When Its Least Expected (7 page)

Hell, they’d only known each other a few days and already Harley had revealed too
much

about herself to the guy. He was practically a stranger; a stranger who she felt the
need to kiss the hell out of.

Down, girl! Calm the hell down!

“Well, I think you could … if you went with me...” That lopsided, dimpled, melt your

heart kind of grin packed a punch, and she grasped the metal behind her, just to stay
upright.

This boy all decked out in the most edible, blue button up, short sleeved shirt and
worn to the core jeans, looked so tempting, so perfect. She squeezed her eyes shut
as he placed his hands on either side of her head. She couldn’t look at him anymore.
Her body contemplated doing too

many things to his.

“Listen, Harley. Can’t you at least
think
about it a little more before completely blowing me off?” He sighed, blowing his
breath across her cheek as he leaned in even closer. Her chest heaved with each and
every breath she took. “I’m not that bad of a guy,” he stroked a hand down her other
cheek as he moved in for the kill, “…promise.”

A steady breath in, a steady breath out, and then she opened her eyes, finally pushing
him

away. With a jilted looking face, he obliged.

Good. That was needed…

“Why me, Mason? I’m nobody special.” Harley tilted her head to the side as she hitched

her backpack higher onto her shoulders. There were over a hundred other girls in that
school.

What made her stand out? He didn’t know her, and probably wouldn’t want to know her
if he

knew about her past. Any guy she’d ever been close to, whether it was a boyfriend,
brother, friend, should have worn bubble suits when they came into contact with her.

Harley Anderson was nothing more than a jinx.

“Well,” he paused, scratching his chin. “I kind of told my mom that I’d go with my
sister

and her date as a chaperone,
if
I found a date myself.” M’kay, it was finally making sense. “And I don’t exactly
know of anybody else to ask, and I
know
you don’t have a date yet, so…”

Her heart dipped, her eyes watered. Dammit it! She was going to be a pity date? It
was

worse than she thought.

“I’ve gotta go,” she snapped. Two lone traitorous tears escaped from her eyes. With
an

extra-large stomp of her foot, she moved away, flipping her black curls over her shoulder.

There was
no way
she’d be his pathetic, charity date.

“Harley, wait a second!” he shouted. She didn’t stop, her arms tucked against her

stomach. It hurt like hell. “Where are you going? Come on, get back here, please?”
he whined.

Harley spared a glance around her, noting multiple eyes watching them.

Nosey butts, that’s all they were.

Besides that, Harley was not a dog that he could just whistle back, and his assumption

that she’d just fall to his feet pissed her off. “Stupid, arrogant, asshole,” she
muttered, picking up as much speed as she could without looking like a weirdo. Unfortunately,
she just wasn’t quick enough because seconds later, he was gripping her shoulder,
whipping her around to face him.

The pressure of his hand on her shoulder was unwavering, just like the determination
on his face.

“I’ve got to get to class, Mason. Please leave me alone.” She bit her lip. It would
surely

be cracked soon.

He didn’t say another word as he just stared down at her. Confusion was etched in
his

eyes. She held her chin high, determined to keep her spirits up. He still hadn’t let
her go...

“Please, Mason… ”

Mason moved closer, his voice was whispered but firm, “Harley ... did I do, or say

something to hurt you? If so, then help me understand because I have no idea what
happened.”

Behind what appeared to be genuine confusion in his eyes, there seemed to be a blip
of sympathy there too. She gritted her teeth.

She absolutely hated sympathy.

“No, you didn’t, Mason. I’m … just having a bad day.” It was only half a lie. He didn’t

need to know that her bad day started only seconds ago, when he asked her out as a
date of

convenience. Besides, she didn’t need to turn all doom and gloom. He wasn’t worth
the

emotional stress. No boy was. “I’ll see you later.” She forced a tightlipped smile
before finally turning away.

This time, he didn’t follow.

***

Well, that went well.

Mason stared holes into Harley’s retreating body. Call him a dumb ass, but he honestly

had no clue what he’d done. He knifed a hand through his hair. God, girls sucked!
All pretty to look at, but crappy to deal with. This was exactly why he didn’t do
the whole
dating
thing. No matter what he did or said, he always managed to F-up a perfectly normal
situation.

The problem was he had no idea how to fix this one.

He walked towards seventh hour, his eyes narrowed as the face of his little beast

continued to distract his thoughts. Her tiny tears did it every time. Especially if
they were caused by him, and on someone he cared about.

He stopped, right there in the hall. His jaw clenched.
Cared about? Where the hell did

that come from?

He shook his head, and with more purpose to his step, he headed into study hall. He
had

an idea; now if only he could get it to work.

He slid the chair out next to the girl with the blonde hair and blue eyes, the girl
who

would hopefully be his savior. That is, if she didn’t kick his ass first.

“Hey, Abigail, how’s it going?” She turned to face him, a hateful scowl on her face.
Shit.

She knew. How in the hell did she find out so fast?

He glanced down, noting the tapping of her finger against her cell phone.

Freaking technology…

Now how was he she was going to get her in on his plan?

“What are your intentions with my best friend
pal
? She’s been through hell and beyond these last couple of years. Things were finally
starting to look ahead too, that is until
you
showed up.” Her eyes were fierce, spiteful. He shrugged and looked down at his desk.

Yeah, like he could genuinely help the fact that he was uprooted from
his
home and
his
life, but he bit his tongue. He did admire the girl. She was someone you’d want in
your corner.

Abigail, the best friend, was just doing her job.

“And if you plan on breaking her heart, I swear to God that I will break your skull!
Do

you understand me?”

His mouth twitched, laughter bubbled up inside his throat. He either wanted to high
five

the girl or smack the taste from her mouth.

Lucky for her, he was a nice guy.

He leaned forward in his desk, his elbows on the surface and his hands clasped together.

“Well, I can tell you right now that my
intentions
are friendly … nothing more. I just want to get to know her a little better, that’s
all. She’s … cool.”

Cool. Yeah … real smooth words, Mase
.

She frowned harder. Her eye brows went back and forth between pissed and hateful,
not

that there was much of a difference. Her face was full of contempt, and piss and vinegar.
She was unnerving him. He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.
He couldn’t sit still.

“I don’t believe you,” she hissed, turning away.

“Well, believe me, it’s true,” he spat. Her answering glare wasn’t nice. Apparently
she

liked to be right, not contradicted. Her jaw clenched.

He smiled slowly, his cheeks ached with wicked intention, and no, he couldn’t stop
the

next jab from leaving his mouth. She was too easy to tease, just like Harley was.
No wonder they were best friends. Their attitudes were one hundred percent identical.
“Umm, so, will this be okay with you, or should I fill out an application? Will there
be an interview process too?

Because I kind of need to go buy a new tie if that’s the case …”

Her face relaxed, and even a smile founds its way to her lips. Ah, yes, the sweet
smell of

success was in the air. He needed her approval but didn’t stop to think why that was.
The

reasoning was obviously too complex for him to understand.

“Look, Mason, I don’t want to be the one to tell you all of Harley’s secrets, but
I think in order for your
friendship
to move forward, then you need to find out a little more about her.

She’s an awesome girl. She, uh, well just … has issues opening up to people. Especially
guys like you.”

Mason lifted his brows, going immediately on the defense. Sure, he was an ass most
of

the time, but this chick didn’t know him. How could she judge him already? But once
again, he bit his tongue. Arguing wouldn’t get him where he needed to be.

“Anyways, she could use a friend more than anything, especially one who doesn’t know

much about her past.”

More secrets. Run dude, while you can.

He ignored his inner voice. Whatever happened to his little beast must have been pretty

epic … otherwise her little friend probably wouldn’t be this dramatic about it. Then
again, she
was
a girl …

“Could you handle a friendship with her? Because if you’re looking for more then –“

“No,” he pushed his palm out, cutting her off, “…nothing more, I told you that. I
just

want to hang with her, take her to the dance. I don’t
do
anything other than friendships with chicks.”

Abigail scrunched her eyes together. Irritating lines seemed to be appearing between
her

brows. Okay, maybe he was harsh with the whole ‘chicks’ things.

Girls…

“Listen, I just wanted to take the girl to the dance not get in her pants, alright?
She hates me, and I need to get some advice on how to get her to
stop
hating me.” He jabbed a finger at her. “That’s where
you
come in.”

The girl was all business when it came to Harley, there was no doubt in his mind.

“You’re kind of a pig, you know that?” Mason grinned and shrugged, not denying her

accusation.

He threw his booted feet upon the desk top in front of him, locking his hands together

behind his neck. And then he waited, gracing Abigail with his ‘I know I’m cute smile.’
He

wasn’t against the charming route, especially if it got her to ease up. It didn’t
matter who they were or how much they hated him, no girl could deny his lure, his
charm.

“Just give me some advice, Abigail. That’s all I’m asking for. If you don’t wanna
help

then fine, just tell me, so I can figure this out on my own.”

“Don’t you wonder, Mr. Smooth Talker sir, why she could possibly have been so mad
in

the first place? Scratch that, you don’t. I know your secret.” Mason kicked his feet
down slowly, raising one eye brow at her as he leaned towards the isle between them.
What was this girl’s angle? “You have absolutely no clue what to do when it comes
to girls, do you? Huh?” she

clicked her tongue, her grin widening. “Who would have thought Mr. Smooth was not
so smooth after all?”

Mason frowned. Crap, so smooth wasn’t going to work. Maybe begging? He flinched.

Yeah, girls liked it when guys begged, right? Or then again, maybe she was just being
the girl version of a tool.

“Listen up,” he paused, lowering his elbows onto his knees. “You have
no
idea who I am or what I’m like with girls. They love me. Your
friend
on the other hand
must be the messed up one especially if she cries for no apparent reason in the middle
of conversations.”

“Hah, so you
would
say that it’s okay to ask a girl out and then tell her two seconds later that she
was basically a
date of convenience
then, right? Because I can tell you one thing, if you would have said that to me,
you wouldn’t be walking right now due to the simple fact that I would have knocked
your nuts through your damn teeth.” She flicked one hand at him, and

turned away.

“Shit…” he knitted his brows, what had he done?

“Umm, yeah, I’d say shit too, if I was a douchebag like that. Come on now, what were

you thinking?”

“Listen,” he paused, and sat back; his spine went ramrod straight against the seat.
Damn,

he did screw up didn’t he? “I didn’t mean it like that. It came out the wrong way.
I’m not perfect, I’m a guy. I pee on the floor, and leave the toilet seat up. I throw
my dirty socks on the couch and lose them in the cushions. I leave old plates of food
in my room and don’t remember they’re there until they start to rot and smell! What
do you expect? What does
she
expect?” He threw his hands into the air, slapping them down onto his thighs with
a smack.

“Oh wah, wah, boo, hoo. Poor, pity me. Save it for the choir, preacher boy, because
this

girl’s not buying your little sermon.”

“Come on, she didn’t think that for real, did she? Besides, I’ve been nicer to her
than any other girl I’ve ever been around.”

“And that’s supposed to convince me, how?” She tightened her lips. Crap, she didn’t

believe him. It was on to option two: begging and honesty … Mason style.

“I wanted to go with Harley, and still do, even if I knew other girls at this school
better. I told you, she’s … cool …” He sighed. Shit, being honest sucked and it made
him feel like a

wuss.

“Yes well, she’s a little more forgiving then I am, so you should be very glad that
you

didn’t ask me to that stupid dance.” She shrugged, flicking a pencil between her fingers.
He grinned. Yes, it was working. He could almost feel her complying as she sat there,
fidgeting away. “Besides, you’re not my type. I need my boys with a little more um,”
she gestured towards his arms. He frowned, “meat on their bones.”