Page 15 of Tainted Romance

He laughed. “You look cute blushing.”

“Well, I better never blush again then.”

“I could get you to blush in a second.”

“Mighty confident, aren’t you?”

“Let me just say, I know what effect I have on you.” He moved closer to me, placing a hand on my thigh. “And I know how to use it to my advantage.”

I turned to look at him, my cheeks slightly faded. “Two can play at that game.” I pulled on my own control and confidence. I would not let him get the upper hand.

“Ok then, let’s make a little bet.” He kept his hand on my thigh, and it was driving me crazy. My skin was tingling with joy and pleasure. “I bet I can have you begging for me before you have me begging for you.”

A game of jealousy and emotions - it was sure to end in disaster. “Deal.” I smirked at him.

“You do know this is going to end with me banging you, don’t you?” he spoke with confidence, and his eyes flashed with need and desire.

“Like I said, Zane, you’re too confident.”

We both knew we shouldn’t be doing this. We both knew this attraction we felt for each other was going to overcome us one day but, right now, why not have fun with it and I wasn’t going to back down or lose. If there was one thing I hated more than this town, that was losing.

Chapter Six

I wasn’t the nicest or the sweetest person. I wasn’t going to lie and say I didn’t get why people ignored me. Actually, when I really think about it, I liked that people avoided me. It meant I didn’t have to fake niceness.

But today everyone and everything was annoying me more than normal. Blake was sitting next to me, phone out and messaging someone. Chase was across from us, headphones in and playing some game on his phone.

The three of us took up a round table that could easily fit eight people, but no one dared join us as the Falcon boys were also not known for being nice.

Zane was sitting three tables over. Yes, I knew exactly where he was. I also knew he had brought the brunette who he currently had his arm around to lunch. I knew all this because, like a stalker, I had been watching his every move. I hated myself for it.

I still couldn’t work out if he was trying to make me jealous, or really into her. Hell, she was pretty, I wouldn’t say she wasn’t.

“Are you going to smoke one of those, or just keep playing with it?” Blake asked, nodding to the cigarette in my hand.

“Don’t know.” I shrugged and continued to roll it around in my hand. “Are you going to get off your phone for five minutes?”

He arched his eyebrows. “Why are you so grumpy?”

“I’m not,” I snapped, still looking in Zane’s direction.

“I’m going to, um, get a drink.” I pushed away from the table, my chair scraping on the floor. Their table was close to the lunch line. Maybe I could overhear their conversation. Sure, I could just break into his mind, but then he would know I was interested and shamefully jealous.

Why was the line so bloody long? Couldn’t they hire another person to serve or something? Seriously, two people running a cafeteria for hundreds of students - that made real sense.

I hadn’t had any classes with Zane this morning, so I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing him. So, when I did, I felt nothing but bitterness when I saw him with her. Also, seeing them had instantly put me in a shitty mood.

“Zane, stop it,” I overheard the brunette giggle.

I rolled my eyes, keeping my head forward and my back to them.

“You alright?” An arm slipped around my waist, but it wasn’t who I wanted it to be. Blake looked at me slightly worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I kept my arms crossed and took a step forward as the line moved.

“You’re acting weird.” He frowned. I was well aware Zane could hear us, and I didn’t want him thinking he had got to me.

“It’s my mom; she’s just put me in a bad mood. Don’t stress about it.” I shot him a tight smile to seal the lie.

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