Strut the Mall (Love at Westbrook Mall #4)

28. Little Monsters

28

Little Monsters

There was no way to sneak out of the basement without breaking glass. Crawling out the window wells would ruin my outfit. Oh, god. My outfit.

“I can’t meet your family dressed like this,” I hissed, yanking my leather on.

Zack rubbed his ear. “My mom must’ve told them when practice ended.”

“Why, so you could babysit?”

He headed toward his dresser drawers. “Do you want to borrow one of my sweatshirts?”

I clutched my arms. “No, then it’ll look like I lost my top on our date."

Pink stained his cheeks. “Or that you were cold. My sweatshirt's comfortable and weather-appropriate.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dad.” I rolled my eyes.

“I’m just saying—”

“Zack,” a chorus of kids called. “Can you come play?”

“In a minute,” he boomed back. His voice reverberated in my chest.

I smoothed my clothes and took a deep breath. “Time for our best game faces, I guess.”

He sighed and swiped his hand through that awful cropped hair. “Are we ready for this?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. How nosey are your parents?”

He averted his gaze. “My dad’s always on the road, but my mom and aunts…”

I nodded. Family could be complicated. I doubted he’d say anything too negative about them even if they were obnoxious.

“Well, they’ll be happy you have a girlfriend.” I smacked his arm and grinned. “Come on, beefcake. Let’s do this.”

He gave me a curt nod, held my gaze for a moment longer than necessary, then charged up the steps.

“Wait, this isn’t actually a football play.” I laughed.

Zack swung open the door. “Hey, what did I say about standing too close to the doorway?”

The kids giggled, shrieked, and took off. From the way the floors rattled, I guessed my fake boyfriend chased after them. Maybe he’d lead them away so I could sneak out.

I peeked out of the basement door, and a little girl screamed.

“What?” I flinched and frowned at the cherubic little girl with wide eyes standing two feet from me.

She couldn’t have been more than four years old. “Are you a monster?” she asked.

“No. I’m Nicole,” I said. Kids were such weirdos.

She pointed at the door. “But monsters live down there.”

Oh, is that what he told them to keep them out of the basement?

I slipped into the hall and closed the door behind me. “Yeah, I fought them off for a while so your cousin could have band practice.”

“Ohhhh.” The little girl’s eyes shone with the reflection of the studs on my jacket. “You’re a warrior princess.”

“Yes.” I liked the sound of that. “What’s your name?”

“May.”

“Hi, May.” I glanced down the hall where my beefcake thundered around. “Did you hide when Zack came out?”

She nodded. “I’m good at hiding.”

“I bet. I do that at my job too, sometimes. We have a kind of labyrinth in the back.”

“Are there monsters there too?” she asked, clasping her hands.

I shrugged and pulled on my jacket. “Andre’s not that bad. But we do have a lot of pretty shoes.”

“Wow.” The little girl let her mouth hang open.

I fought a laugh. A four-year-old thought I was cool.

Zack stomped back into the hallway, holding a squirming kid horizontally under his arm. “Joon, this is Nic.”

“Nic ole ,” May corrected.

This little kid was already going to bat for me. Hopefully, that meant she’d listen if I told her to do a chore or something.

“Hi Nicole,” the captured cousin repeated dully.

A woman’s voice shot through the walls like an arrow. “Nicole?” Fast footfall preceded a middle-aged woman sliding into the hallway in her socks. She wore linen clothes, almost scrubs. She raised her eyebrows and glanced from me to Zack. “Your Nicole?”

“Mom,” he chided.

Was I his? I grinned. “Hi.”

“Hello, hello, I’m Coral,” she said. She practically pushed Zack aside to hug me.

It didn’t matter that she was shorter, that woman yanked me down for a proper two-pats-on-the-back hug.

“Oh, you’re sharp,” she said but gripped my shoulders without flinching. “Are you sharp? College girl?”

“Um, yes.”

“Wonderful. You’ll stay for dinner.” She strode off toward what I presumed was the kitchen.

Zack hauled his cousin after her. “Mom, she can’t stay.”

“Yes, she can. You can,” she declared. “I’ll call in reinforcements.”

He tossed his cousin safely onto an old couch. “Moooom.”

Joon bounced to a stop on the cushions. “Zack has a girlfriend,” he taunted.

“I was actually just leaving,” I said.

May latched onto my leg. “Stay, okay?”

Oh, god. The puppy dog eyes didn’t work on me, but guilt did creep up the back of my neck as Zack eyed the two of us. If I left now, he would have to deal with his family all by himself. It wasn’t technically my responsibility to play nice with them. All I had to do was be a stand-in girlfriend, but what kind of girlfriend ran away from his family during their first meeting? After all, he’d stood by me with the whole Theo thing.

I shrugged. “I guess it has been a while since I’ve enjoyed a home-cooked meal.”

“Okay.” His face was unreadable. A beat later, he thundered, “Mom, she’s staying.”

“Oh my god, why are you shouting?” I laughed.

“I’m not shouting.”

I patted the little girl’s back. “May, what do you think?”

“He’s always shouting,” Joon complained.

“She was talking to me .” May smacked his foot.

He sat up, and she started as if zapped by static electricity.

“Ah, I didn’t mean it.” She raced down the hallway in a panic.

“You did so.” Joon quickly gave chase.

“Do we need to look after them?” I asked.

“Probably, yes.” Zack sighed. “Sorry about this.”

From the kitchen, his mom’s voice rang out clear as day. “What do you have in your refrigerator? Come over, we’re making dinner for Zack’s pretty girlfriend. Yes, girlfriend!”

I giggled and nudged his arm. “You weren’t exaggerating when you said everyone in your family talked loudly.”

He gave me a bashful smile and tugged his ear. “I didn’t think you’d be this good with kids.”

“Rude.” I flipped my hair so it thwacked his shoulder. “I was the ultimate babysitter.”

“Another side gig?”

“No, my parents… They had me, and then when they were older, they had their do-overs.” I waved him on to follow his cousins, but he shook his head, staring intensely at me. “What, do you want to watch my ass while I go ahead?” I asked.

“Nic,” he chided.

“Butt, sorry.” I sauntered ahead.

“It’s not the language,” he said, walking after me.

Was the joke too sexual or did he really want to look? I swayed my hips and peeked at him. Yep, he looked. But most straight guys would. It only meant he liked my ass. If he was actually interested, he would’ve asked me out or kissed me in the basement. I brushed off the urge to test what’d happen if we got that close again.

Heaven knew his shoulders were too broad for us to walk side-by-side in here, so who went first really didn’t matter.

When we got to the kids, Joon was trying to open a closet door while May held it fast from the inside.

Zack strode over and tugged him back. “Hey, stop that.”

“She started it,” Joon said.

“I’m sorry,” she wailed.

“You all need to cool off. Maybe we should take you outside,” I joked.

“For a snowball fight?” Joon's eyes lit up.

“No,” Zack said.

“Yes.” May yanked open the closet and smiled. “I like snowballs. Shelby said they brought her love.”

What the hell? I thought she’d met her boyfriend on a coffee run.

“Throwing things does not bring you love,” Zack said.

“In our case, it was a lemon.” I smiled and flexed my empty hand. Maybe a snowball fight would let out some of the tension in this house.

He pinned me with a serious look. “The lemon was later. A pair of shoes brought us together.”

My heart thudded against my chest. Did he mean Theo’s transgression or Shelby’s party princess outfit?

May gaped at us. “Wow. You’re like Cinderella and the prince.”

“Maybe a little bit,” I said. We’d danced on New Year’s Eve and parted ways soon after the clock struck midnight. Then, we sort of got back together, at least for this arrangement. But there was no kiss, no shoes, and no drama–er, romance.

Zack rubbed his earlobe. “I may not have a kingdom, but she’s always welcome at my place.”

“Thanks. Likewise, Mr. Beefcake.” I play-punched his arm to smash the flutter in my chest.

He grinned, his ears and neck red. He was so fucking cute I wanted to hit him again.

“Who puts beef with cake?” Joon blanched.

Zack and I locked eyes, then burst into laughter. Yeah, he’d definitely need an escape from these kinds of questions.

We probably weren’t on our way to a happily-ever-after with this arrangement, but at the very least, we might end up with a very real friendship.