Yes. She scared me, but at least she had no intention of doing it. That has to count for something.
Her eyes flicker beside me. Not to Lo, but to Ryke. His normally hard features are darkened slightly. And I think he’s trying really, really hard not to call Daisy a tease, just to piss her off and start something.
It’s what he does.
The longer she stares at Ryke, the more her smile fades. She turns her back to us, hunches forward and says something to the bandana guy. He lowers her to the ground, safely on Earth, and before she returns to our group, she continues talking with him, even with the loud music.
She nods a lot. He smiles even more. I don’t like it. Because he looks in his late twenties and she’s just a teenager.
And then his hand rests on her hip and starts traveling to her ass.
“I’m thirty seconds,” Lo says under his breath, his eyes flickering to Ryke.
“I’m fifteen.”
I frown. For what? To intervene?
Connor looks between them. “You both can’t be serious.”
Ryke glances at his watch. “Five…”
“She’s a smart girl,” Connor reminds them.
“She’s sixteen,” Lo says.
“Three…”
And then the guy slaps her ass, and Ryke is about to drop Melissa on the ground. But Daisy just smiles and waves goodbye to the guy and comes over to us. When she meets our faces, her smile contorts into a frown, confused like I was. Now I’m pretty positive there’s too much testosterone pumping in this area.
“What’s up with all of you?” Daisy asks. “Lo, you look like you’re going to pop a blood vessel.” He does. But she tries to shrug it off. “That guy told me a good place to swim with sharks. Anyone up for it?”
Everyone stays quiet.
And she deflates again. “What? What did I do?”
“That guy practically stuck his hand down your bathing suit,” Ryke tells her, “and you didn’t care.”
Melissa has her arms crossed over her chest. Her mood is slowly tanking.
Rose shoots me a harsh look and mouthsgirl time.Yes. Definitely.
I take Daisy’s hand, wanting air too but mostly wanting Daisy out of their judgmental gazes for a second.
“Wait, I didn’t do anything wrong,” she says. “He was just being nice.”
“Are you really that naïve?” Lo questions. “Because if you are, we should consider sending you home before something terrible fucking happens.”
“I’m not naïve,” she says. “He was happy.”
Ryke cringes. “You let him slap your ass because it made himhappy?” Yeah, that doesn’t sound right.
“Okay,” I interject. “We’re leaving. Right Rose?”
“Yes.” She sets a glare on each of the guys.
Connor raises his hands. “I didn’t say a word.”
Her eyes soften at him. “You’re exempt.”
