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I stare at the sweet saze falls to the tattoo on his chest Then I glance at the glass of ice water on the nightstand and back to his face He followed the direction of his coht him to me

I don’t want to feel this way about Adam I don’t want to move on from what happened so quickly I’ ti and fast, like I’ to crash and body parts are going to fly--in particular, hearts I can feel it

But I don’t care

I grab handfuls of his hair and pull his face toward ainst ue searches ainst hirabs ainst ether in front of his chest "I don’t want you to do this if you’re not ready"

"I’o of my hands

"No, you’re not"

"Yes, I am"

"Claire, I’m stoned and even I can see that you’re not ready"

He lets go of ainst his chest He kisses the tip of ether to hide ertip to the top of his tattoo and trace the circular compass

He draws in a sharp breath as his skin prickles with goose bu for I told the tattoo artist, ‘Give me your prettiest tattoo,’ and it was either this or a pink butterfly The butterfly’s on my ass"

"I want one"

"You want a tattoo or a tattoo artist?"

I rake ers over his chest and up to his collarbone before I wrap et one?"

"I don’t know I think I’ve already been a bad enough influence on you"

"Please You have this cool little ht over your heart I have a mantra, too"

He cocks an eyebrow as he leans in to kissto like it Nobody likes it I got it from a book on Buddhism Not that I’m Buddhist, I just read a couple of books and this one sentence sort of stuck with ht trail down to ainst hiue slides across my collarbone and he lays a soft kiss onto be nobody special," I whisper

He freezes for a moment then looks up atthe tide trying to be so to be nobody special I go with the flow or, as youit out"

He chuckles as he shakes his head "You’re right I hate it"

"Hey! I didn’t talk trash about your mantra"

"That’s because ers roam overto be nobody special is profound? It’s not profound, it’s depressing Besides, you could never be nobody special"

Chapter Ten

Relentless Laughter

ADAM STOPS BY THE CAFÉ every single day this week on his way to work, as if to prove that ignoringhis stalker gig seriously The best part of his visits is how much Linda and my coworkers like hiive her a lesson in how to dance Gangna Adaroovin’ out in the e Despite these picture perfect s, I have yet to see Ada you, he’s a male stripper and he doesn’t want you to see him come home covered in kissopen a bottle of Coke for us to drink with the pizza we ordered

"He’s not a stripper He works for his dad’s construction colass of soda Senia just poured for me I lean back on the sofa and take a sip before I continue "Then again, he does seeood dancers" She wiggles her eyebrows and I try not to blush

"I o on a double date with us," she says before taking a gigantic bite of her pizza "We should go to that new hookah bar"

"Hey, skank No talking with your ulps of soda as I consider her offer

The last time I went on a double date with Senia hen she and her freshuard Kevin Brown, took her, Chris, and ot so drunk she pissed in Kevin’s lap They broke up five ht

I would love to see Adam charm the pants off Senia and Eddie, but I’ him out in public with that te tells me he still hasn’t toldsurfing was the reason he developed anger issues And if I don’t knohat really triggered it, I don’t know if I’ll be leading him into a potentially volatile situation

"Claaaaaaire!" Senia whines, and I set down my pizza and soda on the coffee table "Please come with us I proone Gangnam Style on you yet"

"I don’t know if a hookah bar is the best place for hi of how lame he’ll probably think it is to sreenery

"Why?"

I shrug and purse my lips and make a few more skeptical faces before I finally answer "Ada fuckin’ deal, so is Eddie At least noe know they’ll get along"

"Eddie smokes pot?"

"Yeah, I just always tell hiet pissed"