Boys And Their Toys: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Troubled Playthings 1)

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go have Chinese together. But maybe you could try not kidnapping me in my own car the next time you want to go out with me, huh?”

“I’ll take that feedback on notice,” Lucas said. “Now, I happen to know a good place.”

Chapter Nineteen

The ‘place’ Lucas directed me to was a full-blown restaurant, the interior decked out in sumptuous red with white tablecloths, the walls covered in prints I was sure were great examples of traditional Chinese art I of course knew nothing about.

When he told the girl at the front counter we intended to eat in, I stopped still in the doorway.

“Don’t make me turn you over my knee and spank you in front of an audience,” Lucas murmured when tugging on my hand failed to move me.

“I thought your arm was still too weak to spank anything?”

Lucas showed me it certainly wasn’t too weak to get me moving from my position. Once I’d staggered a few steps forward, I gave in to the idea of a public dinner.

“I hate restaurants,” I said into his ear as we walked in. “I’ve only been to eat at them a few times but I always feel like everyone must be watching and judging me for never knowing which fork or spoon or chopstick I’m supposed to use or whatever.”

“I’m glad you told me,” Lucas said. “It’s past time for you to learn to get past that. I can help you.” He put an arm around me as we met the girl from the counter inside the eating area, his hand on my hip as she led us over to a far-too-intimate booth on the far side of the room. He accepted a menu on my behalf when I was too busy feeling awkward about the whole situation to notice it was being offered to me, and actually spoke in Chinese to the girl after ordering some tea for each of us.

“Besides,” he continued once she was gone. I was barely able to pick up the thread of the previous conversation. “You actually look pretty good in your new style of work clothes. Much less like a teenage girl trying to impress her dad’s work colleagues.”

It was about the rudest remark I could imagine, but I couldn’t even deal with it at that moment. “You speak Chinese?”

“My parents paid for Lucy and I to have a tutor.” Lucas shrugged like this was no big deal. I was pretty sure some of the kids in our class who were actually born to Chinese parents didn’t really know how to speak the language. “Lucy only stuck with it while she was desperate for something to keep her distracted during the worst of her treatment and then dropped out once she was in remission, but I kept going. Mum is always telling people about how good I am, even though I’m pretty average really. I think she’s got it in her head that I might be able to follow in her footsteps, you know, go bring the latest hot technology over from Asia. That’s where all the innovation is now, but Mum never did make it over there, she says she’s too old now to learn everything she’d need to be really successful. It’s up to me to maintain the Starling family honour I guess.”

He leaned over towards me and added, smirking, “Your face, Callie, honestly. I just said thank you to her, and I’m not that sure she understood either. She mostly just looked annoyed with me.”

Teas were quickly thrust in front of us, as well as a tray of strange chips I didn’t remember Lucas ordering that was clearly a normal part of the meal.

“I’m surprised you didn’t order wine for us, honestly,” I said.

“How am I supposed to know if you’re into it or not if you’re blind drunk?” Lucas actually looked outraged, like I was trying to accuse him of something truly heinous—which I was, but apparently I’d misjudged him. Or he wanted me to think I’d misjudged him.

I had a vague feeling I should apologise, but what came out of my mouth instead was far from apologetic. “Maybe I was hoping to loosen you up a bit with something alcoholic myself, so you’d answer a few of my questions.”

I could tell he rather liked that I’d said something so provocative, because he shot me his beautiful full grin. I had kissed that mouth, I realised, the images bursting into my mind as if they had been trying to force themselves through for a while—and that mouth had been a few other places too. I was suddenly very glad to be already sitting down, and to have a table in front of me to hide some of my nervous fidgeting.

“You know, Callie,” Lucas said, “maybe I’d be happy to answer some of your questions. But I’m not going to make it easy for you. You have to make me want to.”

I stared down at my cup of tea as he reached across the booth to take my hand in both of his. I had a feeling I knew the sort of motivation he was hinting at.

“And you know what I mean,” he added. He drew my hand up to his mouth and pressed those smirking lips right down in the middle of the back of it…

Then he dropped my hand. Almost flung it back at me, actually. It barely missed my tea.

“What the fuck?” he muttered.

“I think that’s what I should be asking you.” I rubbed the side of my hand where it had banged against the table.

A server came to take our order then, so I had no opportunity to press him further. When I admitted I didn’t really know what most of the menu items were, Lucas took over the ordering process. That was fine by me, because it gave me an opportunity to study him and try to figure out what could have set him off like that.

And it didn’t take me long to figure something out.

Once we were alone again, I leaned in—but I could see he was ready to fight me off now.

Too bad for him I knew exactly what to say. “Did you remember the last time you did that to me, just then?”

“That actually happened?” Lucas said with such genuine confusion, I estimated the chances he was being deliberately evasive were low.