I fumbled. “Umm. Hi…Ethan.” A blush hit me so hard I could feel it spread from the roots of my hair all the way down my neck. “I…I’m not used to seeing you on a Friday.”
He chuckled. “I know. But I saw you over here and thought I’d say hi.” Then he glanced across the table. “Hey, Mason.” Giving a friendly wave, he seemed nothing but congenial and courteous.
And yet Mason reacted as if he’d been flipped the bird. “Riker,” he bit out in a tense voice, pulling back slightly in his seat to send a suspicious, narrow-eyed stare back and forth between us.
“Oh! You two know already each other?” I blurted out, wanting to keep things as kosher as Mason obviously didn’t want them to be. “Great. That saves me from making introductions because obviously…I forgot to make introductions.” I snorted at my own lame joke, revealing just how nervous I was.
Ethan grinned like a gentleman, but Mason looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. My grin died a quick, painful death.
“So, I’m really excited about tomorrow night,” Ethan went on. “And I forgot to ask: Was there anywhere special you wanted to go?”
“Umm…” I bit my lip, desperately trying to ignore the way Mason swung his head to gape at me. Color leeched from my face, and I grasped for reasonable thought. But why did I suddenly feel…awful?
“No,” I croaked. “I can’t think of anything. Just…wherever is fine. I’m not too familiar with Waterford yet.”
“Great.” Ethan’s smile was slow and pleased. “I have a couple places in mind.” He glanced at his wristwatch and let out an impatient breath. “I have to get to class. See you tomorrow.”
He stood up just as quickly as he’d sat down. Then he bent toward me and stamped a quick kiss to my cheek before I even realized what he had planned.
“Whoa!” I blurted out and leaned away, even though he’d already pulled back.
He paused to squint his eyes at me questioningly. I flushed and opened my mouth to apologize. But the waves of anger coming across the table from Mason made me stop. With a tense smile, I said, “See you tomorrow.”
He nodded, darted a glance to Mason, and took off.
I stared after him, biting my lip, too afraid to breathe. Maybe if I didn’t mention anything, Mason wouldn’t question it. But when I risked a glance his way, I knew immediately, he would question it. Big time.
“You’re going out with him? Tomorrow?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Oh, God. Oh, God. What should I tell him?
My mind went blank, so I had to stick with the truth. “Umm…yes?” The answer came out as a question and I wanted to slug myself. Why was I being so meek all of the sudden?
Probably because Mason’s body looked strangely still. I mean, not that he usually fidgeted, but nothing on him even twitched, not even his hard gray eyes that bored right into me as if I’d betrayed him.
Strangely, I felt as if I had betrayed him.
His jaw went rigid as he looked down, staring blindly at his opened calculus book. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I…” I floundered. “Well, for one, I haven’t seen you since Sunday. Then I…I completely forgot about it until he showed up just now, and…” I shrugged. “By then, you already knew.”
“When?” Mason demanded.
I frowned. “When what?”
“When did he ask you out?”
“Oh. Um…Tuesday night. Why?”
Mason’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you had study group on Tuesday nights.”
I was startled he actually remembered my schedule. “I do. I mean, I did. He’s in my study group.” When Mason flinched at that as if it physically hurt him to learn I had something in common with Ethan that I didn’t with him, I rushed on, hoping my explanation somehow soothed him. “When the library closed, we weren’t finished with our assignment, so he came back to my apartment and we worked on it—”
“He did what?” Mason boomed, looking like he wanted to jump off his bench and chase Ethan down to remove a couple of the guy’s teeth…with his knuckles.
“Hey, what is wrong with you?” I demanded.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he sneered. “Maybe it’s this irresistible urge I have to break Ethan Riker’s face.”
My mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” he damn near bellowed again.
“Mason,” I hissed, glancing around to see if anyone was staring at us. “What the hell? It’s not like I have to babysit Sarah that night.”
“This isn’t about Sarah. And you know it.”
Of course I knew it. But I thought we were still in denial, only flirting around the issue and holding tight to the whole just-friends lie. I had no idea he suddenly wanted to come out.
I swallowed and tried to rein in my racing nerves, having a bad feeling the rest of this conversation was going to leave me shredded inside.
“You said we were just friends.” My voice went hoarse as I studied his taut features. “I thought—”