The Rulebreaker

“So, he is still doing the Rebecca thing,” Leyla whispers beside me.

I shoot her a look. “Don’t start.”

“I’m just saying, you can continue your thing with Brian if you wanted.”

“There is no thing with Brian.”

“Right. He’s a bore. What about Jordan? The one who asked you out last semester. He was cute.”

“Eh.” I shrug. “No chemistry.”

“What about Landon? The one we used to see at like every party. He’s in your psych class, right?”

“I know who Landon is, Layla.” I laugh, “yeah, he is in psych.”

Landon is really cute, but I never really took him up on the offer to take me out because I was too distracted by my feelings for Maverick. I look at Maverick again and see Rebecca leaning into the side of his seat and whisper something in his ear. Whatever it is, makes her blush. I wait, and wait, but Maverick doesn’t seem to react to it and Rebecca moves back to her seat. My heart leaps.

What does this mean?

Then, I berate myself. I was the one who told him things wouldn’t change, that they didn’t have to, and I’m sitting here dissecting body language. Maybe Leyla’s right. Still, instead of setting up a legitimate date with Landon, I agree to a study date. We have a big psychology exam coming up and we both need to study for it anyway, so why not make it fun?

Chapter Twenty-Two

I’m sitting in Tony’s drinking water, waiting for Landon, when Maverick walks in. My body instantly reacts—pulse racing, heart flipping into the pit of my stomach. Mitchell walks in closely behind him, followed by Colson, and some other guys. They look like trouble and Maverick looks extra sexy. Mitch, Mav, and Colson are all wearing backward baseball caps, as if they were in a ninety’s bad boy band or something alongside Marky Mark. My mom freaking loves Marky Mark. Well, back then, she did. In all her old photos, she has him plastered on the walls of the house where she grew up in Jamaica, which means his sex appeal was global, and I can see why, but he has nothing on these guys.

Colson spots me first, and nods one of those cool guy nods before heading to the table they normally sit at on Thursdays. Mitch looks over right after and nods and throws up a peace sign as he follows Colson. The rest of the guys look in my direction and do a little wave before Maverick finally sees me. When our eyes meet, I swear it’s like everyone in this restaurant instantly disappears and that’s just not good. He walks over to me and that’s when I see he has a bouquet of white hydrangeas. I frown as I look back up. Is he meeting a girl here? Rebecca. I feel the color drain from my face as he reaches me.

“What’s up?”

“What’s wrong with you?” He slides into the booth, across from me.

“Nothing is wrong.”

He sets the flowers on the table. I love them. I hate them. “You’re waiting for Landon, aren’t you?”

“Jesus,” I grumble. “Do you find out about everything?”

“I saw him earlier. He was bragging.” Mav’s mouth tilts into a half-smile as he checks me out. “I can’t blame him.”

“What are you doing?”

“Talking to my bestie. Why?”

“Your bestie.” That makes me laugh. I nod at the flowers between us. “Are you meeting Rebecca here?”

“Nope.”

“Oh. Wow. You move on fast.”

“You can say that.” He looks like he’s trying not to laugh. Normally I’m in on the joke, so this is wild, this feeling of the unknown between us.

“You’re so weird.” I bite my lip and glance toward the door. Landon sees me and waves with a smile on his face. I sit up straighter. “Landon’s here.”

“I guess I’ll let you be.” Maverick slides out of the booth and walks over to my side, kissing me on the cheek. I ignore the way my body awakens with it.

“Don’t forget your flowers,” I say, making him chuckle against my face, which in turn makes me go hot all over.

“The flowers are for you, bestie,” he whispers in my ear before pulling back and walking away.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that I’m blushing fiercely and it doesn’t matter that I’m brown, or that I’m wearing makeup, or that I’m trying my best to stay calm. Freaking Maverick. I take the flowers and place them beside me, smiling up at Landon when he finally reaches me.

“It’s not your birthday, is it?” He looks at the flowers with a frown.

“Oh. No.” I laugh. “Inside joke.”

“You must have a lot of those.” He shakes his head as he sits across from me, setting his backpack beside him. “Being that you’ve known each other since you were tweens and all.”

“Yeah. Tons of inside jokes.” I keep smiling, hoping my blush will go away soon. I take another sip of water and set it down.