side. Warmth flows through me instantly, rendering me impenetrable. With Scott by my side, Neil couldn’t do anything to knock me off course if he tried.

“Oh.” There’s a flicker of righteous annoyance in Neil’s eyes before he pouts, evidently displeased his second choice is no longer available. “I didn’t know you were dating anyone new.”

I’m tempted to offer a cutting remark, likeSincere apologies for forgetting to mention it the last three times you texted me, but I have zero desire to be petty. So I settle on a casual shrug, as if it’s no big deal.

Scott clears his throat to fill the awkward tension as he tightens his grip around my shoulder. “Well, babe, we better get going.”

“Yeah, we should.” I don’t even bother to say goodbye to Neil and his new live-in girlfriend. I walk until they’re both out of sight. A couple aisles down, I stop, waiting for Scott to catch up with the cart.

When we’re out of earshot and heading toward the monstrous lineups at the checkout, Scott speaks. “Crys, I’m really sorry if I overstepped, I—”

I turn to him, my fingers grazing his forearm. When his muscle tenses beneath my grip, I drop my hand back to my side. “No, you didn’t overstep. Thank you. Seriously.”

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