Page 39 of Disobedient Pawn

“Geez us, Christ,” I swore and jumped again. At this rate, I would need medical attention for the fucking heart attack everyone was trying to give me.

I whipped around to face Blake, who was leaning against the wall with a stupid coy look on his face that made me want to smack him. He looked hot standing like that, but I kicked that thought out before it could take root. It didn’t matter what he looked like or how sexy his dimples were. He was the enemy.

“No, I was just looking for the white shirts,” I said, crossing my arms. “I still haven’t found them.”

“Uh-huh.” Blake pushed away from the wall, and my heart sputtered a little. It was just an aftereffect of two scares so close together.

“What did you get?” I pointed to the store bag.

“Couple shirts. I’m going to take this out to the car, but the dress clothes are down that way,” Blake said and nodded at a row I’d yet to go down. I stared at his hand, terrified as it came toward my face.

“What…” I started as he tucked a strand of hair that had fallen in front of my eye behind my ear.

“Don’t hide your face,” he said, then turned and walked away.

I felt the heat in my cheeks and took a deep breath to try and calm my galloping heart. What the hell was that? Shaking my head, I walked down the row Blake had indicated and, sure enough, found rows of them neatly folded in large stacks. Thumbing through the sizes, I found mine in plain white and pulled out four—no point in coming back to town if I didn’t need to.

Ivy and Blake were waiting by the register when I came down the aisle, and even though it shouldn’t have shocked me or bothered me, the fact that Blake was leaning over the counter, flirting with the girl working, irked me. That was the only way to describe it. I didn’t feel wholly jealous or angry, we weren’t a couple, but it did irritate me that he’d been flirty with me and was now giving this girl the same treatment. It merely proved that I was nothing more than a number. Someone for him and Myles to toy with, like a cat playing with a mouse.

Stepping up to the checkout, I laid my shirts down and tried really hard not to feel like a total idiot. But the angry little voice in my head was telling me off. For just a moment, I thought this guy was interested in me. When was I going to learn?

“Ren, is everything okay? You look upset,” Ivy said, grabbing my arm. Her brows knit with worry.

“I’m good, just overthinking shopping. I’m not a shopper,” I said, which wasn’t a lie. At least not entirely.

“Oh. Well, you’ll be happy about this. Blake’s cousin Lisa was just telling us about a party at her sorority house this weekend and invited us all to go.”

The pretty blonde—with the name tag screaming Lisa—smiled at me. So she was his cousin.

She held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Ren. I love your name. I wish my parents had given me a cool name. Lisa is so common.”

She shook my hand enthusiastically. “Nice to meet you too, Lisa.”

“So yeah, I never see my cousin enough. You should come and bring whoever you like. The parties are always huge.”

I could see Blake smiling at me from the corner of my eye. “What school do you go to?”

“I go to Sacred Heart Academy.”

“Yeah, and we just kicked your school's ass at the swim meet over the weekend,” Blake gloated.

Lisa rolled her eyes at her cousin, and I liked her a whole lot more. “And I still don’t care,” Lisa said back. “Ignore him. Swim guys are all the same. I haven’t met one yet, that you can trust.”

“Hey! I’m trustworthy, don’t be telling her that.” Blake scowled at his cousin, and I suddenly loved her.

“I mean, you all look hot in your little swim trunk things, but watching you all wet getting in and out of the pool is where my interest ends.” Lisa smiled at me and Ivy. “So what do you say? You wanna come? The girls will love you. My house is very chill.”

“Um, I don’t know. I don’t even know how we’d get there.”

“Hello, still standing here,” Blake said, crossing his arms over his chest like he was sulking.

“I’m not going to assume you’d take us to a party.” Truth be told, I’d never been to a party. By the time I was old enough to start going to things like that, I was looking after my mum and never felt comfortable leaving her alone.

“Fine, fair point, but we will have a bus going. It’s just a given you’ll come,” Blake said as Lisa rang up my shirts and the outfit Ivy wanted.

“I’ll think about it. Spending any length of time on a bus with you sounds like pure torture,” I joked, making Lisa and Ivy laugh.

“Oh, I like her already. Do you two like mani-pedis? We always go and have our nails done before a party. If you arrive early enough, I’ll take the two of you.” Foolishly, my excitement grew. Deep down, I knew this was a bad idea, but I’d never been able to be a teen and do all the shit other teens do. Going to a party, getting dressed up, and having my nails done sounded like a lot of fun.