The Hookup Pact

31| Evelyn

In the long list of the worst days of my life, this day was going to be in the top five if not at the very top.

As if having a meltdown in front of the entire mall wasn't embarrassing enough, I had to get caught kissing Atlas. And the person to catch us had to be Dylan. The one person who could never take anything seriously or keep his mouth shut.

From the way his gray eyes were glinting with mirth and the slant quirk of his lips, I could tell that he found this situation quite amusing. Shit!

"Well, well, well... Look how the cat got out of the bag," Dylan commented with a flair as he eyed Atlas and me like prey.

My mouth fell open but nothing came out of it. I should have explained myself, at least tried to cover up or maybe just start running but there was nothing I could do. I sat there stunned, staring at him as if that would make him disappear into thin air.

Dylan pulled a chair from the nearby table and sat down. He propped his elbows on the table and placed his chin on his hands. His eyes danced between Atlas and me, the smile on his face resembling that of a man who had hit the jackpot.

"Won't you let me in on the secret now? Pretty please," he said, batting his eyelashes.

I peeked a glance at Atlas to see his eyes narrowed on his teammate and his jaw ticking in annoyance. "Why are you here Dylan? Did you follow my car? Again?"

That again caught me off guard and I wanted to ask more on that but thought better of it. Now wasn't the time.

Dylan gasped and reeled back with a hand on his chest. "Do you take me for a stalker? This is the hottest place in town these days so of course a rising influencer like me would come here to take some pictures at sunset."

Atlas raised a brow at him. "Is that it?"

"What else could it be?" Dylan accused, throwing his hands up in exasperation. But then the devilish smirk was back on his face. "I just lucked out and caught an interesting picture of something other than the sunset."

His eyes flicked to me. "Would you like to see it?"

My throat went dry. "I—"

"Oh, fuck you!" Atlas exclaimed. "Stop pretending like we are in a mafia movie and get to the point Dylan or I swear to God I will rip you—"

Dylan heaved a sigh, rolling his eyes. "You're such a party pooper. Evelyn honey, what do you even see in him?" He clicked his tongue in distaste as he looked at Atlas. "You could do so much better."

"Dylan," Atlas warned, his voice cold and hard.

"Fine," Dylan huffed. "I really did come here to click some pictures at sunset. The golden hour makes my skin glow, you know."

Atlas snorted but Dylan ignored him and continued. "Anyway, I came here, saw you two kissing, and the rug was swept from under my feet! I already knew there wouldn't be fire without the smoke and today I witnessed the smoke firsthand!"

"It's smoke without fire," Atlas corrected with a heavy sigh.

Dylan waved him off. "Semantics. Now, is anyone going to tell me how this happened?" He gestured between Atlas and me, eyes shining with excitement.

If the term gossip monger was a person, Dylan would be it. Atlas had mentioned about Dylan's love for gossip a few times in passing but I had brushed it off thinking nothing of it. If only I had known it would come to bite me in the ass...

Sweat collected in my palms as my heart rate kicked up. My stomach roiled in anxiety and I tried not to squirm under his piercing gaze. "It's not like that. We—"