Chapter 15: Drool-worthy Abs

ADDY

Mom totally loses it when she discovers I’ve played hooky from school.

Just kidding, she goes ballistic, brandishing her spatula like a weapon, lecturing me about the importance of education and how I can’t just skip school on a whim.

This is my first time ever skipping. I don’t see what the fuss is about, honestly.

Once I’ve managed to soothe her, I retreat to my room and lose myself in a new book. I’ve been sprawled on my bed for hours now.

Suddenly, my phone blares, startling me. I scramble to my desk, tossing aside various items to locate my iPhone amidst the chaos.

Making a mental note to tidy up later, I finally focus on the screen.

“Unknown number.”

Why would a stranger be calling me? That’s only happened once before, a long time ago, and it turned out to be a prank call. I didn’t catch on until half an hour into the conversation.

A smile tugs at my lips as I remember the guy on the other end, his ridiculous jokes making me laugh.

The iPhone screen lights up again, the ringtone piercing the silence.

“Answer it, Addy!”

I swipe right and press the phone to my ear, waiting for the caller to speak. But there’s only silence.

“Hello?” I venture after a few seconds.

“Addalynn,” a voice says, causing me to frown.

“Um, who is this?” I ask, my brow furrowing.

“Xander,” the voice replies.

~Xander.~

Memories of the carnival rush back, making me swallow hard. I haven’t seen him since then, not even at school, and I didn’t bother to call him afterward.

I didn’t even have his number.

We barely know each other. I mean, we’ve only met once, but I still feel a pang of guilt about that day.

“Xander! I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize your voice.” I smile into the phone, feeling a bit more relaxed now that I know who’s on the other end.

“You wound me, princess. No one has ever forgotten this sexy voice, and yet here you are claiming to have forgotten it already?”

His voice is lighter, making me smile and shake my head, even though he can’t see me.

“I promise I won’t forget it again!” I laugh, and he joins in.

“So, I was thinking that—”

At the same time, I blurt out, “Why did you call me?”

We both laugh again before I tell him to continue.

“I was thinking that we could meet up sometime? Saturday? I got your number from Kay.”

I smile at the uncertainty in his voice.

“Sure, I’m free on Saturday!” I reply, spinning around in my room, ready to flop back onto my bed.

He’s not a total stranger. Kaylee has told me quite a bit about him, after all.

“Where do you want to go—” I stop mid-sentence, my mouth dropping open at the sight before me.

~Holy macaroni.~

My phone is still pressed against my ear as I rub my eyes, wondering if I’m seeing things.

Asher is perched on the windowsill, legs dangling outside, shirtless. His bare feet are pressed against the wall as he takes a drag from his cigarette, then exhales the smoke.

I despise everything about smoking. I find it repulsive and never understood why people start in the first place—but Asher makes it look anything but stupid.

The only way to describe him right now is that he looks ridiculously hot, casually puffing out smoke while lounging on the windowsill.

~He looks like a model. No, scratch that, he looks like a ~god~.

~Gods don’t smoke, Addy!~

I tell my inner voice to shut the hell up as my eyes travel up from his enticing lips. My fingers rake through my hair as my heart rate quickens.

All I want to do is climb over, push him down on the bed, and devour those pink, plush, full lips. I want to run my hands through his soft hair and grind on—

“Addalynn?” Xander’s voice interrupts my thoughts, and I snap back to reality, blushing furiously.

“Sorry, what? I didn’t catch that. I got a bit distracted.” I mentally facepalm after realizing what I’ve just said.

~Damn it! Who says stuff like that?~

I glance back at Asher’s room, instantly regretting it.

~Shit.~

His beautiful brown eyes are locked onto mine, and I stand there, stunned, before quickly moving out of his line of sight.

~Stupid, stupid, stupid!~

Did he hear me? I tug at my hair in frustration before collapsing onto my bed with a groan.

“Addalynn?” Xander asks again.

“Xander!” I blurt out, not even sure why I’m shouting.

Xander doesn’t seem to notice my odd behavior and just laughs.

“Yes?”

“I, uh…you know the signal is kind of bad right now, so I didn’t catch what you were saying.”

~A little white lie never hurt anyone.~

I roll over in my bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“I figured. I just said that I’ll see you on Saturday. I won’t be at school tomorrow or Friday, got something to take care of,” he says.

“That’s great! I mean, not that you’re skipping school, that’s sad! I mean, it’s great that you’re coming on Saturday, you know. Even though you’re the one who asked…” I ramble, not entirely sure why.

“Ha-ha. See you on Saturday, then!” he says, and I agree, ready to end the call before I say something else stupid, but he beats me to it.

I tug at my hair.

~What is wrong with me? Why can’t I just talk like a normal person?~

~Because you were too busy drooling over Asher’s abs to understand what Xander was saying, dummy!~

I let out another frustrated groan before burying my face in my pillow.

A couple of minutes later, I’ve cooled down enough to hop off my bed and head to my window. I pull the curtains aside, making sure to avoid Asher.

His brown eyes are etched into my memory. I stub my toe on the bedstand, hissing in pain before I shuffle over to my desk.

“Better clean up before you crash, Addy,” I mumble to myself, cursing Asher under my breath.

~Why can’t I get him out of my head? He doesn’t even like me that way.~

~You don’t know that for sure!~

I push that voice aside and pick up my biology book. Why can’t I shake him off? He’s everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. I clutch the book tighter, ready to hurl it across the room when my door swings open.

My mom is leaning against the doorframe, a smirk on her face. I straighten up immediately, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

She usually swings my door open with a smile, but today she looks way ~too~ cheerful.

“Mom, why are you grinning like a Cheshire cat?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Oh, nothing, sweetheart.”

She grins again, and this time I squint at her.

“Mom, you’re freaking me out,” I mumble, walking toward her.

“Why didn’t you tell me you have a boyfriend? You should invite him over for dinner sometime!” she gushes.

My jaw drops at the word “boyfriend.”

~Boyfriend? Since when? What?~

I try to protest, but Mom cuts me off, pulling me into a tight hug.

“Oh, my baby girl is all grown up!” she giggles, more to herself than to me, before leading me downstairs to meet my supposed boyfriend.

Curiosity gets the better of me as I quickly brush my hair out of my face and turn toward the door. My eyes widen at the sight of the person standing there.

~What is he doing here?~