Page 31 of My Debacle with De Lorenzo

“Wait. You have a sister? I didn’t know that. Does she come to Loughlin?”

“Nah, she’s a bit of a handful, so my parents shipped her off to boarding school. Anyway, I must’ve been about fourteen, she was twelve, and we were at a carnival one day, and we stumbled upon this fortune-teller. I didn’t know what to expect...but she starts reading these cards.” He squints as if he’s trying to recall the memory. “She puts down the Queen of Spades and she gasps, looking horrified, and she starts rambling, saying:No, no, no, he’s so young, he’s so sweet. Not the Queen of Spades.So, my sister asks her what’s the big deal with the Queen of Spades. She tells us that the Queen of Spades is not just bad for card games. In seven-card stud poker, she’s the bitch. If she gets dealt face up, you have to abandon the whole deal. In Hearts, the Queen of Spades is a thirteen-point penalty.”

I shrug because I still don’t get it. “That’s bad, but it’s not that bad. It’s just a game.”

“Yeah, I told her the same thing, and then she says: In the game of Hearts, whoever gets the Queen of Spades loses...and you just got the Queen of Spades.”

“Oh, no.” I dramatically clasp my hand to my chest. “The horror!”

He ignores my sarcasm. “And then she quotes this poem. It goes...” He stops to think about it. “A treacherous snake. She will do you harm. She’ll disguise it well with wit and charm. A beautiful face and a smell so sweet, you will start falling from the moment you meet. She will make your pulse race, show you exciting things. I see not one, but two gold rings. Though you must resist because your ways will part. The Queen of Spades...will break your heart.” He lets out a heavy sigh. “So, you see, Bella, over and above the fact that you’re a level eight crazy, I have it from a very reliable source to stay away from you...so you can’t have my babies.”

Those words hit me like the slap of a wet mop. “Wait. Hold up. You thinkI’mthe Queen of Spades?”

He simply nods. “Yep.”

“That’s ridiculous! A fortune-teller at a carnival is not a reliable source.”

“Says you. I believe it. She had a crystal ball and everything.”

I giggle. “Whatever. Even if it’s true, it’s not me. I’m not a treacherous snake.”

“It’s a prophecy. Who knows what could happen if you and I...had to...” He leaves that possibility suspended in the air.

“What about the two rings?”

“I still can’t figure out that part. Maybe she just needed something that rhymes withthings. Who knows? But everything else is spot on. The wit. The charm. The beautiful face. C’mon, I don’t need more proof than that.”

“So, you think I’m beautiful?”

“You know I do.”

Again, it’s so clinical I don’t take it as a compliment. “And you think I smell sweet?” I tease.

“Yeah.” He reaches out to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear, his finger lightly tracing along the shell of my earlobe and goosebumps rise on my skin. This is that ten percent where he confuses the hell out of me with this random touching. He shifts toward me and my breath hitches. “This spot right here,” he whispers, leaning closer until the heat of his breath tickles my neck. “You smell like toffee.”

My heart is racing, scampering all over the place, and I need to get the damn thing under control. “What about...what about falling from the moment you meet? That part isn’t true.”

He pulls back slightly, but only slightly. His face is still a mere inch from mine, and I just want to shift a tiny bit so I can know with certainty if that mouth is as soft as it looks.

“It is,” he answers softly, and those two small words shock me senseless. “Let’s not forget the first time I saw you.” His brown eyes drift to my lips and his voice thickens as if he’s mesmerized by the memory. “I didn’t know girls in real life could be so...pretty. I thought it was just in the movies, and it felt like I just stared at you for the longest time.” After lingering on my mouth, his gaze slowly moves down my neck onto my breasts, and I feel as exposed as I did on that day when I stood in front of him in nothing but a towel. My breath staggers and the sharp sound draws his eyes back to mine. “And then you looked even cuter in my T-shirt. So, yeah, that part of the prophecy is true, too...but thankfully, I’ve managed to curb that.”

I’m not sure what I was expecting as a response, but that wasn’t it. Hearing him say that just flusters me. My whole body heats up. My throat turns to sandpaper. These mixed messages are messing with my head, and I want a definitive answer. “What are you trying to say, De Lorenzo?”

“I’m nottryingto say it. I’msayingit. I need to stay the fuck away from you. You can break Brandon’s heart. He can take it. The roids have made him tough as nails. But guys like me...” His hand moves back to my face, and he caresses the spot between my neck and my jawbone. “We need to stay in our lane. We get ten minutes a day...and that’ll just have to do.” That snaps him out of it, and he rips his hand away. After stuffing his notepad back into his backpack, he stands up. “I have to get to practice.”

He starts making his way to the locker rooms, and I toss my legs over the bench to lean back against the table as I watch him walk away.

“I don’t know if you’re trying to tell me you like me...or prove to me why you don’t,” I call out after him.

He turns around, still walking backward as he shouts back. “I thought the answer was obvious.”

“You sort of have feelings for me?”

“Yeah.”

“But you’re not interested?”

“Not at all. You’re trouble and you need to be someone else’s problem.”

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