Page 9 of Break the Rule
“Oh, are you two together?”
Eugene makes a face. “No, I’m gay. Addy is my—” he stops, turning to look at her once more before fixing his gaze on Charlie. “Addy is too good for you. No one-night stands for her. Don’t go near her, you got it?”
Pretty as this Addy person is, the only one Charlie has eyes for tonight is Eugene, so that’s easy.
“Alright,” Charlie agrees. “Does that mean I can hit on you?”
“What, you think because I like your brother you get a free pass?”
“You like Andrew?” Charlie perks up.
“Obviously,” Eugene says with a roll of his eyes. “Jury is out on you.”
Charlie should maybe be offended, but instead he’s happy. There’s no one in the entire world he likes more than Andrew, so when other people like him too, it feelsgood. Maybe it’s weird, but Charlie has never cared one way or another what people think about him or whether they like him, but he cares a whole damn lot about what people think of Andrew.
Eugene’s eyes narrow, gaze appraising Charlie from head to toe. “Why are you dressed so differently?”
“I’m dressed exactly like Andrew.”
Eugene looks at Andrew then back at Charlie. “Yesterday you looked like you dressed yourself in the dark.”
“I did dress myself,” Charlie laughs, charmed by his lack of filter. “It wasn’t dark though.”
“Then who dressed you today?”
“Andrew,” Charlie answers. “Do you like it?”
“You look like a rich asshole.” He drops his gaze to Charlie’s shoes. “Are those Prada?”
“I don’t know,” he answers, turning to ask Andrew only to realize he’s disappeared. Tension pinches his chest. Andrew always makes himself scarce when people are talking to Charlie, despite how many times he’s told him he doesn’t need to.
“Well you look fucking ridiculous,” Eugene says with a deceptively polite smile. The contradiction is charming, as is his honesty.
“Did you like how I looked last night better?” Charlie hedges.
“I didn’t say that,” he mutters.
Like a dog with a bone, Charlie’s chest swells. What he refuses to say is all Charlie needs to have a flicker of hope. He told himself if he got turned down tonight he’d let this guy go, but so far he has not been turned down. Insulted sure, but that’s never put Charlie off. If anything, it makes him like him more.
“Hey, Eugene?”
“What?”
“If I dress myself tomorrow, will you tell me your real name?”
He narrows his pretty eyes, the overhead lights glinting off his sparkling gold eyeshadow. “I guess we’ll see tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” Charlie echoes.
3EDEN
“I’m gonna find you!”
Footsteps thud on the linoleum floor while cupboard doors slam open and shut, every rattle of fake wood shaking the pantry Eden’s crouched in.
There’s nothing that can save him now. He’s going to get found any second. He’s?—
“Gotcha!” Ella screeches, yanking the pantry door open. The jingle of her hair beads echoes in the otherwise quiet kitchen as she drops to her knees. “How did you fit in there?”
