Page 40 of Happenstance
I tipped my head, eyeing the contours of his mouth, before shaking myself out of it. What was wrong with me lately? Every guy I saw had some hot feature. Even Mason’s damn green eyes mesmerized me. He did have really big forearms though.
I bet he could toss me around like a rag doll. Throw me on the bed and…
No Lana! Stop it.
I closed my eyes and took a deep, relaxing breath. When I started fantasizing about Mason Kessler, something was seriously wrong. How low have I sunk?
“Don’t worry, Mr. Lannister,” Shelby said, pulling my attention back to reality. “We got Lana’s back.”
“Yes you do,” I nodded.
Their blind loyalty both warmed my hear, and terrified me. It’d been Harper and I for so long, it was hard to let anyone else in. Or even trust them, for that matter.
“I keep telling Harper she should try out for the team.” Shelby’s eyes fell on my best friend. “What do you think?”
“Absolutely.” Mr. Lannister smiled at Harper.
It was cute how quickly she ducked her head and shuffled my way. I saw the flush in her cheeks. Harper thought he was cute too.
“We’re always looking for good runners.”
“Harper’s a good runner.” Side effect from spending years hiding from Mason, “But she’s not really a crowd person.”
“She’ll be fine,” Shelby reached over and swept Harper’s red hair off her shoulder. “It’s not that–”
“What the fuck is that!”
We all froze and eyed Riley. Except for Shelby, who didn’t seem phased at all by Riley’s scowl. Her dark blue eyes were locked solely on Harper.
“Ugh,” Shelby groaned, “What’s up your ass now?”
“That,” Riley snarled, throwing her finger up at Harper.
Shelby gave her an ‘are you stupid’ look, complete with lip curl. “What the hell are you talking about?”
I hadn’t seen Harper shake this bad in… well, ever. It looked like she was going to pass out. I would’ve pulled her into my protective arms, but Riley beat me to it. She sprang over to Harper, and scooped her hair up on the top of her head.
“That,” she growled, pointing at the back of Harper’s neck.
Call me curious, but I had to look. Riley was fiercely protective of Harper. She didn’t get mad at her. Along with Shelby and Mr. Lannister, who was also apparently curious, I leaned over and studied the three stars on the back of my best friend’s neck.
Huh? How did I not notice those before?
“So she has a cute tattoo,” Shelby sang. “Calm down, tattoo police. It’s not the end of the world.”
Riley’s arm dropped, allowing Harper’s hair to tumble down her back. I was ready when she slid over and tucked herself in my embrace. My arms wrapped around her, shielding her from the other two.
“You don’t have one?” Riley asked Shelby.
“Please,” she rolled her eyes in response, “My mother would kill me if I got a tattoo.”
So what if Harper had a tattoo? Big deal. I guess Riley didn’t see it that way. She was pissed as hell. Her fists were so tightly balled at her sides, I thought they might get stuck that way. Maybe there was some tattoo artist code about stars or something?
“Who did this to you? Never mind. You don’t need to answer that.” Riley stood up and locked her glare on Mason.
His brow arched back at her.
“She died, did she?” Riley snarled at Mase.
