Page 10 of Untouchable

“Shut up, Bodine. What the hell happened with that guy from the mall?” I cross my arms over my chest, and his face grows more serious.

“Nothing that didn’t need to.” He averts my gaze, choosing instead to watch traffic drive by.

“Bodine, I’m serious. Is he…dead?” The last word is a whisper, the fear that it’ll actually be true making me feel nauseous.

“What? No! He’s just got a broken arm, or two…” He smirks, and my eyes widen in disbelief.

“You broke his arms!” His hand flies up to cover my mouth, and I spit it away.

“Like I said, nothing happened that didn’t need to. He tried to take that little boy, Kat, and God only knows what he would have done to you once you were alone. You’re lucky that Ace?—”

“Ace? He’s the one responsible for this?” I don’t know why I’m surprised. He’s VP, of course he’s calling the shots. Bodine just nods, a look on his face I can’t quite read, but he looks hesitant to say anything else.

“Now, are you good? ‘Cause unless you’re gonna scratch me up a bit, I’d like to get out of this heat. I forgot my sunscreen today.” He wags his eyebrows at me, and I roll my eyes. I can’t help but laugh when he starts acting like a diva. He throws his arm around my shoulder and kisses the top of my head, the way he always does after we have our sibling-like spats. Though they always involve some sort of flirting on Bodine’s part. It’s a weird dynamic, but it’s ours and I kind of love it.

“Have I told you lately that I’m so glad you’re back?” Tabitha asks as we piece together our mini pizzas.

“Only about a hundred times, so clearly not enough.” I sprinkle more mozzarella on my marinara sauce, adding the baby pepperonis and tiny slices of ham to mine before placing it on the baking sheet.

“I will never understand how someone could not like pineapple on their pizza.” I look over to see the absurd amount of pineapple covering the smallest pizza ever made.

“I prefer my fruit in a bowl, accompanied by other fruits, and far far away from my pizza. You’ve known this for years, you can stop acting surprised about it now.” She laughs, tossing one last sprinkle of cheese on the top of hers.

“Ready!” I lick the marinara sauce from my thumb while she slides the baking sheet with our pizzas on it into the oven. Tabitha and I met during our freshman year of college and became friends almost instantly. She’s always been the one tobalance me out, even through all of the chaos that was my life a few years after we met. She never fails to make sure I know I’m not alone in life. I may have been born an only child, but she’s always felt like the sister I never had. I set the timer on my phone, and she slides me a glass of ice as well as a can of soda.

“I hate when you travel for work. I get lonely here all by myself. Not to mention, we have a very questionable new neighbor.” We move around the kitchen, cleaning up the mess we made in the process of assembling our pizzas.

“Are we judging someone before we know them?” I give her an accusing look, and she immediately puts up her defense.

“Okay, Kat, if you had someone stare into your very soul without ever blinking, moving, or saying a single word to you, you’d be judging them too.”

“He didn’t blink?”

“Not a single time. I’ve run into him like four times in the hall, and it’s always the same thing. I feel like Medusa or something, and he just turns to stone.”

“Isn’t the goal usually to turn guys to stone?” I wag my eyebrows at her, and she bursts out laughing.

“Look at you, being all flirty.”

“Only with you, Tabby Cat.”

She holds her hand to her heart. “I’m honored.”

Once the kitchen is clean, we both slide onto opposite countertops, sipping our drinks while we continue waiting for our food.

“I forgot to ask, where were you this afternoon?” I sigh, remembering the trip I took to the clubhouse to ask Bodine what the hell happened to that guy from the mall.

“Ugh, I went to the clubhouse.” I roll my eyes, and hers pop.

“Okay, I obviously need more details. Especially after Vice Presidente Hottie brought you ice for your hand at the mall.”

“I actually went looking for Bodine. I wanted answers about what happened to the guy who tried taking that little boy and knew I wouldn’t get any from Ace, whom I happened to run into first because my stupid brainforgotthat Bodine’s old room is now Ace’s.”

Her mouth pops open. “Oh my god. You went into his room?”

“No. I stopped at the door, which was strangely left open, and quickly realized it wasn’t Bodine’s room anymore, but when I turned around to leave, I ran straight into Ace.” Her eyes widen again.

“Oh my gosh!”

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