“I never understood where that came from,” she replied. “No offence, but you never seemed all that chipper to me.”
I assessed her expression carefully. Had she really forgotten the clothes that never measured up? The years of torment? I couldn’t easily dismiss my own feelings about it, but I had been on the receiving end. Maybe it never really mattered to Amber at all. Maybe it didn’t occur to her the experience had been traumatizing for me, or she didn’t have a clue that even years later, I had to remind myself that I wasn’t that awkward girl with the dangerous father.
Just something else to occupy her time.
Her eyes were wide, and she was smiling innocently at me.
“Buck teeth,” I muttered.
“Pardon me?”
I opened my mouth to repeat myself, then closed it again when a thick arm snaked around her waist.
“Joey!” she complained, but didn’t pull away.
Feeling awkward, I drew my gaze away from the sight of the manly fingers splayed possessively across Amber’s stomach. My eyes went to her boyfriend’s face. He was grinning at me, and he looked awfully familiar.
You have got to be kidding me, I thought.
“Joey, Chipper. Chipper, Joey,” introduced Amber.
I didn’t bother to correct her on the name.
Better that he not know so he can’t splash me all over the school newspaper. I won’t be known again for what my dad did.
Joey shot me a sly wink. “Chipper. Haven’t we met somewhere before?”
“Joey, stop flirting with her. I’ll get jealous,” Amber said lightly.
“I don’t need to flirt,” he replied. “I have money and I’m good looking.”
I rolled my eyes. “Because that’s all it takes.”
Joey shrugged. “Most of the time.”
Amber’s smile faded a little. “Do you two know each other?”
“No,” I stated quickly at the same time as Joey nodded and said, “Yep.”
Amber laughed, but I could tell it wasn’t real.
“Not officially,” I muttered. “First, he was in my dorm, then he was in my business meeting.”
“Was he?” Amber’s voice was high.
She wriggled away and began setting up her table in jerky motions. Joey met my stare and shook his head slightly.
Did he want me to protect him? Fat chance of that happening.
I shook my head, too, and went back to unpacking my own stuff.
I watched Joey from the corner of my eye. He looked annoyed, but also a little amused. He took a step closer to Amber and whispered something into her hair. I watched in amazement as all the tension left her body. She smiled, leaned against his chest for a second, and then pushed him away playfully.
“Seriously?” I said out loud to myself.
The little display reminded me exactly why I’d been steering clear of men since Mark betrayed me. Manipulative, unpredictable and full of themselves. As a species.
I stacked up my pamphlets irritably.
“So…what are you selling?” Joey’s voice, right in my ear, made me jump and knock over half of my display.
“I’m not selling anything. Were you paying any attention at the meeting?” I asked, wondering how the heck he managed to get hired at the paper at all.
Right, I reminded myself. He’s good looking. And has money.
I knelt down to pick up the mess, and just about toppled over as Joey bent down beside me. His arm brushed mine, and a startling heat rushed through me. I jerked away. I was glad that Joey was staring at my promotional materials rather than at me. The last thing I wanted was for him to see the blush creeping up from my neck to my cheeks.
I glanced over at Amber. She was chatting pleasantly with a group of potential customers. She’d unpacked a whole pile of expensive-looking jewelry and held up a particularly sparkly bracelet to one of the girls in front of her.
When I looked back at Joey, he was staring at me.
“You’re a gardener?” he wanted to know.
“Yes,” I snapped.
“And that’s how you’re raising money for this pet project of yours?”
I didn’t like the way he said pet project.
“I told you I’m not doing an interview,” I reminded him.
“Why not? The press would be good for your cause, wouldn’t it?”
I clenched my teeth. “It’s personal, okay? I just don’t want my name splashed all over the place. I’d rather have the charity speak for itself.”
Why am I even telling him this?
Joey tapped his chin thoughtfully, then grinned.
“Maybe I’ll come at the story from a different angle,” he stated. “I can see the headline now. Secret identity of altruistic student, once shrouded in mystery, revealed here for the first time at the Trans U Tattler.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
He shrugged. “Probably not. But why risk it?”
I met his eyes. They were oh-so-green, and maybe almost kind. But too damned curious, and too damned smart. I got the distinct feeling that in spite of his flippant attitude and too-shiny smile, there was something more to him.
But what?
“What’s so interesting over here that you’re practically ignoring me?” Amber’s teasing question made both Joey and me jump.
I broke off my stare, and shuffled the papers on my table. Joey just continued to grin.
“I was just telling your friend Chipper a little about your jewelry business,” he stated.
She stared at me blankly for a minute. “Oh! Don’t listen to Joey. It’s my little sister’s jewelry. A project for the seniors at her school. They have to make something, sell it and donate ten percent of the money to charity.”
“But you’re selling it,” I pointed out.
Amber didn’t even have the grace to blush.
“It’s not cheating,” she assured me with a dismissive wave. “Mom and Dad took her to the Caribbean for her birthday. The money’s due Monday and they’re not back until late Sunday. Anyway our parents said they would buy it all, but…you know how teachers are.”
“Right.” I barely managed to keep my sarcasm in check.
“Well, what do you sell?”
I did blush. “I’m not really selling a product, either.”
“So what are you doing here?”
“I’m a gardener,” I started to explain, then stopped.
I felt silly, confessing my need to protect the community center. It was exactly the kind of thing that got me teased in high school. My home life made me hyperaware of the need around me, but when you’re the only girl out of four hundred who cares about something other brand name jeans, people notice.
Amber was looking at me expectantly.
“Altruism,” Joey finally said. “She’s fundraising, too.”
Amber frowned. “By selling gardening services?”
“Why don’t you show me some of your sister’s stuff?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation away from me.
Joey met my eyes again, and when he winked knowingly, I blushed.
Amber grabbed my hand and pulled me over to her table, where she pointed out delicate earring sets and long, beaded necklaces. They were a far cry from the usual hemp and stone jewelry available at the market. The prices were high—between fifty and a hundred dollars for each item—but I suspected the materials were worth even more. I didn’t know what a Swarovski crystal was, but I was sure it was something fancy.
“You want that one?” Amber asked.
I was running my fingers over a long string of polished rocks. I dropped it on the table abruptly.
“I can’t afford it,” I blurted.
Amber tilted her head to one side as if trying to figure out if I was kidding. “It’s only seventy bucks.”
“I know.”
I was really starting to wonder if she didn’t remember anything about me but the awful nickname. My dad and his degenerate ways had been no secret where we came
from, nor had the apartment where I had lived. The fire and the resulting deaths had catapulted the family name to something not too far from infamy. But Amber was smiling brightly, apparently oblivious to my previous life circumstances.
“Maybe you’ll make enough in profits today to pay me back,” she said.
“I’m okay, really. Besides, I don’t take any profits from what I do.”
“None?”
I shook my head.
“Give it to her as a gift, Amber,” Joey suggested.
“A gift?” Amber and I said together.
Joey nodded. “I insist. And things get ugly when I don’t get my way.”
I started to laugh, then realized he was serious. He wanted her to give me a seventy-dollar necklace like it was cereal-box prize. And Amber was already tucking the jewelry into a bag.
“I’m not taking that,” I hissed at Joey.
“Either she gives it to you, or I buy it for you,” Joey replied, then leaned in close enough that I could smell his understated cologne. “Go ahead and decide which is going to make you feel less comfortable.”
My face heated up.
“Thank you, Amber,” I said stiffly.
She handed it over with an equally stiff smile. I shoved the whole thing into my backpack with a beet-red face, and sighed thankfully as a group of customers approached my table.
* * *
Although working alongside Amber and Joey was uncomfortable, it had a surprising benefit. She’d invited plenty of her friends down to support her sister’s cause, and they were all buying. Every one of them was happy to take my business card and flyer, and most said their parents would be dying to try someone new. I didn’t even care that they all assumed I was piggybacking on Amber’s fundraising efforts.
But I was still relieved when one o’clock rolled around and the market was packing in for the day. Being nice to the privileged was wearing on me. And so were Joey’s teasing jibes and intense stares.
“How’d you do, Chipper?” he asked as I shoved my materials back into my bag.
“Not that it’s your business, but really well, actually. If even half of these people hire me, I’ll make a huge dent in what I need to finish my project.”
Joey frowned. It was the first time I’d seen him look anything but overly pleased all day.
“What?” I said.
He shook his head. “Nothing. That’s good news. You want to come with us for a late lunch?”
“Even if that idea appealed to me, I can’t,” I told him. “I have work.”
“You work?” Amber’s voice was not quite horrified, but close.
“I have to pay for school somehow,” I replied.
“Didn’t you get some big scholarship, though?” Amber asked.
“No,” I snapped.
At my tone, both Joey and Amber balked.
Amber was right about the scholarship, but the reason I’d chosen not to accept it was far too personal to share. After everything that happened, the bottom line was that the college with the “big” scholarship was just too close to home, too close to accusing eyes and resentful memories. And that was just somewhere that I couldn’t stand to be. So I’d taken a smaller, less comprehensive scholarship at Trans U, and even though it meant I had to work to earn a living, I never regretted it.
And I suddenly needed to get as far away from them as possible. Maybe it was partly my own paranoia about the über-wealthy, and partly my inability to let go of the past. Either way, I couldn’t stand the thought of being near the two of them a second longer.
“I’ve got to go,” I muttered.
I slung my backpack over my shoulder and took off through the dwindling crowd of vendors.
“Hey!” called a voice from behind me.
Joey.
I stepped up my pace.
“Hey!”
I tried to move even faster, but one of my bare feet caught on a rock and I went flying, twisting my ankle on the way down. In seconds, Joey was at my side with his arm around my shoulders. His proximity sent a startling current of unwanted awareness through my body.
His arm was leanly muscled and tanned a golden brown. Tawny strands of hair dotted his skin and reflected the sunlight. Soothing warmth soaked from his body to mine, seeping through my T-shirt and down across my shoulders. I was vaguely aware of the throb in my ankle, but it paled in comparison to the feel of my pulse racing through every one of my veins.
I dragged my eyes up to Joey’s, and heat flooded my face as I took in the fine details of his features.
Thick lashes framed irises of the deepest green. Full and evenly arched eyebrows highlighted a single, thoughtful crease in his forehead. The hint of a dimple graced his left cheek and the barest suggestion of stubble caressed his jaw. His lips curled up at the edges. They looked taught and tempting, and for one long, terrible second, I had a crippling urge to close the gap between us, to pull those lips between mine, and to find out if they really were that perfect blend of soft and firm, rough and smooth.
I took a gasping breath and forced my eyes away. But almost immediately, I found myself looking back at him. I saw my own desire reflected in his eyes, raw and full of heated expectation. His eyes fixed on my lips, and he took in a ragged breath before bringing his gaze back to mine. When he did, I caught a glimpse of something more. It was equally raw, but more caring, more emotional. Like what I’d seen when I’d tripped over him in dorm hallway. It made my heart thud unevenly, and I realized that I was staring at him. I ripped my gaze away again.
“Hey,” he said softly.
“Is that your favorite word, or what?”
“You’re an angry girl, aren’t you?” Joey sounded entertained by his observation.
“Not at all,” I retorted, knowing fully well that the words had also come out angrily.
“Really?”
“At least I wasn’t until I met you,” I added.
“Not the usual effect I have on women.”
I wanted to knock him down a peg. Or three.
“I guess that’s a pretty good indication of what kind of women you’ve been spending time with,” I told him.
Joey snorted to cover a laugh. “How’s your ankle?”
“What?”
“That region where your foot meets your leg? Made of three joints—the talocrural, the subtalar and the inferior tibiofibular?”
“What are you? A doctor?” I replied grumpily. “Or do you just have a superiority complex?”
“Neither.”
He slid his arm from my shoulders and moved so he could bring his hand to my foot. I pretended not to notice that Joey’s fingers trailed the length of my leg as he did so. When he reached my ankle, he was suddenly all business. He ran his thumb expertly over the places that didn’t hurt and gently prodded the places that did. I winced ever so slightly when he hit a particularly tender spot, and he murmured an apology.
“Can you rotate it a bit?” he asked when he was finished his careful examination.
He leaned back on his heels and watched as I moved my foot in a circle, first one way and then the other. Joey nodded with satisfaction and stood.
“If I try to help you up…are you going to rip my arm off?” His face was completely straight.
I chose to ignore both his words and his expression, and used his proffered hand to yank myself up. I tested my footing. It hurt a bit to put pressure on the ankle, but I could walk with just a bit of a limp.
Joey looked pleased. “I don’t think it’s a sprain, but you might want to keep off it for a few days anyway.”
“I thought you weren’t a doctor,” I replied irritably.
“And I thought you weren’t an angry girl.” He winked.
“I take it a lot of women fall for this charming little act of yours?”
He didn’t look offended. “What makes you think it’s an act?”
“Isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “Do you want a hand getting back to your vehicle?”
&
nbsp; “I don’t drive.”
“At all?”
“Not at the moment,” I said, unable to keep a bit of smugness from my voice. “Trying to minimize my carbon footprint.”
Joey rolled his eyes. “Do you want a hand back to my vehicle then?”
“Listen, Joey. I’m sure you’re a nice guy. In some way. But I walk on purpose. I’m only ten minutes away. If I have to go somewhere farther, I either ride my bike or take the bus. Even my gardening business is eco-friendly. I’m majoring in environmental—” I cut myself off abruptly as I realized I was babbling, and he was grinning so widely that his dimple had become a deep cut in his cheek. “I don’t owe you an explanation.”
“No, you don’t. But that was a nice speech,” Joey smirked.
His self-satisfied smile made me bristle. I spun on my heel and pretended it didn’t hurt at all as I limped away.
* * *
I managed to get myself all the way to the dorm before I gave in to the ache and collapsed in front of my building.
“Owww!” I moaned.
“Trip over yourself again, Tucks?”
I didn’t have to turn around to know who had spoken.
“Don’t call me that, Mark,” I said.
“Sorry, babe. It just came out.”
“What are you doing here? It’s already been a long day, and I don’t need you to make it any worse.”
My ex put his hands up in a surrendering gesture, and gave me one of the crooked smiles I used to love.
“I’m here to make your day better, actually.”
“Doubtful.”
“Can I come in?” he asked.
“I don’t think so.”
Mark frowned as if just clueing in that I wasn’t happy to see him.
“You know that you texted me last night, right?”
“You know that it’s weird that you’re in the same city as me, right?” I countered.
“Two more days and it wouldn’t even have been my number, babe. That doesn’t seem like fate to you?”
I snorted. “Right. Babe.”
“I didn’t even know you were here, Tucker. You took off without a word.”
“Why would I? You made it none of your business when you brought another girl into your bed. Or couch, as the case happens to be here,” I retorted.
I paused, staring at him, waiting for him to offer an explanation, to defend his actions, or to say he was sorry for them. I wanted to ask why. But I didn’t. That would make it seem too much like I cared.
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