Ten (the person)
“You son of a bitch!” I growled as I collided with Nate and we both slammed up against the wall. Near his head, a picture rattled.
My forearms were pressed against his chest, all my body weight thrown into him. He was bigger, but I wasn’t a wuss. My body was honed from all the dancing and performing I did during shows. I wasn’t someone who couldn’t hold his own.
“I’m kidding!” he choked out, breath whooshing from his chest.
The sudden anger I had subsided just enough to make me realize what the fuck I was doing. And also what he just said.
I shoved off him and forced my hands through my hair.
“What the fuck, Nate? You better be kidding.”
“I am,” he said, straightening his shirt. “Kinda.”
I growled, and he held up his hands. “Down, boy!”
“Explain,” I demanded.
“Shit, man,” Nate swore. “Didn’t know you take your ladies so seriously.”
“I don’t.” I glared.
“Right,” he said, clearly unconvinced.
I made an impatient sound, and Nate cleared his throat.
“I was sort of staking out her building. You know, hanging out, waiting to see if she’d show up.”
“I didn’t tell you to stalk her.”
“Good thing I was,” he said, not even bothered by the fact he was stalking. “‘Cause some guy was hassling her, and—”
My shoulders tensed. “Wait. What?”
Nate nodded. “Some frat guy. Grabbed her a couple times.”
I started to pace.
“Damn, Ten. I know you’re a hothead, but cool down. She’s fine.”
“Just tell me what happened,” I muttered, unable to “cool” down. Not until I knew she was okay. An image flashed into my mind of her sitting in the gallery against that giant ball, blond hair in her face.
“He asked her out. She said no, but he wasn’t too happy about it.”
It never even occurred to me that Violet might have a boyfriend. Or another guy in her life. The thought wasn’t welcome. In fact, it made me jealous.
“So I pretended to be her date to the party. Gave her an excuse to give the goober the boot.”
“So you only asked her out to get rid of the ass.” I nodded. “Good call.”
“Well, yeah, but then the dude bet me forty bucks and the cover for the party that I would show up with her.”
I frowned. “Why would he do that?”
Nate shrugged. “‘Cause she always made excuses to not go out with him.”
Was this guy so hard up he had to badger her for a date? Why didn’t he just accept the fact she wasn’t interested?
“You told him to fuck off, right?”
Nate didn’t say anything. My eyes narrowed, and he made a face.
“It’s forty bucks, man.”
I muttered some choice words beneath my breath. “I’m a fucking millionaire! If you needed cash, you should have asked me!”
Nate’s jaw hardened. “I’m not taking your money.”
“But you’ll take my girl!” I burst out.
“She’s your girl now?” Nate ribbed.
No, she wasn’t. Not yet, anyway. But he couldn’t have her. “I asked you to find out about her. For me. I didn’t want you to fucking date her.”
I sat on the bed, pissed at myself. Kinda pissed at her. Obviously, meeting me last night hadn’t affected her at all. If it had, she wouldn’t have so readily agreed to go out with my cousin. I had to admit it stung. Right there in the center of my chest. It was a feeling I didn’t know very well, a feeling I didn’t particularly like.
“It’s just as friends, so I can win the bet and she can show up and get Ross off her back.”
“Ross? That the guy who’s giving her trouble?”
“I don’t know if I’d call it trouble. She seems well equipped to handle that guy. That girl is a firecracker!”
I felt my cheeks rise with my grin. “Yeah.” I agreed fondly. “She accused me of being a criminal.”
Nate cackled. “I like her.”
I stood up swiftly and stared him down.
He held up his hands. “Chill. You got dibs.”
“Dibs? Are we in third grade?”
Nate smiled slow. I couldn’t help it. I did the same. At the same time, we said, “Stacey Handler.”
We’d both had a crush on her, but Nate always claimed dibs because he went to school with her, and I only saw her in the summer.
“Whatever happened to Stacey?” I mused.
“She married a marine and moved to California.”
I smiled fast. “Guess neither of us got dibs.”
“Look, bro. I was just trying to help her out. Didn’t like seeing that guy hassle her. Then we got to talking… She’s pretty cool. I figured if I kept our ‘date,’” he said, using his fingers to put air quotes around the word, “then I could find out more about her.”
“Where’s the party?” I asked.
“Beta Phi.”
“Lots of people gonna be there? Lots of booze?”
“It’s a frat party,” he said like it was a given.
“I’m coming with.”
“Three’s a crowd on a date, man.”
I gave him a dry look. “You can stay home.”
He appeared outraged. “I’m getting my forty bucks!”
I shook my head, bewildered. “I can’t believe she agreed to go out with you.” I think that bothered me more than anything.
She wasn’t supposed to want anyone, not after she just met me.
I wasn’t used to this. To actually having to work to see a girl. To get her to like me. If I was being myself right now (Ten), then I would already have won her over. Her counter would be filled with flowers, I’d have some expensive restaurant rented out, and I’d pick her up in my Lamborghini.
I couldn’t be Ten, though. I had to be Stark. Stark, the guy who wasn’t a pop star. The guy who wasn’t hated by everyone, who was a broke college student and drove a piece-of-shit Jeep.
I had to win her over without any star power. Without any money. Without being the guy she clearly hated.
Why was I even bothering? All this work for some girl I spent less than an hour with.
A girl who doesn’t know who or what you are. A girl who smiles at you anyway.
I mean, let’s be serious here. How long could I realistically keep my identity from her? Not long.
I want to see her again.
“She told me it was just as friends,” Nate said.
“What?” I asked, braking my thoughts.
Nate nodded. “She’s totally into someone else. She made it clear.”
“Who?” I demanded. Damn all these guys walking around on campus, tempting her.
“Wouldn’t tell me. I’d be willing to bet my forty bucks it’s you.”
I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. A thrill shot up my spine and danced around inside me. It could totally be me.
“I’m coming with you,” I told Nate again.
It was a risk. There was major potential to out my own identity.
I was going to do it anyway.
I had a feeling she was a risk worth taking.