Page 38 of A Vicious Rumor

I furrowed my brow at the man referring to Tyson as Rock, and then I thought on all three names together.

Rock.

Paper.

Scissors.

It was unique, I had to give them credit for that. I just didn't fully understand what it all meant.

I could almost hear Tyson grind his teeth next to me as his fingers flexed against my shoulder. I turned into him and put a hand on his chest. "It's not a big deal," I said softly. "I'll just wait outside. You said it wouldn't take that long anyway," I tried to reassure him.

Tyson swallowed hard, but finally nodded his head.

"Who's that," Tyson said, cocking his head to the corner of the room. I looked where he was indicating and saw a boy our age that I'd entirely missed, sitting by the window in the corner.

"That's who we'll be meeting with this evening," Luca replied.

"Got it," Tyson said. "Alright, come on, Lily."

Tyson walked me outside of the room and opened the door to a room across the hallway. It looked to be a spare bedroom and it was furnished just as lavishly as the room I'd been in. "Just wait here," he said. "I promise I'll be right back."

I nodded my head. "It's fine. Take your time."

Tyson shut the door behind him, and as soon as he did, the door to the bathroom opened.

"And who might you be?"

12

LILY

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, startled. I looked over at the person coming out of the bathroom. He was wearing nothing but a white towel, wrapped low around his hips. I let my eyes travel upwards, past the set of cut abs, and defined chest, and finally up to his eyes.

I wasn't concerned with any of what I saw. He was extremely good looking, that was easy to see. The chiseled jaw and natural blond hair basically guaranteed that. But, it was his blue eyes that I was fixated on.

They made me immediately not like him.

It'd been said a thousand times, but the eyes are little windows to the soul. I really did believe that. And what I saw through his made me instantly not trust him.

"No need to apologize, doll," he said, leaning against the door frame like he was in some GQ photoshoot. "I’m Zachary. What's your name?"

"Lily," I said. "But, I really should be going. I'm just waiting for someone."

"Nonsense," he said, making his way closer to the bed. "It was obviously fate that we ran into each other like this."

"If that's true, then fate works in mysterious ways," I muttered.

"I think so too," he replied.

He clearly thought I was playing along with him, when in reality I was being highly sarcastic.

He sat down on the bed next to me, and I moved to get up. His hand reached out, grabbing my wrist slightly. "Stay and talk to me, hmm? You wouldn't want to be rude to the host of the party, now would you?"

I looked down at the hand wrapped around my wrist and then back up at him. I realized that this must be Scissors, and a small part of me relaxed. At least I knew that he wasn't just some stranger that made his way into the party. Even still, I definitely didn't like this kid.

"Not trying to be rude," I said, twisting my wrist to break free from his grip. "Just looking forward to getting out of here."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, laying back and propping himself up on his elbow. "Who with?"

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