Page 247 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11
I ignored her. And luckily Jacob was too focused on me. Because I didn’t want Sophie to know about my failed kiss attempt. “I promise I won’t strike you again.”
He smiled. “Well, I’d love to, but we have a late practice today.”
“Oh. Right. Of course.” I didn’t know what I had been thinking. Two dates in one day was a lot. Or maybe he was actually upset that I’d accidentally tried to poke his eye out? And maybe he hadn’t had as much fun as I had. But if not, why had he held my hand? I forced a smile onto my face.
“So how about tomorrow instead?”
Oh thank God.I thought I’d totally flubbed everything. But he really was just busy. “Tomorrow sounds good to me.”
“Great. I can’t wait.”
Axel walked by, his expensive cologne invading my senses.
I quickly turned around, trying my best not to let the familiar smell mess with my head. Okay, I had a date with Jacob on Thursday. I’d kiss him then. Reveal that he was my kiss thief. And get out of the kissing booth. Easy peasy.
I remembered what my dad had said after our first class. That Jacob and Axel had both been staring at me. And it was like I could feel it now. All the little hairs on the back of my neck rose. And then I felt Axel’s hot breath at my ear.
“Another date?” he whispered. “Seriously?”
I tried to ignore him. But I was practically melting closer to his lips. If I moved just a fraction of an inch closer, his lips would probably brush against my ear.
“You’re playing a dangerous game, Scarlett.”
Why was he doing this to me? I already understood his threat. He was going to start hooking up with Gigi. Whatever. If he really did think of me like a little sister like Jacob said, then Axel was a real shit older brother for dating my enemy. I was just about to tell him off again, but the bell rang and Mr. Halifax started talking.
“Mr. Hunter had a last minute meeting he had to go to. So I’m covering for him. But he didn’t leave much of a lesson plan...” his voice trailed off as he flipped through some pages in a binder. “Oh. Wait. Here we are. Apparently you are all going to be doing a project where you have to make your own videogame. That sounds fun.”
Sophie raised her hand.
“Yes, Miss Hunter?”
“Is it a group project? I really do best with one partner. It’s more intimate, you know?” She bit her lip as she stared at him.
Mr. Halifax pulled his eyebrows together. And then he looked back down at the binder in his hands. “Yes, you’ll be doing it in pairs.”
“Fantastic.”
As Mr. Halifax read about the project, my heart was racing. I wondered if Jacob would ask me to be his partner. Usually I’d just partner with Sophie on these things and Axel and Jacob would partner up. But they weren’t exactly on good terms right now. I really hoped Jacob asked me.
Mr. Halifax closed the binder. “So how about you split up in...” his voice trailed off and he looked behind me. “Yes, Mr. Stevens?”
I looked over my shoulder. What was Axel doing? He literally never raised his hand in class.
Axel ignored me as he stared at Mr. Halifax. “Uncle James always just breaks it down into pairs with how we’re sitting. Like me and Scarlett. Then the two people behind us in our row are together. And so on.”
What?This was the first project we had in my dad’s class. And I was 100% sure my dad would not split it up that way. Because my dad didn’t really like Axel. My dad probably wouldn’t have paired me with Jacob either though. He probably would have paired me up with Soph.
“Uncle James?” Mr. Halifax asked. “I didn’t realize you were related to him too.”
“Yeah, we’re practically related,” Axel said.
I shook my head. Right. Axel thought of me like his little sister.Practically related.For years all I’d done was love him. And all he’d seen was a naïve little sister. Screw him.
“Practically?” asked Mr. Halifax.
“Jacob and Axel are both friends of the family,” Sophie clarified. “They’re basically our cousins.”
Gah, stop it!She was giving plausibility to Axel’s outlandish claim about how my dad wanted to split us into groups.
