Backdraft - The Secret Life of Trystan Scott #2 Read Online Free

the
empty halls toward the cafeteria and went to the vending machines.
He normally didn’t buy stuff like that. It was too expensive, but
he wanted caffeine. He was shaking, his stomach churning inside of
him like he’d be sick.
    Fishing a dollar out of his pocket, Trystan
fed it to the machine and then pressed a button. A Coke tumbled out
of the bottom of the machine. He bent down and picked it up, lost
in thought. Trystan walked back slowly, drinking his sugar quickly,
when Seth ran up next to him. A teacher screamed at Seth to stop
running, but he didn’t slow until he reached Trystan.
    “Hey man,” Seth huffed. “You almost done? I
have us a dinner date lined up.” He waggled his eyebrows, very
proud of his latest catch. It had to be the 7-Eleven twins. Seth
had been hanging around them nearly every day.
    Trystan groaned inside, but he didn’t show
any sign that he wasn’t interested. He didn’t want to fight about
Mari again. Nodding, Trystan said, “Yeah. Give me about forty-five
minutes. We should be done by then.”
    Seth grinned, “She’s so hot, man. And her
rack is like,” he paused his hands cupping the air as a look of awe
spread across his face, “so perfect.”
    “Which one?”
    “Like it matters?” Seth laughed. “They’re
twins. They’ve got the same of everything.” He elbowed Trystan,
like his crass comment amused them both and then took off in the
other direction. “Later, Scott! Don’t be late!”
    Trystan shook his head. He was starting to
think that he and Seth had little in common anymore. At some point,
Seth fixated on bodies and Trystan wanted more than that. A good
body was great, but without a brain it didn’t hold much appeal.
Mari had a great mind, filled with tack-sharp wit and other awesome
things. Plus she had the body, too. He grinned, thinking about it.
Trystan started back toward the auditorium, chugging the rest of
his Coke.
    As he rounded the corner, Trystan saw Mari
leaning against the wall by the stage door. Her head was tilted up,
her eyes closed like she was upset. His heart twisted in his chest.
He watched her for a moment, unsure if he should approach, but he
couldn’t help himself. His feet took him to her. It was like they
were two magnets and when she was near, he couldn’t pass her
by.
    “You okay?” Trystan asked, stopping in front
of her.
    Mari jumped when she heard his voice. She
looked directly at him. There were no tears in her eyes, but he
knew something was bothering her. Something had been bothering her
all day. Mari seemed more agitated and jumpy than normal. “Yeah,
fine.” She waited a moment, then crossed her arms and sighed, “I
don’t get it.”
    Trystan leaned his shoulder against the wall
next to her. The hairs on the back of his neck started to rise. He
ignored the warning premonition. Looking down into her face, he
asked, “What don’t you get?”
    “How you can do that. How you can make
everyone believe your emotions are real, even when they aren’t.
That kiss...” She spit out the word kiss , shaking her head.
Mari’s soft brown curls moved as she did it, falling forward into
her face. She pushed them back, her gaze skewering him in place.
“It makes it hard to believe that you like someone else. That’s
all.”
    Trystan didn’t understand why she was upset.
Her reaction was strange considering what she’d told him earlier.
She didn’t care about him that way, and while kissing Brie made
Trystan feel dirty, it shouldn’t have had any effect on Mari.
Unless…
    Unless what, Scott? Take a hint , the
voice inside his head scolded, she doesn’t like you. Stop acting
like she does.
    Maybe his words were too clipped, but once he
said them, he couldn’t take them back. “Why does it matter, Mari?
It doesn’t affect you.” And you’d tell me if it did , he
hoped.
    She straightened like he’d hit her.
    Crap. That was the wrong thing to say.
    “No, it doesn’t.” Mari looked at him once
like he was cruel, and