Page 23 of Scarlett and the Kiss Thief

Chapter 7 – A Classic Hunter Hunter Mess Around

Thursday

“He’s waiting for you,” Liam said as we walked up to the school.

I stared at Axel sitting all alone on the front steps of Empire High. “He could be waiting for anyone.”

“He’s definitely waiting for you,” my dad said.

Good God, why?Why were my little brother and my father having this awkward conversation about my lack of a love life with me right now?

“We’re going to give her a coronary,” Liam said with a laugh.

“Good morning, Axel,” my dad said when we reached the steps.

“Morning, Uncle James,” Axel said, but didn’t stand up.

Uncle James. We aren’t related. Stop calling my dad that!

“The bell is going to ring in just a couple minutes. Don’t be late, you two.”

“I’ll get her to class on time,” Axel said.

My dad nodded and he and Liam walked up the rest of the stairs and into the school.

Axel lifted the corner of his mouth in that smile that seemed reserved just for me. And I swear my heart leapt.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey.”

I waited for him to mention the fact that I was still wearing his jacket. I waited for him to say anything else at all. But he didn’t offer anything else.

“I’m grounded,” I said. “For a week. Which means no party tomorrow night.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that when you got dressed for school yesterday.”

Excuse me?He had to be kidding me right now. “We both know perfectly well that I wasn’t dressed any differently than any other girl here.”

“You already know how I feel about that,” he said.

Yeah. He liked when my skirt was to my knees and I was wearing glasses. Only…that was a lie. Because he’d never said anything about that until yesterday. Sophie thought he was just being jealous. But what was there to be jealous of exactly? I was literally wearing his varsity jacket.

I cleared my throat. “Regardless, I think I’ll be able to go. Liam is concocting some kind of elaborate escape plan.”

Axel smiled. “I bet RJ is helping with that.”

“Oh, 100%.” RJ was all about masterminding crazy plans.

“You seriously couldn’t wait one minute, asshole?” Jacob asked as he walked up the stairs, his eyes directed at Axel. Even though he’d called Axel an asshole, he didn’t actually sound mad.

Axel shrugged. “I didn’t want to be late.”

“Yeah, right.”

Jacob and Axel always came to school together. Usually in Axel’s Escalade. I turned to see Jacob’s truck in the parking lot. It stuck out because unlike the other cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, it was really old and dinged up. It was probably older than I was. And I kind of loved that truck. I liked that it was different. I liked that Jacob was different.

“I see you’ve ditched the sky-high heels today,” Jacob said.

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