Fated Shot

Chapter 6

Jack

As the crowd sang “Happy Birthday,” I watched her face shift from embarrassed to confused to downright panicked, all in a few seconds. She quickly recovered with a smile, but something was off.

The guy—Seb—walked carefully, carrying out a cake. He's tall enough, maybe five eleven, with slight muscles visible under his white button-up as he approached her. His greedy eyes shamelessly looked her up and down, making him grin even wider. The dude looked like he stepped off his father’s yacht—slicked-back dark hair, Rolex on his wrist, and boat shoes.

She looked dazed, staring blankly ahead as she quickly blew out her candles. I swear I saw her physically shudder as he lazily draped one long arm around her, his slimy smile directed at the crowd. He then turned to immediately start chatting with Coach, without so much as a word to Mia. She looked lost, her eyes scanning the crowd as the rest of the group began to break up, everyone resuming their own conversations.

As my mind races to process, the dull ache in my gut grows stronger. Cracking my knuckles in a weak attempt to distract myself fails miserably. I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from his hand settled so casually on her shoulder. I can’t take it anymore.

Seeing her all summer was always the highlight of my day, but I clearly blew that. Running into her yesterday and realizing she was Coach’s daughter was rough. But this, seeing her draped under someone else’s arm, it’s too fucking much.

I step back, bypassing Theo, Max, and Penn, who have retaken their seats around the fire pit and head straight down their expansive lawn. The waterfront lies at the bottom of the hill, nestled behind a smaller building surrounded by a dock, and I march toward it.

To my relief, as I step on the weathered wood that wraps around the building, it’s empty. When I round the corner, there are two Adirondack chairs next to a very elaborate wooden structure. Is that… a catio? I don’t bother to investigate further, choosing instead to slump down in one of the chairs and stare out over the water. Now hidden from the party, I will myself to take a few deep breaths.

She has a boyfriend. Obviously, why wouldn’t she? Not that it matters anyway because I don’t even like her. Hell, I don’t even know her. What the fuck is wrong with me? But the prickles of jealousy creeping up my shoulder betray me, making me tense. A breeze hits at that exact moment, forcing me to take another much-needed breath. I’m not supposed to get flustered. I’m supposed to stay collected.

Pulling out my phone, I contemplate redownloading Tinder. Reid and Penn have been trying to get me on there for months, but even after the first ten swipes, I couldn’t even feign an interest in anyone else, so I can’t imagine how that would have changed now. I don’t know what this is, and I don’t like it. Locking my phone screen, I shove it back in my pocket with a frustrated sigh.

“Baby, will you wait?” I hear a grating voice in the distance.

“... don’t… doing here,” is all I can make out from the softer voice.

“I arranged it with Doug as a surprise. I flew all the way here, baby, just for you,” the male voice continues loudly .

“Will you stop? We’re not having this conversation… I can’t believe… good night,” is all I manage from the reply. Impossible to miss the growing frustration in the woman’s voice.

“Come on, baby, don’t fight this, let’s go inside. We can talk about this or even… not talk. I’ve really missed you,” he says in a way that makes my skin crawl. His voice is calling out so much louder than hers, carrying all the way to the waterfront. I try to make sense of what I’m hearing. A difficult task considering I’m only getting about fifty percent of the conversation.

The “no,” though, is impossible to miss. “I don’t want you to come in,” reaches me clearly as well. The woman’s voice tries to be firm, but this time, there’s a shakiness behind the words.

That’s all it takes for me to get involved. Standing up, I march off the dock to the scene in front of me. I’m a peacekeeper at heart, but I’ll do what I have to when I need to. My body tenses as I round the corner and see Mia standing rigidly in front of the door to the building and Slimy McGee reaching behind her, one of his hands on the doorknob.

I don’t know where the fuck the peacekeeper in me went. Instead, my body readies for a fight. “Is there a problem?” I say gruffly, making my voice sound more booming than usual.

This causes him to jump a little, loser .

“Oh hey man, Brody, right?” he says as he releases his grip from the doorknob. “Sebastian Brown, big fan,” reaching out to me with his watch-adorned hand.

“Jack,” I reply, staring him down, making no attempt at a shake.

He drops his hand, clearly taking the hint.

“Sorry for disturbing you. We were just about to call it a night.” He looks back at Mia, motioning for her to go inside. When she makes no attempt to move, I can see him growing visibly agitated, narrowing his eyes at her .

“Uh, listen, my girlfriend and I are in the middle of something.” He rolls his eyes at me, clearly trying to signal something akin to bitches be crazy. “ If you wouldn’t mind giving us a little privacy…”

“Ex-girlfriend,” Mia states flatly, barely audible enough for me to hear.

“What was that?” he harshly spits out as he turns his attention back to Mia.

I try to keep my tone level, feeling my stomach do a little flip in excitement. That was all I needed to hear. I’m all in now, my confidence returning in an instant.

“She said ex-girlfriend,” I reply a bit more aggressively than planned. There’s a rush of adrenaline flooding my system as I take a few steps forward, closing the distance between Sebastian and me. “Listen, I don’t think she wants to talk right now. Why don’t we all just take a step back?”

His attention turns back to me, and I see his brain assessing the situation. Standing next to each other, the equation becomes crystal clear. I’m bigger, stronger, taller, and clearly not about to let this go .

“That’s fine,” he lets out quickly, more shrill this time, as he takes a step back from me. “I have to make it back to the city tonight anyway. We’ll discuss this later,” he warns Mia. Just like that, he leaves without a second glance in my direction, heading up the gravel path leading back to the main house.

We stand silently for a few moments. She looks like a deer in the headlights for the second time tonight as her gaze stays locked on the grass a few feet ahead of her.

I take a few steps forward and gently place my hand on her shoulder, brushing my fingers over her bare skin.

“Hey, you okay?” I let out as comforting as I can manage, desperate to check on the girl in front of me.

She shudders slightly at the contact, and I drop my hand immediately. When she looks up at me, there’s still a bit of fear in her eyes, but they start to warm as our gazes meet. I watch in fascination as she sucks in a quick breath and swallows. It feels like she’s working up the nerve to say something, and I’ll be damned if I don’t have all the patience in the world to wait.

“I think I’m going to, uh, go for a walk,” she says hesitantly.

I nod as she proceeds to swerve past me, walking toward a little dirt trail leading into the forest. Her scent wafts past me as I shamelessly breathe it in. She smells like summer, fruity and sweet. It fades though as the distance between us grows, suddenly, the realization hits me. I bound after her.

“Wait, by yourself? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I’m not going far, Jack,” she replies, already looking more lively than she did moments ago.

I can’t help the small smile that breaks out. “You remember me?”

Even with the setting sun, I can see the soft pink rush across her cheeks as she drops her head to her sandals. “Uh yeah, we met at family skate, remember?”

I nod.

“And you’re on my dad’s team, so, of course, I, um—”

“Can I come with you?” I ask before she finishes her sentence. This surprises even me, as my mind raced to find the words before the logic of avoiding her even registered. To my relief, though, she nods gently before turning back to face the path.

I glance back toward the party, scanning the scene ahead of me. We’re far enough away that it’d be hard to see us. Even so, everyone seems to be too busy enjoying themselves to notice us. Even if they did see, a walk is innocent. I can’t very well let a girl walk into the forest alone. There are bears, or fox, or… geese and th ose fuckers are deadly. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, and not at all because I’d follow this girl anywhere she’d allow me.

It’s decided. It takes me less than five strides to catch up to her as she continues down the now-winding path.

“I love it here,” she whispers when I join her, not breaking her gaze from the trail ahead.

“It really is beautiful.”

I’m half a pace behind, noticing a small shiver run though her body, goosebumps forming on her bare shoulders. It’s at least ten degrees cooler in here and the sun is barely peeking through the mature trees around us.

She’s cold, Jack . Do something, genius.

I immediately pull off the corduroy jacket I threw on over my white t-shirt. If I learned one thing from my summer in Wyndham, it’s that you can easily experience all four seasons in a single day. It’s better to come prepared.

“Uh hey, Mia? Do you want my jacket?” I offer, extending it to her. She seems hesitant to take it, so I continue, “I’m roasting.” It’s a lie, but a harmless one. Bring on the tundra .

“Oh, okay. Thank you.” She smiles appreciatively as she puts her arms through it. She’s not tiny by any means, actually quite tall with curves in all the right places, but the jacket still drowns her. She looks so cute. I’m musing at the sight of her in my clothes, some sort of cave-man mentality. The sleeves extend far past her hands, and the jacket lands at the same length as her dress, flowing well above her knee and exposing most of her thighs. Good god, it should be illegal to look this good. I think she catches me looking, so I immediately change the subject.

“So, uh,” clearing my throat, “how good were those cookies?” Thankfully, my brain decided to settle on a neutral topic.

“Ha, I would hope so. I made them. ”

I gape at her for a moment. Of course she did, she’s fucking incredible. “No way! They are insanely good. You should sell them or something.”

She giggles, and it’s a fucking masterpiece to hear, “I actually do. I have an online shop. It’s so fun, I love it.”

“Wow, that’s so awesome. What’s it called?”

“Cookie it’s a great complex. ”

“Oakcrest, actually.” It’s still quite nice, but being the older building, it has smaller apartments. While we share amenities, Maplewood offers newer, more spacious units.

“Nice, so I guess that makes us neighbors.” I flash a smile at her, which immediately causes her to blush again. She starts studying the trail like it’ll hide her blazing cheeks from my view. We settle back into silence, letting the peaceful sounds of the forest play out around us for a few minutes until she comes to a stop ahead of me. I follow suit, pausing in my tracks.

“We should probably make our way back. It’s getting late.”

I reluctantly nod, noticing the quickly sinking sun above us. Turning, we quietly retrace our steps until I can see the light of the little building shining through the trailhead opening. She shrugs off my jacket, handing it back to me.

“Thanks again for the jacket.”

Her smile is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s warm and makes my stomach flip. Being on the receiving end of her attention is something I could grow used to, and I’m cursing the sun for stealing my time with her.

I nod, physically restraining myself from telling her to keep it. I’m so not ready for this to be over.

“I’ll walk you all the way back,” I say, continuing forward. We make it out into the clearing, and first peeking over to the party to ensure we’re still in the clear, I walk with her toward her door.

“Well, this is me,” she says.

I nod, a weird mixture of disappointment that the night is over and the bliss of finally having time to get to know her even a little bit.

“It was really nice talking with you, Mia.”

She fiddles with the hem of her dress as she looks up at me, her emerald green eyes staring a little nervously, “Do you… have a number?” she asks, eyebrows drawing together .

I can see her brain moving a mile a minute as she breaks our eye contact and rapidly mutters. “Of course, you have a number. I meant…” she trails off, clumsily staring down.

“You want my number?” I ask amusedly, lips quirking up into a smile. She’s nervous. She’s so cute when she’s nervous. I continue studying her as she squirms a little.

“Oh no, I mean… I guess.” She pauses, looking back up at me, innocent eyes meeting mine, “I don’t really know anyone in the city yet and…”

I jut my hand in front of me, “Phone, please.”

Handing over her unlocked iPhone, a ridiculously chubby chocolate cat takes up the entirety of her background. That’s a chonk if I ever saw one. I open the contacts app and type my name and number in. And because I think I’ve used up my last bit of good fortune from the universe, which clearly keeps giving me chances with this girl, I hit Call. Handing back her phone, I lift up my own to show her as it rings.

“Got it,” I say, mouth curving upward into a smile.

I’ve been on my best behavior, with no apparent flirting. I’m just happy to have the chance to talk to her. This is not so bad. I actually think we can manage to be friends. Or better yet, maybe this was all I needed to demystify my mystery girl and go about my life.

Turns out she’s just a gorgeous, shy, wicked baker with her own company. She also has an insane body, round, innocent eyes and the most perfect pouty lips I’ve ever seen. The thought sends a rush of blood to my not-so-friendly zone and… Shit. I was doing so well.

Before my mind even has a chance to react, I lean forward, gently pressing a soft kiss on her cheek. The shot of electricity where we connect is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

Heat rushes to her face immediately as I whisper, “Goodnight, Mia,” and walk back up the hill.

If that’s the last moment I ever get with her, at least I made it count.