My Wolf’s Bane(37)
“We have friends from A to Z,” Trevor told Maya with a grin. “Get it? From A.” He pointed at me. “To Z.” He wagged his index finger at Zack.
“The alphabet has things in the middle. With her and me, it’s just A and Z. Nothing between us.” Zack picked up a menu and eyed it.
Ouch. “Careful, Zack,” I said coolly. “If you’re mean, people will think you like me.” I grabbed a menu and checked out the entrées. “What’s good here?”
Zack squinted. Probably trying to decide if I’d somehow eavesdropped on their earlier conversation. He could stew in it for all I cared.
“They have some good vegetarian stuff,” Trevor answered. “Cheese ravioli, tortellini and veggie pizza.”
“You’re a vegetarian?” By Zack’s expression, you’d think I’d just announced I was converting to communism.
“Yes. What’s wrong with that?” Oops, my voice was too sharp for the casual nice I’d been going for.
Zack’s eyes shifted and he moved away ever so slightly.
I glowered at him. “It’s not illegal, you know.”
“I think I’ll have a double cheeseburger with bacon,” Zack said.
Hamburger at an Italian restaurant? He was trying to bait me. Now was the time to apply my philosophy. I removed all traces of irritation from my face and smiled. “That’s great. Hamburgers are high in protein.”
“Autumn, what’s the deal with Daniel and Gina?” Maya asked. “I thought I’d see them all kissy-kissy after Monday, but I haven’t.”
“Why would you think they’d hook up?” Zack asked.
Exactly what I wanted — for the uber-hot new guy to know I’d been dumped in the worst possible way by both my friend and my boyfriend. My humiliation with Zack was almost complete. My front teeth scraped my bottom lip, removing the last of my lip gloss.
“Because Daniel cheated on Autumn with Gina. I thought everyone knew that.” Maya paused, glancing at the boys, then back to me. “Did she return your stuff?”
I nodded, sensing Zack’s gaze on me. By the tingling at the back of my neck, I had a hunch he was annoyed. But if he’d given me the benefit of the doubt at the time, he wouldn’t feel like such an ass now.
“Ooh. Could I borrow that leather jacket?” she asked. “It’ll go great with some shoes I just bought.”
“Sure.” I kept my eyes trained on the menu and ignored Zack. Maybe he’d been upset to hear about Daniel and Gina because he did like her and their Saturday gig really was a date. Ick.
A busboy came by and set a tray of hot bread on the table. “Your server will be right with you.”
“Thank you.” Trevor smiled at the server.
“That was Gina with Daniel?” Zack snagged a piece of bread and slathered butter on it. “And when I accused you of extortion, you were really asking for your own things back?” he asked.
I lifted my chin and made an effort not to get irritated. “Yeah, right after she tried to pull my arm out of its socket. You have a knack for misreading my situations.”
His fist tightened on the butter knife. “You should’ve told me.”
“I did, but you were too busy being a jackass.” I dropped my bread and stared at him.
He stared back, one corner of his mouth lifting. “I thought you were totally into jackasses. Daniel’s proof of that.”
Damn, but he was sexy when he smiled like that. I wasn’t falling for it though. “Well, at least you admit what you are.”
“Okay, you guys.” Maya giggled nervously. “Let’s play nice, huh?”
A pretty brunette appeared at our table. “Are we ready to order?”
No one spoke up and my stomach was so empty, I thought it might
make good on its threat and implode. “I’ll have the cheese ravioli in the pink sauce,” I said.
After everyone else ordered, Maya and Trevor talked animatedly about movies, which left Zack and me on our own. Now that we’d gotten everything out in the open, maybe we could get past it.
“What got you interested in cars?” I asked.
“Necessity.”
His terse reply wasn’t helpful in keeping the conversation going. “So it’s just a job?”
“I like seeing how things work and figuring out why they don’t.” All annoyance had vanished from his voice. I wondered how long that would last. “What was so interesting yesterday that you didn’t have time to research cars?”
“I saw a giant wolf last night when I went out for a walk. Actually, it was the second night in a row.” I twirled the handle of my fork between my thumb and middle finger. “So I researched wolves instead of cars. But I’ll do the car stuff in the morning and still be ready when you pick me up.”