Page 146 of Heartless Stepbrother
In her.
Did they notice?
No.
They were too busy watching Derek try to wring seawater out of his hair while someone dared a girl to eat a spoonful of sand.
Idiots.
My attention wasn’t on any of them.
It was on Luna.
She stood with those girls, Malia’s group, half in the firelight, half in the dark. Laughing a little. Trying to look like she belonged here. Trying to hide the way her mind was racing.
I recognized that expression.
I’d seen it on people I cornered in debates, in fights, in moments where someone realized the game wasn’t the one they thought they were playing.
But she didn’t crumble.
Hell no.
She was already recalibrating.
Trying to piece together what she needed to do next to match me.
Good.
Let her try.
Her new friends whispered around her, glancing my way like they were checking if she’d survive round two. They didn’t matter. Not really. They were background noise. Side characters. The kind of people who faded out of my head the moment I wasn’t looking at them.
But Luna?
Luna burned.
I couldn’t look away from her if I tried.
She had no clue how obvious she was.
The way her fingers curled against her thigh.
The way she kept biting the inside of her cheek when she thought no one could see.
The way she kept replaying that kiss in her head, over and over, wondering what it meant.
Wondering why I kissed her like that.
Why I kissedherdifferently than I kissed anyone else.
She wasn’t ready for the truth.
Hell, I wasn’t ready for the truth.
So I pushed it down and reached for my drink instead.
Someone sat down beside me. A girl who’d been trying all night to get my attention. She laughed too loudly, asked if I wanted another dare, leaned in a little too close.
