Page 6 of Catch a Tiger

“Did you find someone?” Darius asks as he looks over her shoulder. She nearly jumps.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“We’re in a relationship now.”

She looks over her shoulder at him to witness his frown. “Wait. Did you talk to him already? Wait. What?”

“Nope,” she says, answering only one of his questions. “I randomly picked him, as you suggested.”

He blinks at her, clearly at a loss for words. “Normal people go out on dates, Maria. Normal people have discussions about relationships. Normal people don’t just randomly pick some unsuspecting guy.” His scowl deepens. “Do you even know this guy?”

“No. I don’t even know how we became friends on the app. But he’s hot.” She jiggles her phone. “So why not?” He probably won’t feel the same about her, though. She’s a toad compared to him and all of his muscles.

“Okay.” He grabs her shoulders and turns her to face him. “You can’t just do that. Do you realize how insane that is?”

She shrugs. “Possibly. Or maybe possibly not. It’s fun.”

He shakes her a little bit. “Fun to what? Saddle a guy you don’t even know?”

“Sure!”

“What if he’s a creep?”

“He doesn’t look like a creep.” She holds her phone up to him, displaying Mark in his swim trunks.

Darius looks at the screen, then does a double take. He whistles low and takes the phone from her hand to have a good look for himself. “He’s a monster. Look at his body!”

“In the best possible way.”

Darius takes on a thoughtful look. “Maybe I should date him.”

She snatches the phone away from him. “He’s already taken.”

A smirk takes over his face. “The moment he realizes what you’ve done, he’ll put a restraining order on you.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. He will not.”

Just then, her phone dings and they both crowd closer to look at it. She opens the app and freezes.

“What? What is it?” Darius asks.

“It’s him,” she breathes out. “It’s a message from Mark!”

“Well, open it up!”

“No!” she whispers fervently.

He crosses his arms over his chest and gives her a look. “Oh, come on. Are you seriously going to chicken out? You just got this ball rolling.”

“You just want the drama of it all.”

“Yes.” He grins. “Now give it here so I can read what he said.”

“No!” She clutches the phone close to her chest.

He pokes the back of the phone case. “Then you do it.”