“Why are you smiling?” she asks, then she begins to nod. “Ahh… you planned your revenge, didn’t you?” She lets out a sigh. “If you’re thinking of throwing me in the pool again, just remember I can’t swim for shit.”
That’s why.
She’s different.
She’s a challenge.
And her sass, damn, her sass is everything.
“Mason?” she asks, and a worried frown settles on her forehead. She steps closer to me and places her hand on my arm. “Are you okay? I’m seriously not used to you smiling.”
Shaking out of my thoughts, I take a deep breath, then say, “We need to talk.”
“Oh-kaaay,” she points to where her suite is. “You want to come in?”
I gesture for her to go ahead.
When we walk into her suite, she goes to place the bag on the coffee table, while I shut the door.
I take a couple of steps deeper into the room. “I’ve been looking for you.”
She digs through the bag and pulls out a lollipop. “I went to the store. Needed to restock my candy stash. I was supposed to go last night, but yeah, you know what happened.”
Unwrapping the candy, she pops it in her mouth. “Want one,” she mumbles around it.
“You seriously don’t care what people think about you, do you?”
She shrugs and sitting down on the couch, she points to the other couch. Taking the candy from her mouth, she says, “Sit.”
Yeah, let's get this over and done with. I walk to the couch and sitting down, I rest my forearms on my knees and lock eyes with her.
“Are you going to tell the entire Academy we slept together?”
Leaning forward, she grabs the wrapper and folds it around the candy, then she sets it down on the coffee table. She mirrors my position, placing her forearms on her knees, and then she gives me a smile I haven’t seen before.
Is it affection?
Fuck no, I’m certain she hates my guts.
“Mason, I totally get you feel awkward, and I’m not exactly the kind of girl you’re normally seen with. I was just messing with you because I knew you’d be embarrassed, and I was trying to make things easier for you.”
Is she serious or joking right now?
Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her serious.
“Are you fucking with me right now?” I ask.
“No,” her lips begin to pull into a smile, “that was last night.” She takes a deep breath, then continues, “I’m serious now. My best friend loves your best friend, and we can’t screw with that.”
I nod because I agree.
“So I have a proposal.”
“What?” I ask.
“If it bothers you that much just pretend it never happened.”
That really bothers me. “No.”
Surprise flashes over her face. “No?”
“Kingsley, I’m an asshole. Everyone knows that, but I knew what I was doing when I initiated the kiss.” I take a breath before I continue, “But I don’t want people knowing anything about my personal life.”
She looks down at her hands for a while before she says, “Then you don’t have anything to worry about. But honestly, if I would tell someone, it would be Layla. The same way you would share your secrets with Falcon and Lake.”
“Well, Lake already knows,” I mumble.
“Yeah?” she grins at me. “He’s quite fast at picking up on subtle hints.”
“Hunt, that wasn’t a hint. The writing was on the fucking wall by the time you left.”
She snorts, which is quickly followed by laughter.
“You want to know what he called us?” I ask, knowing she will get a kick out it.
She nods, trying to compose herself. “Tell me.”
“Fuck frenemies.”
Laughter explodes from her, and she slides off the couch.
I only realize I’m smiling when it freezes on my face as I realize why – Kingsley and Lake could’ve been twins.
She glances at me, and her laughter quickly dries up. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I say. “You just reminded me of Lake.”
She chuckles, then mumbles under her breath, “Maybe one day I can remind you of me.” She gets up, and when she smiles again, I almost wonder whether I just heard her murmur the words. “Well, we talked. Everything is fine. I need to study, so if you don’t mind…” she gestures to the door.
“Sure.” I walk to the door with the niggling feeling that I’m forgetting something. Shrugging it off, I open the door and let myself out.Chapter 13KinglseyWalking to my class, I’m deep in thought about the conversation I had with Mason.
He doesn’t regret sleeping with me, he just doesn’t want anyone to know.
I’m not going to take that the wrong way. Mason can’t have his personal life splattered all over for everyone to see. He at least had the decency to come talk to me.
“Kingsley,” I hear Serena calling and glancing over my shoulder I see her a couple of steps behind me.
Crap.
She catches up to me, and grabbing hold of my shoulder, she turns me around and asks, “Are you avoiding me now that you’re a part of the elite group?”