Page 6

I shrug. “Nope.”

She’s young and petite. Fresh meat on campus if she even bothered to go at all. Her tank top is too small for her chest size, but something about her tells me that was intentional. She wipes the moisture off her cheeks and pushes her blonde hair to the side before glancing up at me again.

“Can I get you anything?” I ask.

“Oh, no thanks,” she says. “I already ate, but I do love this place. Best food truck in the park.”

“Thank you.”

She bites her lip and nudges closer. “Can I ask you something weird?”

“Sure,” I say.

“Why are your eyes different colors like that?”

I smirk. “Oh, you noticed that, huh?”

“Hard not to.”

She gives me that look, the one that tells me I might not spend the rest of my night alone if I play my cards right.

“Well...” I wipe my hands on a towel and toss it over my shoulder as I lean out the window of my truck. “I’m not supposed to say.”

Her brow furrows. “Why not?”

“They’re cursed,” I whisper.

“Cursed?” She chuckles.

“What? You don’t believe me?”

She bites her lip. “Cursed how?”

I scan the park behind her to check for incoming customers, but also to show off the eyes from different angles. What can I say? They’re my secret weapons.

“I guess I can tell you, but—” I point a finger at her, “you have to promise to never breathe a word of this to anyone.”

She raises an intrigued brow. “Okay, I promise.”

“You swear?”

“I swear.”

“Okay.” I clear my throat. “A few years ago, I was walking home from a bar late at night when I came across an old woman on the street. She said, ‘hello, young man,’ but I, being drunk and stupid, just stumbled on past without saying a word. The next morning, I woke up with these but it wasn’t the next morning. Two weeks had gone by.” I pause for effect as her mouth sags open a little. “And I knew the old woman laid a curse upon me. Now, I always... always...” I reach down and push a strand of wet hair off her forehead, “have to stop and talk to every beautiful woman I pass by or else she might come back for the rest of me.”

Her lip curls, sensing bullshit. “Is that true?”

“Of course.” I stand up. “I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”

She laughs, never looking away.

Someone bangs on the back door. “Delivery!” I hear.

I ignore it. “So, what are you⁠—”

“Delivery!”

I flex my jaw. The girl looks behind me and I sway back into her eye-line.