Page 44 of Introvert

"Hmmm."

"So," I said again, looking into his eyes, "we're really doing this?"

"I'll be yours if you'll be mine," Felix said back.

My eyes widened at his words while his face was filled with amusement.

"For the good of the tour."

Ah yes, of course. I should've known that was what he meant.Come on, Aurora. Get it together, girl. You're about to start a fake relationship, for goodness sakes.You know the rules.

Speaking of which…

"Did you want to come up with any ground rules?" I asked.

Felix tilted his head, studying my face. "For?"

"For our fake romance."

He shook his head slowly. "Never been too good with rules."

"Me neither," I said with a sigh.

Felix laughed.

He actually full-on laughed at me.

"What's so funny?"

"No offense, Aurora, but look at you." He gave me a once-overthen grinned. "You do not look like someone who breaks the rules."

I sniffed, offended for some reason. "Looks can be deceiving," I said.

"Yeah, right."

"I've broken several rules before."

"I bet."

He sounded so patronizing I wanted to shock him.

"I've killed before," I said. Felix's jaw dropped, and I nodded. "Yeah, you heard right.You are looking at a murderess, Cordova. Itwould be in your best interest to stay on my good side."

"I'm gonna need you to explain that," he said.

"Well, it happened in first grade."

"What?"

I nodded. "I was the class leader and tasked with watering the plants. Every Tuesday and Thursday, only on those days. But I went off script. The flowers looked so thirsty. They really did. So, I decided to sneak in and give them water every day, several times a day,rather than when the teacher told me to. I mean, what harm could it do, right?"

I shrugged.

"A lot it turned out. Because of meevery succulent and peace lilydied. Miss Yardly couldn't understand what happened—but it was me. Even though it wasn't on purposeand even though I cried and admitted everything afterward, it doesn't change the facts. I killed them.All of them."

Lifting my head, I saw him staring at me.

"Is that the worst thing you've ever done?" he said.

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