Out of Mind (Out of Line #3)(34)
Author: Jen McLaughlin

“Yeah. Sure he doesn’t.” Marie pulled out a clean—maybe?—towel and chucked it at me. I caught it reflexively. “He’ll be here in ten minutes, so you better go shower and shave.”

“I don’t have to shave,” I said, my voice low.

“Have you seen those legs?”

“Yeah, it’s not that bad.” I lifted my leg and looked at my calf. Then, well, I flinched. “Okay, you’re right. I’ll shave.” I looked at my phone and opened Hernandez’s text. Address? I gave it to him before I tossed the phone aside. “’K, off I go.”

“Is Sourpuss coming?” Marie asked, applying her eyeshadow.

She acted as if she hated him all the time, but every time we got together with him, Marie came to life. I’d bet my bottom dollar that she got off on their arguing. “Yep. Wear red. He likes it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Now you’re the crazy one.”

I laughed and headed for the showers, feeling a little bit lighter for the first time since I’d gotten my heart broken by the guy who’d sworn he would always love me. I tried not to think about it much, but it was hard. Especially when my new guard was his freaking BFF. At first, I’d tried to avoid Hernandez out of principle. Dad kept sending him after me, though, and I’d realized I wasn’t punishing Dad or Finn by avoiding the tail. I was punishing Hernandez, because he was getting in trouble for losing me.

So now I played along. I hated it.

I turned on the water, stripped, and stepped under the stream. The hot water woke me up even more, and I shaved and cleaned up as fast as I could manage with the jungle I’d been growing on my legs. As I dried off, I looked down at my tattoo. I wish I could say I regretted it, but I didn’t. It represented a short period in my life where I’d been happy—really, truly happy—and even if he didn’t love me anymore, he had.

And I’d loved him, too. So freaking much.

My heart wrenched, and I wrapped the towel around myself before making my way back to my room. I passed a few people on the way, but for the most part the halls were empty. When I opened the door, I called out, “You win. I’m no longer a hairy Amazon beast.”

A man cleared his throat. “Uh, that’s good.”

“Riley?” I scanned the room and found him sitting on the edge of Marie’s bed, his cheeks red. “You’re early.”

“You’re naked.” He raised a brow, looking me up and down casually. “Call it even?”

I clutched the towel tighter to my boobs, swallowing hard. It was longer than most dresses, yet I felt horribly exposed. “Uh, where’s Marie?”

“Someone knocked on the door, and she left.” His gaze dipped low again before slamming back up to my face. His gaze heated significantly, making me shift on my feet. “I guess I should do the same so you can get dressed. Or are we wearing towels to this party? I could totally rock that.”

I laughed. “Yeah, you probably could. But I kinda need to get dressed, so…”

“I don’t suppose I could sweet-talk you into letting me stay?” He stood up and crossed his arms. “I make excellent company.”

“Bad boy,” I said, laughing and pointing at the door. “Out.”

He laughed and held his arms up in surrender. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I’ll call out to you when I’m decent,” I said, grinning.

“You already look decent to me.”

I cocked my head. “Are you flirting with me?”

“And if I am?” He brushed past me on his way to the hallway, his arm rubbing against my bare one. “Would that be so bad?”

I rolled my eyes and closed the door in his face. I couldn’t answer that. Any girl would be lucky to have a guy like Riley flirting with her, but I wasn’t any girl. I might not be with Finn anymore, but I knew I wasn’t ready to fall for someone else.

I wasn’t even sure if I could.

I slipped into my panties, bra, and then slid the dress over my head. It was soft, short, and sexy. For a second, I debated taking it off and changing into my usual jeans and loose T-shirt, but then I shook off the urge. I refused to be that girl anymore. Marie was right—enough was enough. It was time to move on…

Even if I still felt like I was dead inside.

“You can come in now,” I called out, walking up to the mirror where all our makeup was. “I’m dressed.”

As I applied light gray eyeshadow, Riley came back inside and sat down on my bed this time. He whistled through his teeth. “Damn, girl. You look good.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I leaned closer to apply my eyeliner. His gaze dipped down. Oh my God, he’s totally checking out my ass. “Hey. Eyes at face level.”

He met my eyes in the mirror. “They are at my face level. That just happens to be at your ass. It’s a nice one, you know.”

“Sorry to bail, I had to lend my curling iron to—” Marie stopped in the doorway, a smirk on her face as she took in me at the mirror and Riley on my bed. “Oh. Am I interrupting something?”

“No,” I said.

“Yes,” Riley said at the same time. Then he grinned. “I was staring at her…dress.”

Marie snorted. “Yeah. Sure you were.”

“He’s being a typical dude. Staring at anything in a dress.” I looked at Marie as I slammed the lid back on my eyeliner. She had on a short red dress that barely skimmed mid-thigh. “Speaking of which…”

She flushed. “Oh, shut up. It’s the only one I had.”

“Mmhm.” I applied mascara, grinning the whole time. She had it bad, she just didn’t want to admit it. As if on cue, my phone buzzed. I glanced at it and put the finishing touches on my lashes. My hair was still wet, so I grabbed a hair elastic off the shelf. “He’s outside waiting for us.”

“How much longer are you going to be?” Marie asked.

“Three minutes tops.”

She backed toward the door. “I’ll go let him know.”

And then she was gone. I rolled my eyes. “She’s half in love with him, you know.”

“Who?”

“My new bodyguard, Hernandez.” I checked out my hair. For once, my updo managed to look decent. I’d done a half-up, half-down twist. “He replaced…Finn.”

I flinched. Even saying his name hurt.

“How are you doing with that?” He came up behind me but didn’t touch. “Have you heard from him at all?”