Page 25 of Game Plan

His face fell, and I felt bad for a moment. “Oh. O-kay. I’ll see you around then.” His shoulders dipped forward, and he cast his eyes downward, looking defeated. Before he could get too far away, I wrapped my fingers around his wrist, holding him back.

Tingles of electricity awoke where our skin met—as powerful as they used to be. I jerked my hand away as if they’d burned me.

“Wait.” Why was I doing that? Explaining myself? I owed Mason nothing. I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. Why was I so nervous? Something was wrong with me whenever he was involved.

He turned to face me, hope playing across his features. He reached for my hand, and I let him. Why did it feel so right? I didn’t want it to feel right. His throat worked on a swallow, and I had to force my gaze away.

“Mel?”

He stepped forward, erasing the distance between our bodies. Could he hear the hammering of my heart? I was being ridiculous. Mason and I were over. My body should have gotten the message by now.

He lifted my chin with a finger, forcing our eyes to level. “What is it?” Even his honey-dripping concerned tone was stirring something in me.

This was bad, and yet, I couldn’t seem to get my legs to work and leave and to keep my mouth shut, knowing my words had the power to hurt him.

“I can’t go anywhere with you because I have a-a…huh…date. Tonight.”

“Tonight?” His tone turned icy, and he let go of my hand, taking another step forward, crowding my space. “With whom?”

I froze under his steely gaze, a witness to the hurt flashing in his blue irises. A tiny slice of my heart broke for the boy I used to be madly in love with for such a long time.

I breathed out and squared my shoulders, wanting to project some confidence. “Jett.”

He blinked. “Jett? Who the fuck is that?”

He cared.

I trembled at the realization and stepped back to put some much-needed distance between us. “Listen, I need to go if I wanna finish my schoolwork and be ready on time.” Why was my voice sounding weak? Gosh, I hated how Mason still affected every particle of me nowadays.

He shut his eyes for a long second before returning his attention to me. “Is he like…your boyfriend or something?” He spoke the words as if they scorched the tip of his tongue.

We stared at each other. Something close to annoyance, or rather anger, banked low in his irises. Soon, it switched to curiosity.

“What happened to Clarke? Did you guys call it quits?”

His nosiness wasn’t welcome. I had no intention of explaining anything to him. No, scratch that. I had no obligation to explain myself to him.

Creating some physical barrier between us, I folded my arms over my chest. “Whatever is going on between Jayden and me is none of your business.”

He mirrored my stance. Thank God he was wearing jeans with his varsity sweatshirt, or else we would have been dressed almost identically. “How long have you known this Jett guy? Where did you meet him? I’m not sure Clarke would appreciate your dating other guys when he’s not around.” He tapped his foot on the linoleum floor, looking restless. He raked his fingers through his hair a few times before cracking his knuckles, something I’d never seen him doing before. He scanned the space around us twice before looking at me again, his jaw locked. “Are you sure it’s a good idea? Are Clarke and you having an open relationship? Is he fucking other chicks on the side?”

Wow, the audacity. “Again. None. Of. Your. Business. And Jett and I, we met…last night. He’s my friend’s older brother.”

Mason kept his eyes trained on mine, the expression painting his face impossible to read.

I felt naked under his stare. I wasn’t sure what to do or say as the truth floated between us. Instead of holding him back earlier, I should have let him leave. His reaction was my fault. I brought it on myself. I was the one who had opened this can of worms and told him about Jett.

“Oh.”

I straightened my posture. The little Oh that left Mason’s lips rubbed me the wrong way. It could mean a thousand different things. I should let it go, but again, I couldn’t seem to do so.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

He cocked one brow. “By what?” Was he playing innocent on purpose? “No idea what you mean.”

“You make me so angry sometimes.”

He smirked, and I wanted to rip it off his gorgeous face with my nails.