She's Bad News

Chapter 23

“No,” I said flatly, shrugging my shoulders in a hint to get him to let me go.

“Oh c’mon,” he said, not removing his arm. “It’ll just take one minute. I’ll win you a bear.”

“Really?” I asked, my voice an octave higher than usual. “You’ll win me a lame stuffed animal? Really pulling out the big guns with this one, aren’t you Aaron?”

Unfazed, he just grinned at me before handing the guy his money. “So you want me to pull out the big guns?” he cast a cheeky glance over his shoulder at me, tossing a softball up and down in his hand.

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I said.”

“That’s how it sounded.”

I glared at him and decided it was probably best if I didn’t speak to him anymore. He seemed to take any form of conversation as encouragement.

“Dude, how many times do you need to be shot down before you get the hint?” Dave asked, sending a wink in my direction.

Aaron shrugged and tossed the first ball, knocking two bottles down. “What if she says yes to me eventually? Can’t hurt to try.”

Flynn mumbled something that sounded like, “I could make it hurt,” but I couldn’t be sure. My eyes widened when I noticed his gaze was fixed on Aaron as if he was contemplating shoving him in front of the nearest moving vehicle.

“You’re a glutton for punishment, man,” Dave said, smacking his friend on the back with his overlarge hand, sending Aaron stumbling into the booth slightly.

Aaron just chuckled and shook his head. “It’s not so bad,” he said, his eyes slicing over to me and softening. “It makes her laugh.”

“Are you going to throw the ball, or what?” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Yes ma’am!” Aaron replied, saluting me before turning to face his target with extreme focus. “This one’s for you, Cory,” he said dramatically, doing a huge wind up and flinging the ball as hard as he could towards the bottles.

He missed completely.

There was a beat of silence then everyone burst out laughing. I wrapped my arm around my waist when my abs started to hurt from the chuckles and Jessica was leaning against my brother as she wiped her eyes. I didn’t miss the way Jesse draped his arm around her waist.

I was still chuckling lightly when my eyes turned towards Flynn but he wasn’t laughing.

No, he was looking at me with a dark expression on his face, his eyes unreadable as he clenched his jaw so hard that a muscle in his cheek jumped.

My laughter died and before I knew what I was doing, I’d taken a step in his direction, ready to ask him what was wrong but I stopped when Aaron’s arm wrapped once again around my shoulders.

“This game is rigged,” he said, chuckling easily. “Let’s go on a ride.”

He applied pressure to my shoulders until we were moving, everyone still chuckling lightly but my mind was on Flynn and the expression on his face, trying to figure out what he’d been feeling. He’d looked angry but there was something else there too. Something like...hurt?

That didn’t make any sense.

I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn’t even pay attention to where we were going. I just let Aaron steer me until we were in a line-up, waiting for our turn to board the ride. I glanced up, only half interested in which death trap we were about to get on when I froze.