Page 340 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on from the beginning before I report Mr. Halifax to the police?” Liam said.
Sophie sighed. “It all started at the first party of the year. Some mysterious person pulled Scarlett into a snake-infested closet and stole her first kiss. And then he started texting her. We think it’s someone from the football team. And we know his general height. But the kiss thief is using a burner phone so that was a dead end. The only other clue we had was that he sent a picture of himself in the mascot costume.
“We saw Mr. Halifax put on the costume in the men’s locker room during your game. But it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s him. I mean yes, he’s been giving Scarlett a ridiculous amount of attention. But maybe that’s a coincidence? Gah, my love life is in shambles. Either way, he’s just one possibility. Because the kiss thief didn’t say he wasalwaysthe mascot. So we’ve been trying to narrow it down.
“Scar kissed some of the possibilities at the kissing booth before it exploded. And she plopped one on a few others during truthor dare and eliminated them. And she tried it with Jacob, who apparently is not her kiss thief or her real boyfriend. Their fake relationship is part of an operation that I was left out of. They’re just trying to make Axel jealous so he wakes up and finally asks Scarlett out.
“Any who, we’ve narrowed it down to six potential stalkers. Well, six plus Mr. Halifax. And Axel of course. So...eight. But the way we narrowed it down was suspect at best. It was just guys on the team that currently have classes with her. It didn’t include anyone on the JV team. And the kiss thief could have easily just crashed the party. He might not even go to our school.”
“He goes to our school,” I said more firmly than I truly believed. I really didn’t want it to be a drifter. “Our second kiss was literally at the school. It’s one of those eight. It has to be.”
“Wow,” RJ said. “That’s...a lot.”
“But now we have three inside men,” Sophie said. “Scar, we really should have looped them all in earlier. Now we’ll narrow it down in no time. Want to hear my research about our remaining six?”
“No, I want to know what kind of things this kiss thief creep has been texting Scarlett,” Jacob said.
“Yeah, where’s your phone?” Liam asked.
“I’m not showing you guys my private texts,” I said.
Liam and Jacob looked at each other.
“No,” I said. “Stop planning whatever it is you’re planning. Just...stop it.” I turned to Sophie. “Yes, please tell me your research...” my voice trailed off as I felt Liam snatch my phone out of my pocket.
“Liam!” I lunged toward him and he threw the phone to RJ.
“A boyfriend, huh?” RJ read, reciting my most recent text from the kiss thief. “Does he know you dream about me when you fall asleep every night? I have a feeling he won’t be your boyfriend for long.” RJ’s eyes grew round.
“Don’t read that!” I tried to grab it from RJ, but he was too quick. He tossed it to Jacob.
Jacob lifted it in the air, way higher than I could possibly jump.
“Jacob, stop it!”
He scrolled through the text message thread.
“Jacob!”
“You were texting him pictures of yourself in barely any clothes?” he asked. “You don’t even know who this is. What were you thinking?”
I was thinking it was you.I knew my face was bright red.
“She was thinking he’d show her a picture of himself in barely any clothes too,” Sophie said. “But all he texted was himself in a mascot costume.”
“You were flirting with him?” Jacob asked.
“I...” My voice trailed off.
“You’ve seriously been flirting with him since the first party of the year?”
“Jacob, stop reading my texts!”
“Have fun dreaming about me stealing third base next time, baby.” He tore his gaze from the phone. “You let him get to second base?”
“I thought it was you! Okay? Happy?” I stepped up on the couch and was able to grab my phone out of his hand. I shoved it back in my pocket and turned away from him. I didn’t want him to see my face. Ihadthought it was Jacob. I’d wanted it to be Jacob. And I hadn’t texted my kiss thief since I figured out that it wasn’t Jacob. My heart and my head were confused and I didn’t want to talk about this with him.
RJ laughed. “Awkward.”
