Page 26 of Just a Friend for the Lion
My heart skips a beat.
My Lion snarls, sits up straight.
She wants me? Even after I fumbled this like a rookie wide receiver?
“What do you?—?”
“I’m not getting off the app, Carter. I’m still looking formyhappy-ever-after. So if you don’t mind, I need you to decline the match so I can keep searching.”
The fuck?
No. No no no.
My Lion lets out a furious snarl inside me, pacing like a caged beast.
“Don’t look at me like that! Just because you don’t think I’m pretty enough or whatever doesn’t mean someone else won’t!” She stomps her foot and it’s fucking adorable.
Wait. What did she say?
“Pretty enough, MJ that’s?—”
“Whatever. I don’t care what you think about my looks,” she says, but I see it.
The hurt shining in her eyes, and fuck, now I wanna punch myself in the dick.
This girl is beautiful. But she’s not just a pretty face.
She’smypretty face.
Mine.
But I can’t say that.
Not when I’m the asshole who didn’t even respond to the mate ping.
“It’s fine if you’re not into me. The app made a mistake. Just decline the match and we’ll go our separate ways, no problem.”
I nod like an idiot.
Numb.
Aching.
Still rock-hard, which feels like some kind of cosmic punishment, only this time it comes with a side dish of sorrow.
“If that’s what you want,” I say slowly, trying not to sound like my soul is leaking out my ears.
“It is.”
“Yo, MJ? Carina’s asking for you,” some teenagerpops his head in where we’ve been, I don’t know if talking is the right word for whatever this is, but anyway, he calls out to her.
She turns away like I’m yesterday’s trash, curls bouncing like victory confetti, hips swaying like temptation incarnate.
I stare at the boxes of food like they might offer answers.
Or maybe a time machine.
But all I get is cheese and regret.
