“Lyle. I’m up here.”
He lifted his head. “Did you know flowers are sexual beings?”
“I think I heard that in biology class.” I tried not to roll my eyes as I put my hands on his chest to push him back.
He put his hands over mine and leaned in again. “Petals are the pretty part. The part that attracts the man.”
“Do you mean pollen?” I didn’t actually know the purpose of petals on a flower, but I was pretty sure they weren’t to attract men.
“We could go pollinate.” He waggled his eyebrows.
I couldn’t help myself, I started to laugh. He grinned like a goofball apparently liking that I found him entertaining. All of a sudden, his eyes widened and he was lifted off the floor by the scruff of his neck.
I saw Cyrus, looking menacing behind his mask as he grabbed Lyle.
“Cyrus.” I squeaked.
He moved Lyle to the side and let him go with a little push. “Have some respect, dickwad.”
Lyle kept his gaze on Cyrus as he brushed down his Superman shirt. “Ah…Petal…it was nice talking to you. I’m going to get a drink.” He pointed to the side.
“Enjoy, Lyle,” I said, laughing as he side-stepped his way to the keg all the while making sure Cyrus didn’t come after him.
“I hope he didn’t wet his pants,” I said, turning my attention back to Cyrus. Immediately, my humor left as his dark eyes looked down on me. “What?”
He inhaled and exhaled a couple of times. “Wanna dance?”
“Sure. Do you? Because you don’t look like you want to dance.”
“No, I want to dance.” He smiled, but it was so forced it nearly looked painful and I laughed.
I took his hand. “Come on, Zorro.”
After that, most men stayed away from me. I was going to complain to him that he was ruining my love life, but I wasn’t interested in Lyle or Jacob, and I didn’t want to put Cyrus in the position of going to jail if April had him kill Conner, so I spent the rest of the evening dancing with Cyrus and hanging out with April.
When she and Jude disappeared up the hall, I decided it was time to go.
“Are you ready to leave?” I asked Cyrus who was leaning against a wall, scowling at Lyle.
“Are you?” he asked. “I’ll stay if you’re having a good time.”
I laughed. “You’re such a martyr.”
He frowned.
“You’re having a miserable time. Let me put you out of your misery by letting you take me home. You can drive, can’t you?”
He nodded. “I can drive. And I’m not miserable.”
“Hmm. Well you’re not bored,” I said making my way to the front door. “Irritable? Is that it.”
He growled.
I had to admit, I liked Cyrus’ protective instinct for me. It would have been nice if it was based on something more than friendship. The truth was, I was probably like a kid sister to him. It was annoying, and yet, I was happy to at least know that he had my back.
7
Cyrus