Dangerous Play

6 » bite the bullet

"Remind me why we're in a library of all places?" Kieran asked as we walked between two shelves of teen fiction books.

"Because I'm grounded," I said, "so I'm not allowed to have people over. Also, since my parents now have my location, if they ask, I'm here by myself studying." I set my backpack down on the floor and nudged a beanbag over, plopping down on it with a huff.

His eyes glittered in amusement as he took in my sprawled figure. "What subject is this? Naptime?"

"Spanish, actually, and it's called a siesta. You should know."

He laughed slightly as he pulled up a beanbag and sat. "Fair enough." He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "So, what are we doing here?" A stray dark curl fell in front of his eyes as he waited for me to answer.

I sat up slightly and glanced around. Bookshelves and tables surrounded us, but the only other living souls in the place were the actual librarians. Go figure—most high school students avoided the library like the plague, so there was no danger of any of them eavesdropping on our conversation. "I wanted to talk about our 'relationship.'"

He nodded. "I was thinking the same thing."

A mischievous smile sprang to my lips. "Did you see Finn's face when we walked in the cafeteria? I thought he was going to explode."

"He yelled at me after lunch, so we've definitely succeeded in pissing me off." He looked at me with a grin. "Which I believe means you owe me ten bucks."

"Excuse me, I haven't talked to him yet. I'm still sure he wants to murder me way more than he does you."

Kieran rolled his eyes and sat back. "Fine, fine. He's mad at both of us. But he's also suspicious." Upon seeing my look of confusion, he elaborated. "I told him we talked over the summer and started dating a couple weeks ago. He thought there was no way I'd gotten over Marissa that quickly, so now he's convinced that there's something else going on."

"Well, as long as Marissa doesn't come to the same conclusion, we'll be fine." I raised my arms above my head and stretched languidly, feeling some of the tension drain from my shoulders. "It's not like he's going to tell her."

"No," Kieran said slowly, "but if he tells Eden, that might be a problem."

I froze. "How the hell is Eden involved in this? Ugh, please don't tell me Finn actually has a thing for her." I thought of the girl with the tan skin and a perpetually disdainful expression. She was gorgeous, but surely even my brother could see past that to the awful person she was underneath.

"I don't think there's anything there, but it's a small possibility."

"Is there anything we can do? I guess we could just explain the situation to him, but I kind of want him to suffer some more."

Kieran snorted. "You're so kind." He ran a hand through his hair, tousling the messy curls further. "But no, I think that's risky. What if he accidentally slips up? The more people who know, the more likely it is that it'll get back to Marissa, even inadvertently."

I pursed my lips. "What should we do about him, then?"

"You sound like you're considering hiring a hit man to take him out."

"Oh, come on. I live with him. Why would I spend money on an assassin when I can get the job done myself?"

Kieran scooted his beanbag a couple feet away from me.

"I'm joking," I said. "Kind of."

"I was thinking something a little less violent," he said, still looking at me warily. "More like, we keep up the charade and don't tell him. If we can convince Finn, the one person who knows the both of us the best, that we're really dating, then we can convince anyone. Including Marissa."