Page 29 of Apparently, I’m Torture

She stiffened, shock and surprise twisting her brows as she turned to me. “What do you care? I’ve been studying all day; I need a break. And Trevor’s a nice guy.”

“A nice guy?”

I turned away, trying to stem my jealousy.

So Trevor was a nice guy, and what was I? What did Lilly see me as? What was it about him that she wanted?

I focused on working the machine so I could get the pair of them out the door, but Lilly could tell I was upset.

“Shawn, what’s going on with you? What’s wrong?” Lilly asked, her small hand barely spanning my bicep.

“Nothing.”

I wanted to shrug off her touch as much as I wanted to whirl around, pull her close and kiss her. Fuck this. Fuck this feeling and fuck Mia for riling me up the way she did.

I shut my eyes as Mia’s sing-song teasing pushed its way into my ears. “You can always come with us if you want.”

I tightened my jaw and shook my head.

“Oh, come on. It’ll be fun. We’ll just strip your shirt off and paint you.” Mia clapped. “Now that would be fun.” She turned to Lilly and whispered, her voice loud enough for me to hear. “Do you think he’s a big boy under those jeans? I’d skip this party just to find out, wouldn’t you?”

I could hear how flustered Lilly was as she cried, “Mia. Okay, I think you need to get laid more than I do. Quit perving on Shawn and let’s go.”

Her fingertips brushed mine, and I lifted my stare to meet hers. “Are you okay?” she whispered, confusion still pulling her lips tight.

I shrugged. “I’m fine. Just tired.”

She wasn’t convinced. I took a breath and tried to make up for snapping at her. “You deserve a break. Go have fun.”

She gave my hand a squeeze and I studied the wood at my fingertips as they collected their stuff and turned to leave.

“Bye Shawn,” Mia sang. Her teasing filled the shop and shattered my temper.

Chapter 11

Shawn

Monday afternoon

Tristy’s coffee shop

Last week, Lilly came to work and told me all about that costume party, and how she’d been roped into planning it alongside Stacey. She should’ve been spending her time studying instead of trying to satisfy her sorority president, but trying to get Lilly to stop people-pleasing was like pulling teeth out of an angry bull. Dangerous with an extremely low success rate.

And I heard all about Trevor. All about how he pinned her to a wall and stuck his tongue in her mouth.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like Trevor?” she asked, looking up at me.

My body was tight, eyes fixed on the display window in front of me. I was grinding my teeth to dust, picturing Trevor’s face as I cut that same tongue out and waved it in front of his terrified blue eyes. His garbled scream would be almost as satisfying as Lilly’s husky moans.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Are you sure? You look kind of angry.”

“I’m not angry.” I tried to get past her, knowing if I stayed, I’d boil over.

Her hand wrapped around my arm. “Shawn–”

“I’m fine, Lilly,” I said, faking a calm I didn’t feel as I eased myself out of her grip. “I just… want to get back to work.”