Page 9 of Chance Encounter

Every muscle in my body goes rigid. Why is he such an asshole? I swear it’s like he lived on a different timeline than I did because nothing he said in the kitchen actually happened, and yet with the furious looks and the hateful words over the years, I almost believe him—except I was there, and I know what went down.

“No,Ididn’t change my mind. Sally did. She’s at the bottom of the stairs, sitting there and staring at the door. Do you think she’s waiting outside to kill me?”

Seriously, what did I do in this life or a past life to warrant a bear wanting to eat me?

4

CHANCE

My eyes roll so hardit hurts. “Doubtful. You didn’t hurt one of her cubs by any chance, did you?”

“No,” he rushes out. “Until Sally came out of the trees and went all Attila the Hun on me, I hadn’t seen her. I swear she hates the way I smell or something. I did nothing to her.”

My back teeth slam together in annoyance, and I feel the enamel grind from the force. “You did something. I don’t know what, but definitely something. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were some tourist. It’s like you live in your own world, and I have no clue what’s going on around you.”

“Maybe I do, but that’s only because you made the entire town hate me.”

What the hell is he talking about?

“And how did I do that?”

“Are you telling me you don’t remember when you outed me to the entire town after our Championship game?” Maddox snaps, his blue eyes flaring with hate.

“Our junior year? That was forever ago. Why are you still holding onto that?”

“Maybe because after that night, the entire town hated me. No one wanted to be my friend because they were afraid I’d try to make a pass at them. I have no friends to this day.” The fire in his eyes extinguishes as his mouth turns down.

Did Maddox seriously not have any friends? Although I don’t know why I’m so surprised; I don’t have any either.

“It’s not my fault you don’t have any friends. Maybe they don’t want to be your friend because you’re an asshole to them.”

“This is pointless. You’re just going to argue with me just for the sake of arguing. What we need to do is figure out how to get that damn bear away from the house so you can take me home.”

“So, you’re willing to risk death in order to get away from me?”

“That sounds about right. If the bear doesn’t kill me, I’m sure you will.”

“As annoying as I find you, I’m not going to kill you. I’m too pretty to go to prison.”

Maddox’s eyes zero in on my mouth, and I swear I hear his breath quicken.

He lets out an unamused chuckle. “It’s good to know the reason you won’t kill me is that you don’t want to be gang-raped in prison.”

Taking a step back, I leaned back against the kitchen counter. “Whoa, who said anything about getting gang-raped?”

“Oh,” his eyes light up. “Does that idea excite you?”

“What kind of sexual deviant do you think I am? Not now nor will I ever want to be ganged-raped.”

He gives me a disbelieving look. “So, you say.”

“Maybe I’ll just push you out the front door and let Sally eat you. If anyone finds any of your body parts, I’ll say I have no idea how you got onto my property.”

It’s so damn fun to rile him up.

“I’m just going to call Garrison to come pick me up.” He pats his pockets and then scowls. “Shit, I forgot I was the dumbass who decided to leave home without his phone.” He tilts his head back and groans. “Fuck my life.”

“If you want, you can use my phone,” I offer.

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