Mr. Bossy Devil (Alphalicious Billionaires Boss 2)

“No. I think…I just saw the blood and thought…I don’t know what I thought. I’ve never passed out from the sight of blood before.”

“I know. We cut our hands when we were kids and did the blood brothers thing.”

“Hardly sanitary.”

Zoe winces. “Anyway, uh, are you okay? Most of the bleeding stopped. It’s a nasty-looking bite, though. You’re going to have a crazy lump there for a while.”

“Should be a good story to tell my mom tomorrow at lunch.”

Zoe’s face shifts back to ultra-panic mode. “About that—”

“Please don’t tell me you’re bailing.”

“N–no, not bailing. Not like that. I…” Zoe sighs hard. I guess she figures getting out whatever it is she has to say is better than keeping it locked up because she goes on. “I just think maybe this is the universe’s way of telling us this is wrong in just about every conceivable way. This. Us. The first time, you…well…yeah. And this time…the bug—”

I smear my hand over my forehead again and nearly groan at the sting. There is a massive lump there—what my mom would, and probably will call, a goose egg. I don’t know how something small enough that I couldn’t even see it coming could do this kind of damage.

“So, you think those two incidents are some higher power telling us we shouldn’t do whatever we’re doing.”

“See!” Zoe leaps to her feet. “We don’t even have a name for it because we can never give it a name.”

“I could give it a name if you wanted me to.”

“No! I don’t want you to. The first time, I said this shouldn’t happen again, then this madness—rabies or something—got me today, and I…I had this massive lapse of judgment because it was spreading to my brain.”

“What was?”

“The temporary rabies.”

“I see.” I have no idea what Zoe is talking about. She used to be pretty no-nonsense, so I’m not sure how she thinks she has rabies. “What bit you?”

“What?”

“To get rabies, you have to be bitten by something rabid. And I think it takes a while to get to your brain, but when it does, you literally die, I think. You start foaming at the mouth and acting strange.”

“Exactly!”

“I didn’t see any foam. Drool, maybe…”

“Shut up!” Zoe stamps her foot. “Maybe it wasn’t rabies. It was just straight-up bad judgment, and I’ll own that. I’m a full-grown adult, and so are you. So, I’m saying that at lunch tomorrow, there is no way in harging heck you can mention this to your mom. She would be so scarred if she found out that we were…uh—”

“Bumping uglies?”

“Don’t call it that! Jesus!” Zoe spins around. She goes to storm off down the path, but then she stops. She slowly spins around, her face scarlet.

“You forgot you were lost. You don’t know which way to go,” I state flatly. I’m really not making fun of her, but she obviously takes it that way, so up goes her jawline again as the traditional Zoe stubbornness kicks in.

“Sometimes, I hate you.”

“You used to say that back when we were kids, too. I always knew you never meant it.”

“I mean it now.”

“I saw it.”

“Saw what?”

I push up slowly, testing my equilibrium and sense of gravity, but everything seems to be fine. I don’t exactly know why I fainted, or sort of fainted just now. I’m kind of embarrassed about that. Was it the blood? Or was it just being completely uncertain of what caused it? I had no idea what bit me. Not that I thought a rattlesnake could have launched itself from the treetops and landed, mouth open, right on my forehead, but then again, panic isn’t rational. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty. I feel pretty stupid now, but I do my best to hide it, and part of that is diverting the attention from myself. It’s an asshole move, I know.

“The tattoo. On your hip. When I was down there, I got a good look at it!”

“You…you…just…argh!” Zoe storms off down the path in the wrong direction. I start off the other way, waiting. I only have to wait a few minutes before Zoe power walks right past me. She’s moving so fast that I swear dust is flying up from her runners.

“You said you had it covered up.”

“I say lots of things. And so do you. You’re hardly one to talk,” Zoe huffs without turning around to actually look at me. “Why do you want to get in my pants so bad anyway? I’m not even your type.”

“I wasn’t aware I had a type.”

“You do. Gorgeous women. Flawless women. Expensive looking women. Successful, beautiful, and out of everyone else’s league kind of women.”

“I dated people who pursued me. Sometimes, it felt right. Most of the time, it was mutually no strings attached. I can’t think of a single one who even holds a candle to you.”