Page 12 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

“I bet you’d be in a better mood if you laughed once in a while,” she said.

“Doubtful.” I replaced my shades and looked down at my phone.

“I bet I can make you smile.”

“Unlikely.”

“Wanna bet?”

Do not engage. Just ignore her.I waited about two minutes, staring down at my phone. She didn’t move. She didn’t say a word. She just stood there, waiting.

“Go away, Alice.”

“No, not until you smile.”

Fine. She wants to play?I set my phone down and removed my shades, staring at her. As soon as I made eye contact, she grinned widely, her whole face lighting up. She stuck her tongue out for just a moment, giving me a quick peek at another piece of jewelry. A silver ball sparkled in the light.

I wonder what else is pierced?

Damnit if this girl didn’t tick every one of my boxes. I’d bet money she had leather and latex miniskirts hidden away in her room somewhere too.

I refused to let my face move in response to her childish behavior.

“No good? Okay, how about this?” And then she started dancing.

Some rap song was playing on Jake’s Bluetooth speaker by the pool, and she started gyrating, rocking her hips, snaking her arms up in the air and running them through her hair, giving me a coy smile and a wink, mouthing the words. It wasn’t overtly sexual or offensive, but just suggestive enough to make me want to grab her and drag her across my knee. Her ass was made to be punished.

In my peripheral vision, I could see Scott and Brian had both stopped their arguing and were staring at her open-mouthed, and Jake was pointedlynotlooking at Alice.

Oh for fuck’s sake. Someone spank this little snot before she does something stupid.

Then the bass dropped in the song, and she started doing a horrible impression of the Gangnam Style dance that went viral a few years ago.

Scott had come up beside her, smiling widely. “What are you doing’?”

“Making a complete fool of myself. Watch.” She took a step towards the pool, grabbing Scott by the arm with both hands as she fell backwards into the water. He screamed like a little girl and kicked wildly as they both splashed in, Scott’s face twisting into a hilarious expression. I covered my face with one hand, trying not to let anyone see the little quirk of my lips that had escaped.

When I removed my hand and looked up, Alice had moved to the edge of the pool nearest to me, and folded her arms up on the edge and under her breasts.She’s doing that on purpose because you can’t stop looking at her tits. So stop looking at her tits.

I rolled my eyes and looked down at my phone again.

“Well, not the reaction I wanted, but I’ll take it.” She pushed away from the wall, and started kicking.

I jumped to my feet. “Alice Benson I swear to God, if you get my shoes wet–”

“You’ll what?” she yelled. “Come in after me?”

I’ll grab you by the ankle, toss you over my shoulder, and make sure you regret the day you decided to fuck with me.

No. Do not say that. Do not play her game.

I turned around and went inside before I lost my temper. As I left, I heard her shout, “That’s what I thought!”

Little. Fucking. Brat.

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