No amount of nudging or pushing or speaking of his name would get him to move.
I refused to go home and leave him there. I’d never get any rest if I was worrying about him.
“Fuck it,” I muttered under my breath.
I breezed into the back, picking up a cup and filling it with water.
“What are you doing?”
I rolled my eyes at the sound of Angela’s voice. God, she was annoying.
I looked over to where she had grabbed her purse from the locker.
“Nothing,” I answered.
“It doesn’t look like nothing,” she closed the metal door with a bang, cocking her head to the right as she waited for further explanation.
“You know what it looks like to me?” I spoke with false sweetness. “None of your business,” my tone turned icy.
Traipsing back out to the restaurant area, I lifted the red plastic cup high above Caelan’s head. I tipped it slowly, then said, what the hell, and dumped the entire contents of cold water on his head.
He came awake with a wild flail of his arms and legs. He fell out of his chair, which came crashing down to the ground beside him.
I couldn’t stop laughing.
He looked so funny sprawled on the floor covered in water. He kind of resembled a very wet and confused puppy.
“What the fuck was that for?” He peered up at me and droplets of water clung to his insanely long lashes.
I shrugged innocently, letting the plastic cup fall from my hand. It clanged to the ground, bouncing a few times before rolling under another table. “Oops. My hand must have slipped.
“Bullshit,” he muttered, sluggishly coming to his feet. His sneakers squeaked against the now wet floor. He was angry, but at least he was awake.
“It’s time to go home,” I knocked my hand against his shoulder.
“Don’t touch me,” he growled, his face reddening as he roughly shrugged off my touch.
I rolled my eyes at him and stayed where I was. “This whole anti-social tough guy act is ridiculous. Anyone with eyes can see that you’re hurting. You can try all you want to push me away, but it won’t work. It just makes this game all the more fun.”
He smiled and there was nothing nice about it. Pushing wet strands of blond hair out of his eyes, he said, “Act? I assure you,” his voice lowered to a throaty growl, “it’s no act.”
“Believe me,” I stood tall, which was really hard since I was about as short as they came, “I’ve known guys like you. You put out this fake persona to scare people away, when inside you’re just a lost and scared little boy.”
His smile disappeared at that. “Mind your own damn business, Sutton.”
He pushed passed me and out the door.
I followed quickly behind him. I didn’t bother to catch up to him, but I wanted to be sure he went home—which he did.
The whole walk—and even when we entered the building and made our way upstairs to our apartments across from each other—he never, not once, looked back at me.
CHAPTER 7
Sutton
“It’s such a nice day,” Daphne exclaimed, spreading her arms wide and leaning back in her chair. I was a bit afraid she might topple out of it.
She’d shown up outside my door thirty minutes ago, inviting me to lunch and a day of shopping. I wasn’t much for shopping, but I was going a bit stir crazy, and talking to Brutus like he was a person probably made me even more of a nutcase.