Tessa’s eyes dart over to Tristan, and her heart suddenly starts pounding. He’s looking at her like he’s ready to pounce; like he wants to throw her over his shoulder and hide her away in his basement for himself only. And she wishes that didn’t turn her on as much as it does.
“There’s a great steak house I think you’d like,” Caden’s voice brings Tessa back to the present moment, and she shuffles on her feet awkwardly.
Tristan is staring at her unashamedly, and she’s almost sure his green eyes could start a fire out of intensity alone. Something in her feels pulled towards Tristan, and she realizes it’s her heart. It’s always belonged to him, always, and even in thismoment, she feels like she should say no. Shewantsto say no, for him.
“Um..well…”
“Tristiiiiisssss!”
A grating voice envelops the otherwise peaceful space abruptly, and all eyes turn towards the exit door to see Kiana sauntering through it. She’s dressed to the nines in a tiny dress, huge platform heels and a full face of make-up. She looks stunning, and she is undeniably putting on a show. Tessa can’t help but look over every inch of her, she appears to be perfect, but then Tessa realizes that perfect is not the correct word; she’sfake, even down to the way she runs over to Tristan and plants a big kiss on his unenthusiastic lips. Fake.
“Kiana, come on,” he grunts, trying to hold distance between them without fully slapping her away.
“What? I can’t come say hi to my boyfriend who I miss andlove?” she asks, stretching out the last word, eyes throwing daggers at Tessa.
“I’m at work,” he reminds her, and she waves her hand in his face dismissively. Tessa is mystified by how these two ended up together. She doesn’t seem like Tristan’s type personality wise. Is he really that focused on outward appearances that he would be with someone so vain for so long?
Tessa watches with disdain and envy coursing through her veins as Kiana wraps her arms around Tristan’ neck and whispers something into his ear, something she assumes is suggestive based on the wink Kiana gives him when she pulls away. Tristan doesn’t seem affected, but Tessa is, and with a surge of adrenaline she turns back towards Caden.
“I would love to go out with you,” she blurts out. Caden’s eyebrows shoot up in satisfaction while Tristan’s shoot up in surprise.
“That’s what I like to hear, let’s exchange numbers,” Caden says, and Tristan suddenly steps forward.
“Are we sure we want to be doing that at the beginning of the season?”
“Doing what?” Caden asks, his eyes lifting to meet Tristan’s. Caden looks genuinely confused, and Tessa looks downright irate.
“You know, like, hooking up,” Tristan stumbles over his words, not sure what he’s trying to say, all he knows is that he strongly disapproves of this, even though he knows he has no right to.
“This isn’t hooking up, this is going on a date,” Caden says, glancing at Tristan one more time before turning back to Tessa and putting his number into her phone.
“Shouldn’t you be focusing on writing your article or something?”
Tessa looks at Tristan with furrowed brows, and she crosses her arms in front of her, challenging him and staring him down.
“Something wrong, Trist?”
“I think you two would be perfect together,” Kiana says, inserting herself into the conversation.
“I’m leaving,” he says suddenly, bending down to grab his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.
“Thanks for the interview,” she says, holding up her notebook and giving him a sarcastic smile. “And have a good night with your girlfriend,friend.”
Tristan scoffs and almost combusts with fury, but Kiana’s claws digging into his arm and pulling him towards the exit knocks him out of his spell.
Tessa’s smile is smug as he walks away, but it falls quickly when she realizes she just pushed him away with his girlfriend, and her stomach twists in envy.
“Don’t mind Trist, him and Kiana must be fighting again,” Caden says.
“They do that a lot?”
“Oh yeah, they break up at least twice a year but she always threatens to kill herself so he keeps kind of placating her. Although we’re not supposed to know that. Shit, please don’t repeat that.”
“I won’t,” she says, dread creeping up her spine. Is he really that stuck with her? No wonder he looks on edge any time she’s around. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“Can’t wait,” he says, “It should be fun.”
CHAPTER 14
