Page 26 of Game Plan

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. I know for a fact how smart you are. Stop playing dumb.”

He pointed to his chest with a thumb. “Me, dumb? Did the chlorine water make it to your brain earlier? I really have no idea what you expect me to say here. Please, enlighten me, Shepard.”

“Don’t call me Shepard. You lost that right.”

He snickered. “Since when? I’ve always called you Shepard. Aren’t you being a bit overdramatic? You’re acting like I’m the enemy here, Shepard. Want to tell me why you’re upset right now? If you need a good lay to calm your nerves, I can help with that too. Or I can feed you my dick if you need to be shut up.”

I blinked half a dozen times, unsure if I’d heard him right. “Who are you? What have you done to the Mase I used to know?”

“He wasn’t good enough for you, so I guess he’s not useful to me anymore. I’m taking a card from Clarke’s playbook. Don’t you like it when I act all alpha and shit? I thought that was your type? Unless guys like Nichols, dickheads who talk to you like you’re a side piece, are more your type these days?”

If only I could murder him with my eyes, pieces of Mason Pierce would be scattered all over the floor right now. “Is this your new college persona?”

“What?”

“Arghhhh. Why do I need to spell everything to you today? Is exasperating me your thing now? Oh, sorry, want me to spell it for you? It’s a bit of a complicated word. E-X-A-S-P-E-R-A-T-I-N-G.” I winked as if we were both in on the joke.

Mason’s face remained impassive. “Is this your attempt at making jokes, Shepard? You should work on it because it’s not very funny. Ha. Ha. See? It’s not working. Even I am not impressed. It says a lot because I used to drink every word you spoke like it was the best fucking thing I’d ever heard. My own fucking poison. Until it killed me. Well played, Shepard.”

Our fight no longer had anything to do with my date tonight. It was the sum of everything that had happened between us in the last year.

Without doing it on purpose, we had both erased the space between us while we bantered about stuff that didn’t matter, and I couldn’t even recall how it had all started.

We shared the same air, our gazes fused together, neither of us backing down.

His irises turned a dark shade of blue, looking like two abysses that could swallow me whole if I weren’t careful. His lips appeared pinker than usual. I didn’t know why, but right now, I was more attracted to him than I’d been in a long time.

His gaze flicked between my mouth and my eyes as if he couldn’t decide which one he preferred.

My entire being vibrated with awareness.

I chewed on my bottom lip, feeling vulnerable when he watched me like he could eat me up and swallow me whole.

“I kinda hate you right now.” My hand flew to cover my mouth. I didn’t mean to speak my thoughts out loud. “It’s not really hate, I⁠—”

“I kinda don’t hate you right now.” His gaze shimmered with a hint of mischievousness. “I’m just trying to figure you out.”

“I’m not the same girl I used to be.”

“I can see that. I love the spikes you’ve grown since our last face-off. They suit you.”

Mason erased all the distance between us, and I stepped back until I bumped into the wall behind me, his gaze never leaving mine.

The air thickened around us.

My brain went blank. My breathing hitched.

He leaned in, his mouth a hair’s breadth from mine.

All my senses woke up. This was bad. I wasn’t allowed to be attracted to him. And he shouldn’t make a move either. It would only complicate things even more than they already were.

Time stopped.

We stared at each other—or rather, Mason eye-fucked me. Every cell in my body vibrated, and I had no idea what I should do now. I had to think, and fast.

“By the way, Jayden isn’t a douchebag.” These were the first words that came to my mind.

Mason smirked. “If you say so.”