Page 33 of Cloudy With a Chance of Bad Decisions

“Congratulations again,” I said, figuring I could part ways now that this troublesome encounter had reached its natural conclusion. “It was good to see you again, Roderick.”

I should’ve known escaping wouldn’t be that easy.

Because apparently, ignoring me was fine, but the secondIignoredAlex? Yeah. He did not fucking like that. His entire focus lasered in on me, the heat of his attention palpable. I froze, stuck halfway out of my chair only to sit right back down.

“I’m confused,” Roderick said.

“We’ve met before,” I answered, meeting Alex’s gaze head-on. “Which iswhyI know I’m not interested.”

“You’ve met?” Roderick only sounded more perplexed. Immediately, visions of Neil’s cerulean blue surface wiggling in the middle of the air assaulted my senses.

“At the airport,” Alex explained.

Alex is going to tell them.

Oh fuck.

My entire body exploded, red-hot and itchy with fear.

“That was my fault.” Juniper wiggled in excitement like she hadn’t just confessed to a despicable crime. “I’m the one who bought the tickets. His mom and I thought, you know…all things considered, it’d be nice if they could get to know each other before they arrived.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Roderick frowned. “I’m a member of the club, too.” I barely heard his words, too focused on what Juniper had said. Suddenly…my mother’s involvement in buying my ticket made a lot more sense.

This had been an elaborate ploy to set us up.

Jesus Christ.

What a goddamn shit show.

And Alex had known.

Of course he’d fucking known.

The whole. Entire. Time.

Why hadn’t he said anything?

Another manipulation.

“That’s how you knew my name.” The words were out before I could stop them. “Not because of the backpack. Because your sister—and my family—set us up.”

I needed to calm down.

But I couldn’t.

“Correct,” Alex’s eyes flickered. He was still studying me. The longer our gazes locked, the more the ice in his eyes faded, bit by bit.

“And you couldn’t haveledwith that?” I knew my voice was strained, but I couldn’t make it stop. “I literallyaskedyou. There was a perfect opportunity to tell the truth—and you lied to my face.”

Calm down, George.

Calm—

“It was more fun that way,” Alex grinned, proving that he was a total dick.

“This isfunfor you?” Vibrating with rage, it took everything I had not to start yelling. I could tell I was getting louder, loud enough we’d definitely attracted attention—but I couldn’t seem to stop. He was cracking my perfect persona. Snapping it right down the middle so that everyone here could see the mushy, broken man beneath.

And Iknewhe was doing it.

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