Page 69 of Soul So Dark
I never paid much attention to him—or to any of Dallas’s friends. He’s always just been some preppy guy who’s on the basketball team and says dumb shit in class. But now that IknowDallas, and he’s standing way too close to her, I can’t tolerate his bullshit in the slightest.
I’ve also calmed down enough to regain some semblance of an appetite, and I need to eat if I’m planning on lifting after school. Reaching between a couple of girls who throw me a dirty look for cutting line, I grab a bag of chips, a couple of protein bars, and a Gatorade before meeting her at the front of the line and throwing them down on the counter with a $10 bill.
She looks me up and down. "Ooh, moneybags," she mutters sarcastically.
“Play any new games lately?” I ask, acutely aware that Bostwick’s listening over her shoulder.
“Nothing exciting,” she chirps. “Austin, you know Alex, right?”
“I knowofhim,” Bostwick replies with a hint of amusement.
Something’s off. Dallas doesn’t sound like herself, like she wishes this conversation was already over.
“He’s Colson’s friend,” she says to him, her eyes locked on mine. “It's great having him, Mason, and Aiden around. They’re like three more annoying big brothers for the price ofone.”
Brothers?
She doesn’t look away, her jaw shifting back and forth while she chews her gum. Studying each other suspiciously, I take my change and she slides her food off the counter. After leaving the line, Bostwick sees another basketball player and breaks away. And when he does, I take Dallas by the crook of her elbow and gently pull her to a stop.
“What the hell was that?” I nod ahead to Bostwick.
“It’s just Austin,” she shrugs, “one of my friends.” Then her eyes wander over my shoulder, “Likeher.”
I look over my shoulder to the far end of the wall, where Jordy’s at another table talking to a couple of girls. Letting out a curse under my breath, it dawns on me why I couldn’t find Dallas. She was probably standing right behind me during Jordy’s fruitless attempt at reconciliation. When I finally turn back to Dallas, I do a double-take. I have to blink a couple of times, because I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Dallas looks exactly like Colson right now. The eyes that seem to get more vibrant the angrier he gets, the angle his jaw sits when he’s sizing someone up, his nostrils flaring like he might start to breathe fire, the way his upper lip twitches on one side when he’s ramping up to fight—she’s looking at me like Colson looks when he’s about to devour his next victim.
But since I know him, I also know what Dallas is thinking. Because just like a Lutz, she’ll never be the one to suffer disappointment first.I'll leave you before you leave me. I've seen Colson do it a thousand times. She might not have the same explosive rage as Colson, but she has the look down to a T.
“Friend, huh?” I echo with an edge.
“Yeah, you’d probably like him,” her words awash with sarcasm, “you know, because you’re theniceone.”
I feel a vein pop in my neck and all I can do is stare down at her blankly.
The nice one?
Dallas stares right back up at me, then her tongue pops out and she starts blowing a giant pink bubble right in my face. Now she doesn’t seem to have any trouble looking me in the eye.
You goddamn little hellion.
I’d scare the hell out of her just for fun if it didn’t mean Colson would find out and start asking questions. Maybe if I scared her enough, she'd decide she wants nothing to do with me. It'd make all of this a hell of a lot easier. But that would also be…devastating.
“Dallas!” Bostwick shouts in the distance. “Pick you up at 6:30?”
She nods back and I let out a snicker. “Have a date?”
“Do you even care?” she snarls before turning on her heel and following Bostwick to their table.
I could get angry, yell at her, shake her, and tell her that she doesn’t know what she saw. But what would be the fun in that? And maybe Dallas is right about me being the “nice” one, just not in the way she thinks. Besides, there's only one reason why she's brushing me off right now, and it has to do with the night I grabbed her by the shirt and kissed her while Colson was banging down her door. And because of that, my week just got a little more interesting.
Because now she’s going to find out how nice I can be.
???
I’m not a stalker. I’ve never encountered anyone interesting enough to warrant that kind of devotion. Searching for Bowen just so we can fuck with him doesn’t count; that’s vengeance, plain and simple. But tonight, I’m making a special exception for Dallas.
