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“You think?” I could feel the heat spreading in my cheeks at his words. Self-doubt was a killer, and I’d had enough to last me a lifetime already.
“Sure.” He shrugged and closed his own book. “You’d be the hottest teacher in the school.”
I groaned and let my head flop down, banging it gently on the table several times. “You just don’t stop, do you?”
“Nope.” He laughed, big and loud, and it echoed off the small break room walls. “You kinda dig it though, be honest.”
I lifted my head and raised a brow. “I dig it like I’d dig a hole in my head.”
He pointed at me and stood. “Knew it.”
We both packed our books away, and I stowed my bag into my locker as he threw his bag over his shoulder. “When’s your mom picking you up?” I walked down the back hallway toward the main section of the diner with Cade hot on my heels.
“She said she’s running late, so won’t be here for another thirty.”
I nodded and led him over to a booth. “Okay, I’ll go get us a shake, and we can chill until she gets here.” I looked down at the watch on my wrist. “My shift doesn’t start for another hour anyway.”
“So we’re gonna have a date?”
I slapped my hand against my forehead. “You really don’t give up, do you?”
“Nope.” He slid into the booth and grinned up at me. “My dad always said that when you know you want something, you do everything in your power to get it.”
“Right.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Your dad sounds like a man who gets what he wants.”
“He does.” His eyes flashed. “He always gets what he wants.”
“Well”—I took two steps away—“sometimes when someone says no, it becomes a life lesson, and I’m all about teaching.” I spun around and walked toward the counter, but the stupid smile on my face couldn’t be stopped.
Cade wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met before, and for all of his bravado and constant chatter, he was actually a really good kid. When he put his mind to it, he could achieve some great things.
“Session finished?” Jan asked, her mouth moving a mile a minute as she chewed on her gum. She’d been trying to quit smoking the last couple of weeks and swore the gum helped.
“Yeah, he’s just waiting for his mom to come get him.” I pulled out two glasses and placed them on the counter, then pulled open the freezer door. Sal liked to think his milkshake recipe was a big secret, but really, it was all down to good ingredients. He paid extra for the locally made ice cream and bought the best milk to add to it. His favorite thing, by far, was sourcing the syrups that we added to them to give an extra shot of flavor.
“I think the kid is a little obsessed with you,” Jan said, leaning her arms on the counter next to me. “He hasn’t looked away since you came over here.”
“It’s just a crush,” I told her, adding a measure of milk to each of the blenders followed by a scoop of chocolate ice cream for Cade and a scoop of strawberry for me. “He just needs to get a girlfriend.”
“Hmmm…” Jan popped her gum and stood to her full height. “Or maybe he’s holding out for you.”
I screwed my nose up, pumped in a shot of syrup into each blender, and placed the lids on them. “Ew, Jan, I’m like four years older than him, and he’s still in high school.”
I clicked on the blenders, the soft thrum working for twenty seconds and then stopping. The thick mixture of each made my mouth water, and I couldn’t wait to taste mine.
Jan shrugged and flipped her dark-red hair over her shoulder. “Age ain’t nothing but a number, baby.”
My thoughts immediately went to Brody at her words. That had been exactly what I’d been thinking about him, but it hadn’t seemed as wrong as it did when I thought about Cade and his crush on me. Was that how Brody thought about me when I was staring at him? Did he think I just needed a boyfriend in the same way I thought Cade needed a girlfriend his own age?
Well, shit.
Maybe I’d built up all the little interactions with Brody in my head? Not that I’d seen much of him since Crystal and my dad came to the house.
I shook my head at Jan and picked up the glasses. Her tinkle of laughter followed me as I ambled over to the table, placed the shakes down, and slid into the booth opposite Cade. My fingers drifted toward my neck and the scab that was left from the knife. If it had been anywhere else on my body, I probably wouldn’t have had a scar, but because of the sensitive skin, I was pretty sure it would. It was only two inches long, but it was enough to draw people’s attention.
I stared out of the window, only half listening to Cade as he told me about his latest lacrosse game, and let my mind wander. I’d been doing everything I could to make a life for myself, and even though the steps had been small, all it took was one incident to have you fall on your ass. Hut hadn’t been home much, and when he was, he was too busy either making more contacts or getting high. Ford had been around less, and I started to wonder if something had happened that I wasn’t aware of.
I may not have been in Hut’s inner crew, but living in that house meant that I knew at least eighty percent of what happened and what they were getting up to. There was a danger in not knowing what surrounded you. I wasn’t the kind of person who liked to pretend everything was a bed of roses when there were only thorns around you. I knew what went on in my life and what went down in that house. I just chose to ignore it.
