Page 41 of A Vicious Rumor

"Don't go," the blonde said with a look I didn't trust. "We're just getting to know one another," she said.

"No one needs to get to know you, Katherine," a deep voice from behind me said. I turned around as the girl apparently named Katherine dropped her grasp on my wrist. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Tyson approaching us.

"My name's not Katherine," the girl said with disdain. She took slow, deliberate steps towards Tyson, running her hand first over his forearm, and then, when he didn't stop her, up his chest. "You know my friends call me 'Kitty,'" she said.

I held back a chuckle of my own when I watched Tyson grasp one of her fingers and peel her hand off his chest like it was something he didn't want to touch. The look she gave him belonged on a cereal box.

"Yes, and I called you Katherine," he replied. "Come on, Lily," he said, before grasping my hand. His fingers linked through mine, and I looked up at him and smiled.

Clearly, Kitty didn't like this, because she huffed. "What the heck, Rock. Honestly, you're really going to turn down all of this," she said, tracing her body, "for that frighteningly pale washboard," she said, clearly referring to me.

Tyson pulled me closer into his form, wrapping his arm around me. "Not even a question in my mind," he said, looking her up and down. "You're the one who pales in comparison to a person as beautiful as Lily."

He placed a kiss to the top of my head, and I felt those butterflies return and flit wildly about my body.

Kitty huffed again. "Come on girls. I guess the rumors are true. He is as dumb as a rock."

They walked back over to the pool, and I looked up at Tyson. He met my gaze and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. "Ready to go?" he asked me. I smiled and nodded my head.

13

LILY

"You didn't have to do that, you know," I remarked to Tyson as he backed the Jeep out of its parking space and onto the long, winding private drive that led back to the main road.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Stand up for me like that, with those girls."

"Those girls are bitches. I'm happy to get the chance to put them in their place," he said with an almost-smirk.

"Are they all like that at your school?"

He shrugged. "To be honest, I don't really know. I make it a point of not hanging around too much. But, I do know that the loudest ones are all like that."

I nodded my head. "Attention," I thought out loud.

"Hm?" he asked.

"Attention," I repeated. "They act like that because they are looking for attention. They likely don't get enough of it at home, or they get the wrong type. They're seeking it elsewhere."

"Damn," Tyson said. "How do you know these sorts of things?"

I smiled and let my fingers glide against the crisp, night air. "I like to watch people, remember? I like to see what they're doing, what makes them tick. It's sad, but it's often their fears and insecurities that speak the loudest, even when they try and cover them up."

"That so?"

"Mhm," I replied, looking up at the night sky.

He slowed the car down before putting it in park. He turned to face me, and I looked back at him. "What about mine?" he asked.

"What about yours?" I looked into his eyes to try and figure out what this shift was. It was so unlike Tyson to be vulnerable. He really was like a rock. So unyielding and stubborn, ready to scrape your skin just by being himself.

"What do you see in me?" His eyes looked misty, and I reached my hands forward, cupping his face.

"I see someone who's been denied love. And, I see someone who deserves it." A single tear rolled down his cheek, and I brushed it away with my thumb.

His thick hand wrapped around my small wrist, and he pressed his forehead to mine. We stayed there, just breathing each other in. "Stay with me tonight?" he asked.

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