“If by hilarious, you mean humiliating, yep, I admit it.”
“Hey. Stevie, stop. Please.”
Closing my eyes and letting out a deep sigh, I finally stop walking and turn to face him.
“What do you want, Baz?”
“Lunch, actually.”
“Great. Don’t let me stop you.”
His eyebrows crease, a flicker of hurt flashing through his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m just… I’m not very good company today.”
“Well that blows, because I was really hoping you’d join me.”
“For lunch?”
Baz flashes his killer smile. “Yeah, you know. Since we’ve already moved on to the dry-humping stage of our relationship, I thought we should at least grab a meal together. I’m not sure we even know each other’s last names.”
“Mine is leave me the hell alone, and yours is jerkoff.”
“So if we got married, and you decided to hyphenate, you’d be—”
“What do youwant, Baz?” Married? Is he serious right now?
“I told you. Lunch. I thought you might want to check out the Thai place at Flame and Fury. Their Pad Thai is insane. You don’t have a peanut allergy, do you?”
My stomach grumbles, my mouth watering on command, which of course reminds me of Dr. Devane and his stupid mental magicks tricks. I love Thai food, but I don’t love the good doctor right now, or Kirin or Baz or any other guy for that matter.
Right now, the more distance I can put between me and anyone with a penis, the better.
Especially a huge, hard penis like the one that was pressed between my thighs minutes ago…
“I can’t,” I say, shaking off the memory and hoping that’s the end of it. “I have plans.”
“With Kirin?”
“No,” I snap. “With a wall of solid rock. Because it turns out talking to them is a lot easier than talking to boys.”
Thirty-Four
STEVIE
I refuse to go down. I refuse to go down. I refuse to go—
My grip slips, the rock scraping my fingertips raw as I plummet to the ground.
Again.
Thank Goddess Dr. Devane didn’t cheap out on the gear, because this crash pad is getting a workout today.
I get back to my feet and give it another go. This time, I manage to hold on a little longer, my feet scrambling for purchase, the next handhold just one good stretch away…
“Best view of the rocks I’ve seen in years,” comes the voice from below.
I crash down in a blaze of humiliating glory, landing hard on my ass, glaring up into the face of the very man I came out here to forget.
