But Dean is already standing up. Not looking at me. Not giving me attention.
Rage fills me. Dark. Red. And completely unfiltered.
If he wants to be amanchildover a few simple questions then there’s nothing I can do about it. Maybe he’s like Nadine and needs space to think it through. If that’s the case then fine, I’ll give it to him after our date today.
I head inside before Dean.
I stop in my tracks.
The familiar whiff of a strong scent hits my nose.
It’s the one from last night.
But when I focus around me, there’s a lot of people in the room. Rhys, Hina, and Shaan are already on the couches.
It’s not like I can sniff everyone one by one, although that would be the best way to find out who was spying.
Austin stands by the wall, eyes hunched together while he puts his phone to his ear. This happens multiple times before he shoves it in his pocket.
I take a seat somewhere open enough for Dean to sit next to me. Even if he needs space, the decent choice is to sit next to me after shovingpick medown my throat.
Irene walks in, talking on the phone. “Yes, Dad. I know.”
Austin perks up, his shoulder moves back.
She looks at him, rolling her eyes at whatever is said at the other end. “I trust Austin to take care of it and so do you.” She mumbles a couple of more short replies before hanging up.
“Is everything okay?” Austin asks the second Irene puts her phone away.
“He said he’ll pull out his investment if we don’t make it interesting.”
“Did he say anything about me?” There’s a light in his eyes as he waits for Irene to answer but she shakes her head.
“He said he’ll call you when he’s free.”
Austin nods at that. Then I watch as he takes his phone out, messes with the side button, and shoves it away.
Dean chooses then to walk inside, his eyes meet mine for a moment and I shuffle further away from the empty space to let him know hisseat is still here.
The first red flag should have been when he sits far,faraway from me.
Irene and Austin get together to start announcing the matches.
My heartbeat’s in my throat, my spine rigid, and my chest expanding by the minute.
Hina gets matched with Shaan.
“Dean is matched with…”
I wait patiently, then impatiently, my smile dropping then curving back in place.
“Katarina.”
My smile stays put, tickling the edges of my cheek by double checking to make sure they heard right before painfully settling into a frown.
He picked Katarina.
Austin finishes reading the list, tells them the rules of what’s gonna happen, something about them having picked from the girls’ bucket list, and how they get to decide when to leave and come back today.
