Page 10 of His Pretty Little Lies
“All right, Bunny. I gave, so now it’s your turn. Can’t be going in for a new trade when you haven’t finished that last one.” He gives me a mischievous little grin this time that I feel throughout my body.
Fair point.
“It was really nothing that big, and now that you did all of this, it seems even smaller. You’re going to be disappointed.”
“Out with it,” he orders.
“Or what?” I find myself asking. Jesus, Kinsley, are you really asking that to a Marino?
“You really think you want to know?” His brows rise. Yeah, I’m not sure I’m ready for that either.
“All I was going to say was, when did you get all chatty and start flirting with girls?” I finally finish my sentence from earlier. He doesn’t need to flirt. They’d drop to their knees if he snapped his fingers. “But I stopped myself because you weren’t flirting,” I rush to add.
“I wasn’t?” Jax stands, stepping toward me.
“Jax?” I lick my lips.
“I don’t flirt with girls, Bunny.” Right. “Just you.”
I freeze when his hand comes up. His thumb brushes the side of my mouth. When he pulls it back, I see peanut butter. I watch as he brings it to his mouth, sucking it clean before he strolls right out of the room.
I drop down into the chair Jax was in, pulling out my notebook.
I’ve officially entered the twilight zone.
Chapter Seven
JAX
Coach blows his whistle for practice to be over. Finally. Today’s dragged on forever. I want to get to the locker room, shower, and change. I have more important shit to deal with than throwing a fucking ball around for other people’s entertainment.
“Jax, I need to see you in my office,” Coach shouts across the field. I’m already headed toward the locker room. I merely nod in acknowledgment of what he said. Doesn’t mean I’m going to stop by his office.
“Your mood went to shit,” Damon says, falling into step beside me. “Everything is handled," he tells me for the second time. I grunt a response.
I had been in a good mood because today is going as planned, but now that those plans are about to come to a head, I'm on edge. As each second of practice ticked by, I considered all the potential ways this could go wrong.
The first being that Kinsley could take off ahead of time. Typically, she hangs around after school in the media room, but the note Damon slipped into her locker might have spun her into action sooner than anticipated.
I want to kick my own ass for not thinking further ahead about the possible different outcomes. Dad always taught us that. That approach helps you stay ahead in life and often keeps you alive.
When I get to my locker, I jerk it open and grab my shit. “Hey.” My brother grabs my arm. If he were anyone else, I would have clocked him. If I hit Damon, it would be a full-on brawl, and I don’t have time for that shit right now, even if it can be rather fun to go a few rounds with him. “I got a person on it, and your bunny is still in the media room.”
I relax marginally. “Thanks,” I tell him.
“You know I got you.”
“I know. It’s like I can’t control myself.” I don’t know how she does it, but she gets into my head, consuming all my thoughts. I take a deep, calming breath, but it is bitter and not filled with that sweet strawberry smell that is Kinsley.
“I noticed.” Damon releases my arm. “And that’s why I’m at your back. Now go shower. You fucking stink.”
“Fuck off.” I chuckle but head for the showers, ignoring the normal small talk. It’s not till I’m out of the shower and getting dressed that it dawns on me that I should have kept my ear to the ground that one of my teammates might have been talking about Celia and Alice. Any information I could scrape up about them will win me points with Kinsley.
Those are the only points I give a shit about. Not the scoreboard. I’ll pay better attention next time and not when I’m minutes away from luring Kinsley into my trap. Not sure if it’s going to piss her off or not.
Kinsley is a different kind of girl, and I have to think outside of the box with her. The way to her is not by getting her flowers and chocolate. No, it’s getting her keys to the rooms she wants to get into and information. She’s a sucker for a good story, and I’m going to make sure she gets one. Even if I have to create one.This bunny is going to keep me on my toes. The thought makes me smile.
“Are you good to go?” I ask my brother.
