Chapter 5 #2
“Nope, just at the mall with Amiyah.” I make direct eye contact with Lucas, my grin growing wider as I bring it upon myself to add, “…and Lucas.”
Lucas’s head snaps toward Amiyah, who looks just as shocked that I’d stoop that low. What can I say? The fear in Lucas’s eyes excites me a little.
Dad stays silent for a moment and I can almost hear the quiet ticking coming from inside his head.
“Callahan, huh?” He finally speaks.
“Yup.” I make sure to exaggerate the word. “Just doing some shopping.”
“Is the kid harassing you or—”
“Relax, Dad. I invited him.”
Both Lucas and Amiyah arch their eyebrows at my blatant lie but neither of them dares to comment on it. Instead, they lean in like they’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“Right,” Dad huffs, knowing there’s no point in arguing with me. “I was just calling to see if you and Miyah wanted to grab lunch at Metric’s in about half an hour.”
“Sure, we’ll meet you there. Love you.”
“Love you too, sweetpea.”
I make a show of hanging up and putting my phone back in my purse before looking at Lucas. He blinks a few times, mouth opening just to close.
The urge to reassure Lucas that my dad isn’t going to do a damn thing bubbles up and tugs at my chest. I really should tell him but where’s the fun in that?
I reach for Amiyah’s hand instead, the other clutching my shopping bags. “We done, Callahan?”
The initial shock of me almost ratting him out to my dad slowly slips off his face. He chews on his bottom lip. An attempt to keep a smile from forming.
I’m starting to believe that the act of being played turns this guy on and that’s information that is doing me no good right now.
“You’re cruel, you know that?” He makes a show of staring at my lips until his eyes meet mine, completely unashamed.
Apparently, he didn’t learn his lesson at all.
His gaze doesn’t falter and the air around us thickens.
I clear my throat. “I guess you should keep that in mind then, shouldn’t you?”
He offers me a mock salute, smug grin on his face as if my reaction just gave something away. “Yes, ma’am.”
My hand clenches around my bags, while the other squeezes Amiyah’s hand, a tightness in my stomach forming. Not wanting to dissect that right now, I give Lucas one last look—because apparently I can’t help myself—and continue walking in the direction of the exit.
Neither Amiyah nor I say anything as I drag her through the crowd and to my car. I drop her hand and throw my bags into the backseat, clothes spilling out onto the white leather. As I climb into the driver seat of my Acura, I decide that I’ll deal with the mess of clothes later.
I slam my car door a little harder than necessary, turn the car on, then crank up the air conditioning, leaning back against the leather of my seat. My skin is on fire and my breaths come out shallow. Fast. It’s only April. My clothes should not be sticking to my skin.
Lucas shouldn’t be able to invoke any emotion or reaction out of me. Maybe I need to get laid more than I thought.
I close my eyes but grow angrier when all I keep picturing is Lucas’s lips. His hands. The single ring on his index finger on said hand. The chain around his neck I so desperately want to tug on to bring him closer.
Yes, ma’am.
I wonder if those exact words would come out of his mouth if I—
“Are you still alive over there?”
I whip my head to the side, seeing Amiyah is in fact staring at me with a shit-eating grin plastered on her face.
I already know that whatever theory she has cooked up of what that was back there is wrong. So wrong that if I wasn’t so fucking hot right now, I’d laugh in her face.
Needing to distract my shaky hands, I put the car into reverse and pull out of the parking lot. Or at least try to but people love to walk in front of moving cars apparently.
“What?” I finally snap.
“Oh, nothing.” She waves me off before reaching for her seatbelt, clicking it into place. “Just thinking about how cute that whole thing was back there.”
“I’m glad you find the act of stalking cute.”
“Come on.” She laughs. “He wasn’t stalking you and besides, even if he was, that’d be the most committed a man has ever been to you.”
I reach over the center console to smack her arm.
“Hey!” She swats my hand away, smiling. “Both hands on the wheel.”
I don’t listen and resume my one-handed smacking, taking it even further and pinch her skin. The car behind us honks. I give Amiyah’s thigh one more smack before I roll down my window, flip the bird, and pull forward.
Amiyah continues. “I’m just saying that it wouldn’t hurt to give him a chance.”
I pretend to gag, not wanting to entertain the idea no matter how much my mind has been wondering as of late.
I hold my hand out toward Amiyah, who slips gum out of her purse.
“Is this about Dad’s hands-off rule?” She unwraps the stick of gum and slaps it into my palm.
I scoff. “When have I ever not done something someone told me not to?”
“So why not give him a chance? He seems nice enough. He’s hot, and I mean come on DD, have you seen the man play hockey? I’m getting hot just thinking about it.”
You and me both.
“In that case, why don’t you shoot your shot?”
Just saying those words causes a weird twisting sensation to form in my chest. The gum doesn’t stop the words from tasting like acid coming out.
If Amiyah did give Lucas a chance, I’d just have to see him around more often. Obviously.
“Nope, he’s not my type.” She shrugs her shoulders and that eases some of the unwanted tension in my own.
No idea why but I don’t care enough to mentally unpack that.
“How is everything you just said not your type?”
“I mean, I’m not opposed to being with a switch. I’ve just never been with one before.”
My head whips in her direction. The motion has me accidentally swerving into the lane next to us. The car I almost collide with honks and I jerk the steering wheel, straightening out the wheels. Amiyah doubles over with laughter, the sound louder than the racing of my own heart.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I rest my free hand over my heart, trying to catch my breath but I still narrow my eyes in Amiyah’s direction.
She wipes tears from her eyes, now red in the face.
“I think—” She tries to catch her breath and I fight the urge to unbuckle her seatbelt and push her out of the moving car into oncoming traffic.
“I think that’s maybe why you guys seem so drawn to each other.
” Another gasp of air. “You’re bossy—but I also know you like it when a man takes charge every once in a while. ”
I’m not drawn to Lucas. That idea is so ridiculous that I don’t even bother to entertain it but trying not to imagine it is even harder.
Amiyah leans back in her seat, now calm enough to not be wheezing every other word. “Now that I think about it, that sounds like the best of both worlds.”
I really should tell her not to go anywhere near Lucas Callahan but only because I’m trying to shield her heart.
It has nothing to do with protecting myself.