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“No one’s around,” I pointed out, sighing at her stubbornness. “You don’t have to keep up the bitch act.”
“What act?” she asked. “You think I’m just pretending not to like you? God, you men and your egos.”
“Says the girl whose lips are blue with cold, but she won’t put on a fucking shirt when it’s offered.”
She scowled at the shirt dangling between us. “It probably has lice or something.”
“Yes,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Lice and goiters and herpes too. I rubbed my flannel shirt in all the nastiness I could find just knowing I’d end up behind a dumpster with you, and you’d need a jacket, and everyone else would leave us.”
She gritted her teeth and glared up at me. In the morning light, I could see a fine dusting of little freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks like snowflakes. I’d never been this close to her, never noticed she had freckles.
At school, she was always smoothed over with makeup, wearing whatever trendy thing girls were wearing that week. She’d dressed down for the race last night, and even though it erased the illusion of perfection she strove for so hard all week, she finally looked human in a simple white tank top, jeans, and a pair of chunky black boots. Her blonde hair was loose and tangled from when she had her head out the window of her car after the race. She may have been a frigid bitch, but she was fucking hot, I’d give her that. The kind of hot I used to get, before the Dolces put a stop to all that.
“You’re cold,” I said flatly. “Put on the fucking shirt.”
She crossed her arms, the fine blonde hairs on them still standing on end with the chill. “No.”
“There’s no chance of anyone seeing you and ruining your precious reputation,” I gritted out, pissed that I was even arguing with this girl who didn’t deserve even a conversation with me, let alone a shirt. I wasn’t pissed at her, though. I was pissed that I even noticed her, that I never stopped finding things I’d lost. It wasn’t about Gloria. It was about the sense of possibility that used to come with meeting a sexy girl, not knowing where it could lead, what might happen.
Now nothing could happen, even if the girl wasn’t Royal’s beard. That was what pissed me off enough that I swung the shirt around Gloria’s shoulders and gave it a little yank to close itover her tits that I wouldn’t even look at before I turned around and walked away.
“Hey,” she called. “Where’s your car?”
“Didn’t bring it,” I called back over my shoulder.
Gloria jogged to catch up. “How’d you get here?”
“I live in the dumpster, remember?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, you don’t. You drive a Denali. Why isn’t it here?”
“I caught a ride with a friend.”
“What friend?” she demanded, like the fact that I dared to have a friend was an affront to her. It probably was—that, or she wanted the information so she could cut me off from them like everyone else. Too bad for her, Maverick didn’t give a fuck about the rules on the rich side of town.
“Don’t look so shocked,” I said. “I’m a very likeable person. I make all kinds of friends when you and your goons aren’t around to scare them away.”
“What about Dixie?”
I shrugged. “She has lots of friends. I’m sure she got a ride home with one of them.”
“Do you disappear on her a lot?” Gloria asked. “And not answer texts?”
“I think we already established that I’m a piece of shit and she can do better.”
“I’ll give you a ride,” she said with a sigh. “Where do you live?”
“Just north of town,” I said. “It’s not far. I can walk.”
She gave me some side-eye. “North of town is more than a few miles.”
I shrugged. “I’d rather walk than ride with you.”
For a second, I thought I might have seen a crack in her diamond exterior, but she recovered quickly and grinned. Sheheld up her hand, keys dangling from her fingers. “I’ll let you drive.”
I swallowed and eyed the Mustang behind her. It was a sexy-ass 1969 Boss 302, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted. “What’s the horsepower on that thing?”
“Two-ninety,” she said, still grinning like she knew she had me. I didn’t know what she thought she’d won, since five minutes ago she couldn’t get away from me fast enough.
