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“She doesn’t know. I need to take baby steps with her.”
“Baby steps?” Michael laughs again. “Are you shitting me? You’ve taken her on two dates, and now, you’re saying that you’re marrying her and she doesn’t even know. Are we also forgetting the fact she’s in love with someone else?”
I grin. “Minor details.”
Michael stands, still shaking his head in disbelief. “I hate to think of the body count when this all goes wrong and you go off on a rampage.”
“It won’t go wrong. Have a little faith in your boss.”
“Oh, I have faith, but I’ve seen love, and if she truly loves him, you’ve got no chance.”
He leaves, and I pick up my phone. Maybe he’s right, but going on the past between her and Hulk, I’ll have no trouble winning her over. I’ve just got to make her see I’m the better option. I fire off a quick text to her to let her know I’m thinking about her.
PIPER
I lean back on my hands and allow the sunshine to warm my face. Mae is struggling today, and Ace won’t let her have any visitors. A shadow falls over me and I open one eye to see Hulk staring down at me. “S’up?” he grumbles.
“Not much. You okay?”
He lowers himself to sit next to me. “Relieved to have the Pres back.” He stares straight ahead before adding, “I spoke to your boyfriend early this morning.” I remain quiet. I hate lying, and I don’t want to agree that Anton is my boyfriend because that’s a lie. “You sleep with him yet, Piper?”
I feel my face slowly turning crimson with embarrassment. “That’s none of your business, Hulk.”
“It is when you still sleep with me.”
I gasp. “I haven’t slept with you in weeks.”
“There was a time when you were seeing him in the beginning that you’d slept with me.”
He’s referring to the time I went to Tag for help and he passed it to Anton, who dropped something to help me. At the time, Hulk was being a prick, treating it like a pissing contest, and Mum came to my rescue, making it very clear I was free to see whomever I wanted. Hulk just assumed the worst, and I didn’t bother to correct him. I lower my eyes to the dirt. “Hulk, you and I aren’t together. Whatever I do with Anton, or anyone else for that matter, is none of your business. You sleep with other people all the time and I just have to suck it up. This is what you wanted, right, to be free and single?”
“Maybe I can take you out,” he blurts out, and I stare at him wide-eyed, waiting for his next words. “I mean, I know I can’t do fancy shit like dinners with the mayor, but I know a mean curry house, and I know how much you love a good curry.”
I smile because he remembers the small details, even though he hates to admit it. “You want to take me out? Like on a date or something?”
Hulk shifts uncomfortably and begins to rake his fingers in the dirt. “Yeah, I guess it could be a date.” My heart beats wildly. He’s never uttered the word ‘date’ to me since the day he realised how much I liked him.
“Okay,” I say, nodding, and he side-eyes me. “I’m serious,” I confirm. “If you want to take me out, I’d like that.”
He grins. “Okay, it’s a date. I’ll book us a table for tonight.” He jumps up and rushes inside.
My mobile alerts me to a message and I pull it from my pocket. It’s a text from Anton.
Anton: Tell me more about your dream. What were we doing?
I smile wider, enjoying this new playful side to him.
Me: I didn’t say you were part of my dream. Guess who asked me on a date just now. Hulk!! The plan is working. He wants to take me to my favourite food place.
A small part of me wonders if this will bother Anton, but it was his idea after all. He told me Hulk would come running the second he thought I was serious about someone else. I wait for the reply, but it doesn’t immediately come. The longer I wait, the more worried I become, so I send another.
Me: Are you mad at me? I thought this was the whole point.
A minute later, it pings, and I feel relief as I open the message.
Anton: In a meeting. Talk later.
Something feels off with his short answer. His playful side has gone, and I have a heaviness in my heart like I’ve done something wrong.
