Stupid Girl(14)

Panic and shame rose from my stomach and into my throat, and suddenly my past felt splattered all over my face. I didn’t want him to know, to guess, or to even stay on this conversation anymore. I knelt by my toolbox and started straightening its contents. “I can see why you have a black eye.” My voice had dropped to a low pitch.

Brax’s chuckle interrupted my thoughts. “Sorry—it’s a God given talent that I have.”

“Your rudeness?” An angry blush crept up my neck. If only he knew.

Brax grinned, unaffected, and wandered over to my tool box and squatted down, lifting a wrench. “Nah, that’s been a long work in progress. Did I mention I’m a Southie? Rude is part of our DNA.” He shook his head. “No, me. Spotting a virgin. It’s a talent of mine.” He shrugged and set the wrench down, and stood. “I haven’t encountered many, unless you count the ones I knew in kindergarten, while I was still in kindergarten.” His stare seared me. “But in your case it’s a little hard to hide, Gracie. It’s stunning on you.”

The sharp realization that I was even having this exchange with a guy I barely knew blazed my insides further. Not to mention he was so way, way off. “I don’t try to hide it, or advertise it,” I answered in a quiet voice. “It’s no one’s business but mine.” I closed the toolbox and stood.

With one hand, Brax reached toward me and flipped my braid. “Be proud of it. Not many can claim it at your age, ya know.”

I wanted to melt into the floor of my room. Humiliation of the truth—and my own lies—swamped me. “I … think you need to leave now, Brax. Thanks for returning my phone.”

Brax pushed his tattooed hand over his heart. “I’m not trying to embarrass you. I said be proud. You wound me, Gracie.”

“We’re not friends, and we don’t know each other like that. So could you just leave, please?”

His gaze pinned me, and there was a light that sparked there, and I couldn’t tell if it was mischief or admiration. “We’ve already known each other now for, what? Several hours? We’re old friends now.” He stepped closer, his body angling toward mine. “We’ve kissed. That makes us something, yeah?”

“Not even close.”

Brax rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb as he studied me. “I plan on changing that.”

I looked at him skeptically. “Somehow I don’t think I fit into your crowd.”

“Who said I was gonna share you with mine or any other crowd?”

The heat from my blush stung my skin and I felt it rising like mercury in an old thermometer.

“That’s cute, Gracie. Damn cute.”

Exasperated, I breathed out, lifting my gaze to his. “Thanks again for returning my phone,” I said. I felt trapped, caged in like a big cat at a carnival, and I wanted him to leave. “I’ve got to go, though.”

Brax cocked his head. “Where ya headin’?”

Grabbing my boots, I sat on the bed to pull them on. Brax was borderline pushy. An irrational, irritating, irresistible kind of pushy. “To meet my boss and go over my work schedule. I’ve got a job at the observatory.”

Brax leaned his shoulder against the book shelf and crossed his tattooed arms over his chest, regarding me. His mouth pulled up at one corner. “A job, huh? Are you kicking me out, Gracie Beaumont?”

I looked at him. “I kicked you out five minutes ago.”

The whites of his teeth gleamed as his smile widened.

Despite his bold acknowledgment of my supposed virginity, and blatant expression of pursuit, he was … more than charming. But I’d been warned of that, too, and I knew behind his charisma and witty comments and sexy Southie accent and too-sly smile, demons lurked. Scary ones. I wasn’t sure he was as dangerous as Tessa warned me about, but I did feel he was just passing time with me. Fascinated, more than likely, because I wasn’t twirling my hair, fake-sighing and throwing myself at him. Plus, he thought I was a virgin. That’s a novelty to any guy. Something off limits, forbidden. It’s like a red flag to a bull. A green flag to a race car driver.

I’m sure he thought that fact alone was intriguing about me, especially since so many girls my age had lost their virginity in high school. Some before that. But I wasn't here for anyone's entertainment. I didn’t want to be his or anyone else’s novelty. And … I wasn’t at all what Brax thought I was.

Yet a thrill shot through me at the thought of him not wanting to share me. At the way his presence crowded my room. And at the way he looked at me with those almost all-knowing eyes. That split-moment kiss and the energy it’d left behind lingered in my head way longer than I wanted it to. I didn’t understand it, but there it was. I’d not had a boyfriend, or even a friendly date, since that awful night with Kelsy Evans. The thought made my palms clammy, and my insides jittery.