If he saw me get in line for a drink, he’d gesture for me to sit back down. He’d always make mine before the rest and whistle over to me when it was ready on the counter. The cup would usually have something special written on it in black marker. Sometimes, it was a goofy face or random word like “ass” to make me laugh, and other times, it was a message. Today, he wrote, Wait for me. I nodded to indicate that I would hang around until he got off work, and he winked at me.

He would make me as many lattes as I wanted, and I would do homework or read my kindle amidst the constant steaming sound of the milk frother.

At exactly 7:00, Mitch came from behind the counter with his coat on. “Thanks for sticking around. I like it when you’re here. It makes work go by faster.”

Every time he said something nice to me lately, my heart would pitter-patter.

He grabbed my backpack. “Let’s go. I have a surprise for you.”

Mitch led me down a side corridor of the mall and stopped in front of the pet store with a big grin on his face. “Guess who’s back?”

I gasped and ran to the back of the store. “Seamus!”

Mitch laughed at my reaction. “I heard him on my way into work earlier and couldn’t wait to tell you.”

Seamus was a blue-fronted amazon parrot I had fallen in love with over the past few months. I’d visit him every time we went to the mall. Besides his bright-colored feathers and beautiful, black beak, I loved his attitude. Apparently, the pet store had been trying to get him to mimic common human phrases like some of the other birds. Seamus wasn’t having it. The only thing he said was “Holy Toledo!” He must have picked it up from a previous owner.

A few weeks ago, when I had come in to visit him, he was gone. The salesperson told us someone had finally bought him, and it had been heartbreaking to see his cage empty.

“Why is he back?” I asked Mitch.

“They told me the person returned him.”

“Strange.” I turned to the woman at the counter. “Do you know why he was returned?”

“They just didn’t want him anymore. We have a thirty-day policy.”

I pouted my lip. “How could anyone not want you?”

I broke into laughter as he flapped his wings. “Holy Toledo!”

Mitch put his hand on my head and playfully messed up my hair. “You’re so cute. The simplest things make you happy.”

There was the pitter-pattering again.

Mitch didn’t touch me a lot, but when he did, even for a second, my body responded.

After fifteen minutes of getting reacquainted with Seamus, we left the store. Mitch waited on a bench for me while I used the mall bathroom.

I was in the stall when I heard two girls talking as they washed their hands.

“Did you see Mitch Nichols out there?”

“Yeah. He’s so damn hot. His eyes are insane.”

“His body, too. I heard he asked Amber out.”

“She’s such a bitch. Wait…I thought he was dating Brielle?”

“No, they just hooked up once.”

“Oh. Well, I wouldn’t mind being next.”

“Get in line.”

I actually blocked my ears, so I couldn’t hear anymore and sat on the toilet frozen until I heard the door slam. My heart was pounding, and I could feel the adrenaline rush as jealousy hit me like a ton of bricks. I breathed in and out slowly until I composed myself enough to get up and wash my hands.

Sure, Mitch cared about me, and I was pretty sure I had at least a piece of his heart, but that wasn’t enough for me anymore. I wanted all of him. As I looked in the mirror, I decided it was time to give my friend some of his own medicine.

CHAPTER 6

MITCH

Davey dropped a bomb on our way home from school. “Did you hear Aidan asked Skylar out for this Friday?”

I fell off my skateboard right as we arrived at my house. “Say what? Aidan Hamilton?”

“Yeah. Apparently, he’d been trying to go out with her for months, but she’s always said no. He asked her to go to the fall carnival Friday, and she said yes.”

Shit. Aidan went to Crestview High with me. She must have met him through Angie’s boyfriend, Cody. Aidan would trip people in the cafeteria for laughs and talk back to teachers. He was a douchelord. He’d been with a lot of girls, too, some of the same ones I dated. I would admit, he was a good-looking guy, but he sure as hell didn’t deserve to go out with a girl like Skylar.

“Really…” I was so angry I was practically foaming at the mouth.

“That’s all you have to say? Dude, your face is turning colors.” Davey followed me into the house and headed straight for the refrigerator.

A dozen thoughts raced through my head. Namely, how I was going to stop this.

Davey knew how protective I was of her. He lived two houses down from us, was our only mutual friend and a go-between. Skylar’s friends were mostly girls from her private school. Davey was our common denominator. I didn’t like the idea of Skylar having guy friends because they’d all want in her pants eventually—myself included if I were being honest. But Davey was almost as short as Skylar, roly-poly and harmless. Think Pillsbury doughboy with long, black dreadlocks he never washed. That was Davey. Let’s just say, Skylar wasn’t going to be tempted by our furry little friend, and I liked it that way.

Aidan, on the other hand, was a serious threat, and even though I wanted to spew venom, I tried to play it down while I cleared my head. “Technically, Skylar can go out with whomever she wants,” I said coldly.

“Not true,” Davey said as he helped himself to a soda.

“What?”

“She wants you, you dillweed.”

My pulse quickened. “She told you that?”

Davey shook his head. “She doesn’t have to say it.”

The way she looked at me sometimes with those beautiful almond-shaped eyes made me wonder if she did.

“You know I can’t go out with Skylar.”

Davey burped. “What I do know is that you mess around with girls you don’t even like to get her out of your system.”

Maybe, but that was the way it had to be.

“Skylar is like family to me. Going further with her…there is no way that could end well. We’re too young, too many years ahead to f**k things up. It would destroy us.”

Speaking of destruction, I had to figure out how I was going to keep Skylar from getting mixed up with that dick, Aidan. If I couldn’t have her, he sure as hell wasn’t gonna get her. I texted Amber to cancel our movie date Friday night because now I had work to do.

I put my phone in my pocket. “What are you doing Friday night, Dave?”

“Let me check my phone.” He lifted it and pretended to check his calendar. “Oh! Waxing my ass.”

“Yeah. Postpone that. How do you like cotton candy?”

***

Whenever I went anywhere with Davey, I felt like we were Arnold Schwarznegger and Danny Devito from that old movie, Twins, because I towered over him.

The fall carnival was held in a big field about a mile from where we lived. It was full of people we knew from school and the last place I’d have been were it not for the fact that Skylar would be here on what I was pretty sure was her first official date.

She had told me about her plans, and I played it cool. It wasn’t like I could tell her I was going to show up and spy on her. I swore to myself I’d stay away unless I saw Aidan make one wrong move, at which point I would deck him.

It was dark, crowded and chaotic. The bright lights from the rides combined with the dinging sounds from the game booths made it hard to focus on my mission.

I hadn’t spotted her yet, and it didn’t help that Davey had gotten separated from me in search of funnel cake.

He looked like he had gone swimming in a vat of powdered sugar when I found him. “Davey, can we please focus on finding Skylar? You can eat later.”

“Try this,” he said, pushing the fried dough into my face.

I waved it away. “I can’t think about food right now.”

He spoke with his mouth full. “Man, can’t you see you have it bad for her? This isn’t a normal reaction to your friend going out on a date.”

“I’m just trying to protect her.”

“You’re gonna do this every time some guy asks her out?”

“No, just when he’s an asshole,” I said as I continued to look around.

“Is there really ever going to be a guy good enough for her in your eyes?”

I thought about it. “Maybe not.”

Fuck no.

Davey waved the funnel cake as he spoke. “That’s messed up. Just admit that you’re not here to protect her. You’re here cuz you’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.”

“Then, it shouldn’t bother you that she looks like she is having a really good time right now.” He pointed over to the ticket booth.

I turned around and saw Skylar laughing at something Aidan was saying while they were in line. My chest tightened, and it felt like I couldn’t breathe. When I could make her laugh like that, it normally made me all gooey inside. Seeing her face light up for another guy made me want to kill someone.

I grabbed Davey. “Come on, I don’t want her to see me.”

“You should wear green more often. It suits you.”

“Shut up.”

Davey and I walked back over to the concession stand where he ordered a caramel apple. “I should have gotten the one with the nuts.”

The crunch of his teeth sinking into the apple made me cringe. I shook my head at him. “Seriously?”

“Look, I’m here for you, but I’m hungry. Just tell me what I need to do, and I’ll do it. In the meantime, I’m eatin.’”

Aidan had taken Skylar over to a game booth. It was the one where you had to shoot water into the clowns’ mouths to see which player could fill the biggest balloon. The first to pop won a prize. He sat down to play while Skylar stood next to him.

Her long, straight hair fell loose down her back. She looked sexy as hell, and I might have drooled a little as my eyes traveled from top to bottom. A tight, red shirt hugged her firm breasts, and she wore a short, denim skirt that made me want to pull my hair out. I wanted to scoop her up in my jacket and carry her home.

I knew I was attracted to Skylar. I knew I cared deeply about her and wanted to protect her. But I wasn’t prepared for the level of jealousy that hit me tonight.

Aidan kept winning. After each victory, they’d offer him a bigger stuffed animal. If he kept playing, he would eventually get the gargantuan one. After his final win, he stood up from the chair, bent down and lifted Skylar into the air.

His hands were on her ass, and my blood was pumping through my ears. The carnival music began to sound like it was being played backwards along with the drumbeat in my head.

A beastly voice inside me said, “Get the f**k off my girl.”

After they finally walked away with a pink hippo that was practically bigger than she was, I realized Davey had disappeared on me again.

Several minutes passed, and I had lost track of both Davey and Skylar.

Then, I heard Davey’s voice. “Mitch!”

I could have killed him for shouting my name. But it seemed to be coming from the sky. I looked up and saw him waving excitedly from atop the Ferris wheel. He wasn’t alone. It took me a few seconds to realize that sitting next to him…was Aidan.

What the…how in the world?

Davey flashed me a maniacal grin and a peace sign. Aidan looked annoyed, and that pleased me to no end.

“What are you doing here?”

Skylar was still holding the massive hippo when I turned around.

I tried to play it cool. “Oh…hey.”

“Hey.” She wasn’t smiling.

“Um…what is…Aidan doing with Davey on the Ferris wheel?” I asked.

“We were standing in line waiting to go on. Aidan got in first, and out of nowhere, Davey pushes past me and steals my seat. Then, it started moving up so the next person could board, and I couldn’t do anything.”

Remind me to buy Davey another candy apple…with extra nuts.

I bit my lip to stifle a laugh. “No way.”

“Any idea why Davey would do that, Mitch?” She asked with a suspicious look.

I held my hands up but couldn’t contain my smile. “I swear to God. I had nothing to do with it.”

“You didn’t tell me you were coming here tonight.”

“How were you going to go on the Ferris wheel with that hippo anyway?”

“I was going to leave it on the ground and hope no one took it. You didn’t answer my question.”

I played dumb. “What was that?”

“Why you didn’t tell me you were coming. You knew I’d be here.”

“Yeah…that…”

“Are you spying on me?”

“No.”

“Your ears are turning red, Mitch. You’re lying.”

She knew me so well. That really sucked.

“Okay.” I rubbed my temples. “I just wanted to check things out. Make sure you were okay.”

“Do I do that to you when you go out with a different girl every weekend?”

“No. But it’s different. You don’t know how guys are, Skylar. We’re dirty, dirty fuckers. I don’t want him trying to take advantage of you, to touch you. Aidan goes to my school. I know how he is. I—”

“Maybe I want someone to touch me once in a while.”

Fuck.

I was stunned silent before I said, “You don’t mean that…not him.”