Page 16 (2/2)

I putthat with ten foot pole"

"What happened to you last night? One one"

I debated telling Dane about being with Claire I suspected he liked her because he acted so protective of her, but decided to confide in him anyway "I ith Claire"

Hisand she askeduntil two o’clock thiswhen I took her ho Gretchen, but you were talking to Claire until two o’clock in this ave up getting laid"

"It wasn’t like that I ditched Gretchen before I knew Claire wanted a ride because I didn’t want to get with her"

"You lucky, bastard Claire Deveraux likes you and you like her back It has nothing to do with this thing between you and Forbes You’ve been fronting all along"

I felt vulnerable, allowing Dane to kno I felt about Claire, but it was a secret I didn’t want to keep froive her ti between us before she breaks up with Forbes and I agreed, but I don’t know if I can stand to see theht"

"What do you mean? What happened between the two of you?" he asked

He could forget getting the details "Things between us got pretty intense and that’s all I’ to say about it"

He sat in amazeht get together"

If I didn’t kno crazy it sounded, Ishocked about the possibility of Claire and I being together His reaction caused self doubt to flood oing to happen She won’t break up with hi Claire wouldn’t have left with you and got intense with you if it wasn’t a possibility I think you give yourself too little credit"

Dane was encouragingthat would never happen, but it was a lesson I learned early in life-don’t allowyou higher before dropping you flat on your ass

"I guess we’ll see"

"I guess ill, but you need to go get a shower, dude If Claire sht now, she’d run the other way You stink"

Working around motor oil was a job hazard "Thanks, I didn’t know that"

"If you s with ht"

"Okay, that sounds cool"

16 Many Shades of Black

Claire

Payton called first thing Saturdayand I half lied to her I didn’t tell her the part about staying out with Jessie until two in the ht, but I did tell her I made some leeway so she wouldn’t be suspicious if he seeht withalone with Forbes He knew so and spent the night being preoccupied with thoughts of the night I shared with Jessie

When the next day caht about the plans he had for the day and couldn’t break I wondered if they included a girl and I felt a spark of jealousy I tried to not beco out where he lived, I confess I would have stalked hilad when Monday finally arrived, so I could see hiuaranteed to make hiredients, so today left Making Connections and I sht of the connection we had already made

I waited anxiously for him to enter the classroom, and when he finally did, my heart skipped a beat because he looked at ret the tied differently today, in groups of two, and he took the seat facing me"Hey, you"

He put his backpack down and said, "Hey, Princess Did you have a good weekend?"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>