“I’m looking for Nev,” I say.
He doesn’t tell me where to find her.
I place a hand on the archway, about to turn away to search the rest of the house for her, but because I’m masochistic, I say, “You got into boarding school.”
Ten sets down the wooden spatula and walks over to me. He plucks the paper out of my limp fingers. “I did.”
There’s a lump in my throat the size of Tennessee, and I mean the state. “And Nev’s upset.”
“Very.”
“Is that why she…?” I gesture to the trail of balled papers.
“Wasn’t Nev.”
“Your dad did this?”
He snorts gently. “No. All me.”
“You—Why?”
He stares down at me. “Because I’m not going.”
“Oh.” I bite my lip, look behind me at the paper trail, then back at Ten.
“And you decided to celebrate your decision with a paper-ball fight?”
His lips curve slightly. “Wasn’t a fight. Fights need at the very least two participants, and no one else was involved.”
Two…My gaze darts back to the place settings before lowering to the floor. “I should go. Is Nev in her bedroom?”
Fingers grip my chin, lift my face. “Nev’s not here, Angie.”
My swollen heart thumps against my ribs. “But she told me—”
“What I asked her to tell you.” His amber irises become blurry smears of color as my eyes mist over.
Mini fists squeeze each one of my organs. “Is this your idea of getting back at me for entering your mother’s contest, Ten?”
He frowns.
I gesture to the place settings. “Making me witness a date?” Slow tears spill out. I back away from him and wipe my face.
“Angie?” Ten steps toward me. “Youaremy date.”
I stop scrubbing the wet trails from my cheeks.
“I assumed you wouldn’t come over if I asked you after”—he rubs his earlobe—“after I shut you out, so I told Nev to text you something to make you come over, and since she owed me for her movie date, she agreed.”
A rough, masculine voice trickles through the hidden ceiling speakers.Say that you don’t want me, say that you don’t need me, tell me I’m the fool.I close my eyes for a moment and absorb the music, let it center me. When I open them, Ten is staring down at me, worry lancing his jaw.
“I thought you were never going to talk to me again,” I croak.
He shifts his gaze to the darkness beyond the window. “Angie, my mother is a moot point for me. She’s ruined so much, but I don’t want to let her ruinthis.” He points to me, then to himself. “If I step away from you because of her, then I let her win. And I don’t want her to win.”
“So you want to be with me to one-up your mom?”
He returns his gaze to mine. “I want to be with you because you’re like an earworm, Angie. You’reallI can think about. I might even need to get new friends, because Bolt and Archie are tired of hearing about you.”
