Page 9 of Facing the Line

“Hadley, you doing okay?” Hunter’s voice startles me, and I spring away from temptation.

“Yep, we’re great,” I hurry to say. “Good as new.”

Hadley holds up her bandaged finger to show her brother as he peers into the bathroom. She gives a grim smile.

“I’m fine. But I should probably go before I get into any more trouble.”

With one last glance, she pushes past me, and I get a whiff of cotton candy again. Damn, now I want to go to a carnival. Or kiss her. Or both.

“See ya later, baby sis. Be careful!” Hunter calls to her retreating back. He turns to me. “Thanks for your help, dude. Ihope you don’t mind, but her mom asked me to keep an eye on her this year. Expect to see Hadley over here a lot.”

Great. Just great. My fairy godmother granted my wish. I found her. And my Cinderella is off-limits.

Chapter

Two

August 2022

HADLEY

Mom: I hope it’s okay, I boxed up some of the stuff you left in your bedroom.

Hadley: Why? I didn’t peg you for a craft room type.

Mom: It has great lighting. It will be perfect for shooting my fitness videos.

“You’ll never believe what happened.” I flop on my extra-long twin bed and turn on my side to face my roommate.

Kendall spins from the mirror where she is inspecting her forehead. She points to a non-existent line above her brows.

“I want to hear about it. But first—do I have a wrinkle here?”

Kendall and I met at Freshman Orientation this summer and instantly hit it off. We both like reality TV, running, and romance novels. She promised to be a neat freak, and she made me laugh. Roommates have been picked for less, and I won the jackpot because so far, she’s as awesome as I expected.

“No way, babe. But if you want, we can do a face mask while I tell you about my day.”

“Okay.” She smiles and digs two options out of her vanity, holding up a tube and two packets. “Charcoal or sheet masks?”

I need to keep my finger dry, so I point to the sheet masks.

“Perfect.” Kendall grabs a headband out of another drawer to keep her wild curls out of her face. When we met, she had long braids but now she’s wearing her black hair in a fluffy halo around her head. Her skin is flawless, probably thanks to her love of beauty products, and her brown eyes twinkle beneath long false lashes. A fan of bold colors and athleisure outfits, she’s gorgeous and upbeat, but not in an annoying way.

I secure my long blonde hair with a ponytail holder and open the packet she gives me. I smooth the slightly slimy sheet over my skin and lay back on my bed.

“Remember the guy I told you about?”

Kendall gasps and sinks onto her bed. “Mystery Guy?”

I confessed everything to Kendall a few nights ago over canned margaritas we bought with her fake ID. Turns out, tequila makes me chatty.

“Yeah.” I didn’t know his name at the time, so in my head, that’s what I called him.

Because I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about him since the night we met. I’d stumbled out to that hotel patio, ready to find a rebound guy and move on from Zane.

Instead, I found Mystery Guy. With dark curly hair I wanted to touch and the sweetest smile that made my heart skip a beat.He was easy to talk to, easier to kiss. And it turns out, he’s worse than Zane, because he lied about his true nature.

I shake my head. “He’s scum.”

---