NINE
LUX
“What the actual fuck?” Star practically growls as we move up in the line to ride the Scrambler. “Explain your freak-out. I was actually dancing and having fun for once.” Her stare is part concern but also part frustration.
And my stare back isallembarrassment. My face is hot, so I flap my hands in front of me, trying to get some air. “I’m telling you, he was standing there like a fucking psycho staring at me through the bonfire flames. And then he was gone, and I was—” I shake my head, mortified. “I’m so sorry.”
Star huffs out a breath. “Okay. I guess I don’t get what’s going on. He seemed nice enough when we met him, even for a guy who you swore was supposed to be dead.”
I throw my arms up into the air. “That’s because you don’t know everything about him.”
Raven groans quietly. “If you think he was the one who broke into our suite, it’s not just your issue anymore.”
“Look, I’m the last person to want to stick my nose in where it doesn’t belong, but I’ll say it again. What. The. Fuck?” Star eyes me warily.
“I know. I can’t talk about it right here, though.” I wince, chewing on my lip. If they knew the real Hawk, instead of whatever act he put on with them, they’d understand. Every time I see him, I’m reminded of that night.The night.How I’d been so damn excited to go to the prom with him. We hadn’t stayed more than half an hour before he said a bunch of people were going to an after-party, and maybe we should check it out.
I’m jerked from the memory when Raven gently touches my arm. Her brow furrows as she looks around. “I don’t see him now. Not his buddies either. You’re absolutely sure he was watching you?”
“Not justwatching.I think he’s trying to unnerve me.”
Star snorts a bit, and her words come out with a laugh. “It’s working.” Her mouth snaps shut, and she immediately cringes. “Sorry. I lack some people skills. One of them is knowing when to keep my mouth shut.”
As the ride stops to let people off and load new passengers, we shuffle forward and through the gate. Hurrying to get into one of the cars, Star and Raven scramble into one and are in the process of waving for me to follow when the ride attendant stops me. “Two per car, sorry.” He grasps the arm of the car and locks Star and Raven in.
“Crap! Sorry, Lux.” Raven looks around, her eyes full of concern. “How about one of those over there? As the cars do their scrambling, we’ll keep passing you.”
With a sinking feeling in my gut, I nod, “Yeah, okay.” I make a beeline to the first empty car I see, climb aboard, and sit with a disappointed plop on the warm metal bench. I’m fairly certain I won’t enjoy riding alone, as part of the fun on the Scrambler is trying—or trying not to, depending on the situation—squash the person who’s chosen the outer seat. With a deep breath, I reach forward and yank on the arm that will keep me from flying out of the ride to pull it shut.
A large hand stops it from connecting with the car and locking. In the split second it takes me to blink, I recognize who’s about to join me. Genuine fear shoots through me like a lightning strike.
Hawk. He’s all lean muscle and long limbs, and he climbs into the car with a twitch to the muscle in his cheek. He eyes me as he takes a seat, hogging up more than his half of the car, and extends his arm along the back behind me. The bench space inside the ride seems infinitely smaller all of a sudden.
I work a hard, audible swallow before I can get any words out at all. After a moment, I manage to stutter, “W-what are you doing?” My stomach pitches uncomfortably and heat flashes along my skin. I can’t be confined in a car with this guy. I have the most unlikely visceral reaction to his presence. Somehow, he throws me into an immediate state of panic, but also… I’m strangely aware of him in a way I never was before. Back in high school, Hawk was a god. He was hotter than sin, the one all the girls wanted. And I’d thought he was crazy hot, too. There’d been some epic fireworks between us, but I’d been young. Shy. Nervous.
My eyes flick to Hawk’s as he clears his throat to answer me, yanking me out of my musings. “Riding the Scrambler. Same as you.”
“No”—I shake my head, panic rising—“what are you doing in my car? I—” The rest of my questions die away, and I scowl, the cocky look on his face beginning to piss me off. How can he be so matter-of-fact about what he’s doing to me?
He points to the ride attendant with a shrug. “Well, you see, that guy over there asked for single riders, so I raised my hand, and he told me where to go.” His tongue darts out to wet his lip before his mouth tugs into an obnoxious grin. The devilish way he looks at me has my nerves on high alert.
“I’m about to tell you where to go,” I grumble under my breath, throwing off an angry vibe. It’s totally fake. I’m about two seconds from climbing over the side of the car to escape whatever he’s planning to do or say to me—because there’s no way the two of us ending up on this ride together was an accident or fate.
He chuckles. “You’re cute when you’re mad, you know that?”
“Fuck you.” I shift as far to the inner side of the car as I can, my jaw setting hard, and I stare straight ahead. Gripping the bar tight in front of me, my knuckles practically go white as I attempt to control the uncontrollable shaking of my hands.
Out of the corner of my eye, it’s clear that Star and Raven are trying to get my attention from their car, but I can’t even. The huge arms of the Scrambler have begun to rotate in one direction, and the cars spin in the other. And fuck if I don’t know exactly what’s about to happen, being the science geek that I am. I have a death grip on the bar in front of me, but it’s no use. The faster we go the more centrifugal force works against me. It’s taking considerable effort not to end up right next to Hawk.
The world surrounding the Scrambler is a blur, people milling around drinking and talking, and then the screams of laughter from those with us on the ride start as we really begin to whip around.
“Give in, Lux,” Hawk rasps. “Let it happen.”
And it doesn’t matter that I’m hanging onto the bar for dear life or that the metal bench is warm and sticking to the backs of my thighs—my ass begins to shift across the seat. My skin detaches from where it’s stuck, and I’m pulled inch by agonizing inch toward Hawk. My eyes flick to the side, and I frantically wonder what he’s thinking and why he’s doing this to me.
The answer is right there in the cold, amused smirk on his face. I see it in the way he watches me. He can’t wait for what’s about to happen, and on a particularly vicious spin, my hands rip free from the bar in front of me. The only thing stopping me from flying sideways is gone, and I’m unable to prevent myself from careening across the seat. My body hurtles into Hawk’s side, plastering me to him, no matter how I struggle to regain my former position.
The bastard laughs loudly, the sound whipping away from us and into the night. I can’t help myself. I scream. He’s warm, his body solid against mine, and I can feel his body shaking with his amusement. I’m desperate to push myself away from him, to put just an inch between us, but I can’t. Damn fucking centrifugal force. We spin and spin, our bodies practically molded together.
