You got that kind of look in your eye

As if no one knows anything but us

Chapter 15 ~ Tenerife Sea

Jamie Myers

"What do you see in him?" Max asked me all of a sudden as he folded his arms against his chest and redirected his gaze to Scar's kissing booth. A disapproving scowl soon took place on his face as he shook his head in an equally disapproving manner. "Is it because he plays football? Because I play football too."

I tried to hold in a laugh as I watched Scar do his thing, kissing girl after girl and collecting their money. It was finally Saturday, the last day of Carnival Week and although I wanted this week to be over as much as the next person, I was thankful for it. Because without this wonderful Carnival Week, I would've never met Scar.

"Do you, now?" I fired back at him. "What position do you play?"

Max narrowed his eyes into two thin slits and rubbed his chin in deep thought. "The one that makes all the touchdowns."

"Ah," I breathed out, still trying to hold in my laughter. "Well, no. It's not because he plays football. Football has nothing to do with why I like him."

Max fell silent as he stared at Scar again. But he didn't remain silent for long, because he perked up again. "Is it because he's tall?"

I glanced down at Max, who was significantly shorter than me. He seemed to be genuinely interested in why I was attracted to Scar, which was expected because he originally thought I was attracted to him. "No. It has nothing to do with his height."

"Then what is it?" Max questioned in a sharp, fiery tone as he snapped his dark eyes to mine. "Why is he better than me?"

Here we go. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed. "Don't compare yourself to him, Max. I like you guys for totally different reasons."

"Well, you obviously don't like me enough to date me. So tell me why you like him? Is it because he's straight? Because that's stupid. I have a dick and I'm gay, so you're more than welcome to suck it whenever you want to."

I rested a hand on his shoulder and pulled his body against mine, wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug. "Don't worry about it, Maxxie. Besides, I thought you were seeing someone new." I buried my nose in his black hair, which always seemed to smell like strawberries.

I could feel his muscles relax under my touch. "He's not you," he muttered under his breath. I wasn't sure if he intended for me to hear it, but I did. Deciding that this was enough talk about Scar, I laced my fingers through his and dragged him towards the kissing booth and he didn't bother to protest.

When we were finally standing in front of the makeshift wooden booth, Max crossed his arms against his chest in anger. I just ignored him and gazed back at Scar, whose piercing green eyes danced with excitement to see me. "Hey," he said softly, his lips twitching into a small smile.

I smiled back at him, but didn't say anything else. We just stood there, staring into each other's eyes like we were speaking some kind of telepathic lingo. It was just something we did to let each other know we were good. It may have not made any sense to anyone else, but it sure made sense to me.

Max huffed loudly. "Why are you guys staring at each other like that?"

Scar broke away from our eye contact and glanced at Max. His breath hitched in his throat when he recognized him, and he attempted to clear his throat. "It's, uh, Max, right? You're Jamie's friend?"

Max rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Scar returned his attention to me, silently asking for help. "Uh.."

"Max, why don't you get us some funnel cake?" I suggested as I fished out a few crumpled dollar bills from my pocket and handed them to him. "Get whatever topping you'd like."

He gave both of us a skeptical look before he flashed me a friendly smile. "Sure, Jamie-bear." He skimmed his hand down my arm and winked seductively before he settled his attention on Scar again. "You better hope he fucks you as hard as he fucked me." Letting his fiery words sink in, Max turned on his heel and sauntered through the crowd in search of a food truck.

Scar latched onto my wrist, forcing me to look at him. His green eyes grew dark and unfriendly. "What's he talking about?"

"N-nothing," I stammered. I had no why idea I felt so hesitant to tell him. Sleeping around was something I was known for and something I owned up to. "He's sorta ... crazy."

My words didn't do anything to ease Scar's hard expression. "You had sex with him?"

"No ... Well, yes, but it was before you so, it's not really that big of a deal."

He loosened his grip on my wrist ad his facial expression softened a bit. "It's not a big deal," he repeated. "That's what Francesca says."

My mouth parted slightly. I hadn't even realized how much of a slut that made me sound like. Here I was constantly bashing Francesca for sleeping around with other guys, and I was doing the same exact thing. That made me feel horrible. Even though Scar and I hadn't put a label on us yet, I would do everything in my power to prevent him from going through the same heartbreak he went through with Francesca. "Scar, it was before you. I would never hurt you like she did."

He backed away from me a bit. "Okay," he said and his smile reappeared. "But that kid still freaks me out."

"He's harmless, trust me." I motioned towards the kissing booth. "You good here?"

He nodded. "Yeah, meet me in about a hour so we can go home. Kissing all these girls is making my lips dry."

I took a suggestive step forward. "I bet I can soften them up for you."

He dipped his head, laughing. "I was kinda counting on that. So I'll see you?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "I'll see you then." I gave him a quick smile and allowed him to continue what he was doing before I showed up. As I walked towards the funnel cake food truck to retrieve Max, I couldn't help but smile. I didn't even notice I was smiling until Max pointed it out and made a strange huffing noise, showing his obvious disapproval of me and Scar's relationship.

"I don't like you with him," he sputtered out as he handed me the funnel cake, but not before tearing off a piece of the fried flour and sticking it into his mouth. "I bet he can't even blow you as good as me."

It shouldn't have, but his comment really bothered me. I shot my eyes to his and clenched my jaw tightly. "It's not about sex, Max. Not with him."

Max's eyes widened in shock. Hell, even I was shocked at my words. "Seriously? It's always about sex for you. You love sex."

That was true, and I still wasn't sure why I didn't want sex from Scar. Somehow, cuddling with him seemed more appealing than sex. Maybe it was because I knew from experience that sex didn't necessarily have an emotional attachment to it. I wanted Scar to know that he was more than just sex. He meant way more than that.

I knew Max wouldn't understand, so I just shrugged. "I don't know."

He eyed me wearily before grabbing another piece of my funnel cake. "He better treat you right, or I swear, I will cut his balls off and feed it to him."

I stopped in my long strides, nearly choking on my food. "My god," I stammered between chokes. "Please don't do that."

Max's response was a simple shrug followed by a creepy, discomforting grin. "I better go find my dad..." His words trailed off just as his eyes wandered around the open field. "Do you wanna hang out later?" He blurted out unexpectedly when he returned his gaze to me.

I smiled. "I'd love to."

He breathed a sigh of relief and he stood on his tip toes to place a brief, chaste kiss on my cheek. "Bye Jamie-bear," he whispered in a low, seductive wink, before he waved his fingers at me and skipped off to find his father.

My thoughts briefly shifted to a list of groceries Janice had asked - no, ordered me to pick up on my way home. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn't remember what she told me to get. So instead of racking my brain by trying to remember, I was going to do what I did best.

Ignore her.

Besides, my mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Scar. Like, what would he think of this t-shirt? Too tight? Not tight enough? Is he going to actually acknowledge his blooming feelings for me or just brush them off like last time? And will he ever stop being so sexy without even trying?

I realized these thoughts weren't exactly healthy for me, considering that I've never liked anyone to this degree before. There was this nagging voice in the back of mind telling me that Scar would only hurt me in the end, which I believed. But I was trying to delay "the end" as much as possible and just live in the now.

Even though he didn't know it, Scar was a beautiful distraction. A distraction away from my horrible home situation. A distraction away from plaguing thoughts of parents' deaths. A distraction away from anything that symbolized sadness, guilt, and evil. Because in some way or form, Scar was good, and I'd do anything to hold onto whatever good was left in the world.

When the sun was beginning to set and the carnival was coming to a close, I met up with Scar again at the kissing booth. He had his attention fixed on the pile of money in front of him and sliding his fingers across a wad of cash, while silently counting to himself.

"Hey, stranger," I greeted him with a small smile. "Looks like you racked up."

A grin slowly crept onto his face. "Yeah," he agreed, still counting the money. "We'll definitely be getting new uniforms, and I'll have some pocket money left over."

I faked a smile. "Exciting." I wasn't too on board with Scar's dirty scheme to get money, but I wasn't against it either.

Keeping his attention on his money, he said absentmindedly, "Do you wanna go somewhere tonight?"

I knitted my brows together and leaned against the booth with a teasing grin on my face. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were asking me on a date."

He tore his eyes away from the cash and scoffed. "But I'm assuming you know better."

I grinned just as an idea sparked in my mind. "Sure," I said. "But how about I pick the place?"

Scar was hesitant for a moment but he agreed by nodding slightly. "Okay." When he was finished counting, he stuffed the money back into the tin box and slammed it shut. "That's one hundred fifty for today. I got the rest of the money in the car, so I'll need your help counting." He grabbed the money box and started to head towards the exit, trudging through the grass with heavy steps.

I trailed behind him as he walked out of the carnival and traveled through the parking lot in search of his Jeep. In all honesty, it was the ugliest of cars but I loved it endlessly.

"Who do you have for your Secret Santa?" Scar asked suddenly when he circled around the car to slide into the driver's seat.

I got into the accompanying passenger's side and released a heavy sigh. "Isn't that the whole point? It's supposed to be secret?"

Scar huffed in disbelief as he started up the car. "No one actually keeps it a secret."

"Oh." This would be my first time doing anything like this. I didn't really celebrate Christmas because I didn't have family to celebrate it with. "I have Trey."

He turned his head to face me, his green eyes glistening with curiosity. "Really? What are you gonna get him?"

"I wasn't going to get him anything."

Scar let out a large cackle. It was the hardest I've ever heard him laugh. Normally, he would snicker or make slight chuckles, but this was a real genuine laugh. He got so lost in his laughter that I was almost certain he was laughing at me rather than what I had said.

"What?" I questioned him. "What's so funny?"

"You have to get him something," he informed me.

I thought about it for a moment. Why would I get him anything? I never really liked him in the first place, and he broke Scar's heart by fooling around with Francesca, so that made me hate him even more. If anything, he deserved coal. "I'll get him some coal."

Scar cackled again. "Wow."

"Who'd you get?" I asked, shifting the conversation away from me.

"Uh, I got Francesca..."

I smiled to myself and sunk further into my seat. "Of course."

A wave of silence washed over us. It was apparent that I struck a nerve, which seemed to be a common theme whenever we talked about Francesca. I just couldn't understand how someone so composed could fall apart over some simple girl. From everything I've seen so far, she was nothing special. She treated him like shit, and she strung him along through more shit. How could he not see that?

"Jamie," he said quietly. He was talking to me, but he was staring off into the distance. "I don't wanna care anymore."

"What?"

Still staring straight ahead, his hand reached over the median separating our seats and traced his fingers along the outline of mine. The second his hand touched mine, I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through my body.

"I don't want to care about what people will think of me," he answered in a soft, delicate voice. "I just want to be with you." He finally turned his attention to me. His eyes were gleaming with an emotion that I couldn't quite understand. All I knew was that I really liked how he looked in that moment, raw and sincere.

In one swift movement, he leaned over the handbrakes, raking a hand through my hair and setting it on the back of my neck. He stared at me for a brief moment, his pale green eyes occasionally glancing down to my lips then flicking back up to my eyes. His tongue swept over his lips, dampening them, and he pressed his lips gently against mine.

My eyes fluttered shut and I eagerly wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me and instantly deepening the kiss. My heart was pounding so heavily in my chest that I was sure Scar could hear it.

His teeth grazed my bottom lip for a mere second, and it succeeded in sending me on edge. I let out a rather awkward moan which made him smile against my lips, not wanting to break away. I mentally rolled my eyes as I pressed my body against his, pulling us into a tighter embrace. Heat radiated from our bodies, but it was the good kind of heat. The kind of heat that made you want to get burned.

The several minutes that followed passed by in a blur. I had no idea how it happened but suddenly, we were both sprawled across the backseat of his car, making out. It wasn't at all rushed like how all my make out sessions were with Max. He took his time, slipping his tongue past my teeth in between kisses and trailing his hands down my arms, resting them just above my ass.

Scar flipped us over so that he was straddling me. With one hand, he brushed away the stray strands of hair away from my eyes and embraced my cheek with the other hand, still kissing me just as desperately and feverishly as before.

I could feel my jeans tightening as he gently sat down on my crotch, completely unaware of all the feelings he was stirring inside of me, emotional and sexual.

He pulled away from the kiss briefly with his eyes burning into mine as he played with my hair. He broke eye contact for only a second, staring out the window, and his eyes widened in shock. "Shit!" He scrambled away from me and toppled to the floor of the car.

I tried to get a look outside the window to see what must've frightened him only to see a very disgusted Francesca staring back at me. Mentally cursing, I sat up straight and glanced down at him. "Scar."

He groaned loudly as he reached for the door handle. Francesca had already ran off, but he was still fighting to get the door open.

"Scar," I repeated in a loud, stern voice.

He ignored me yet again, still fumbling with the door handle. "God dammit!"

"Scar," I said for the third time. "What are you doing?"

He was finally able to pop the door open. "I have to explain!"

I was sick and tired of Francesca ruining every single moment I had with Scar. "Explain what? Why you were kissing another dude? There is no fucking explanation for that!"

He shot me a deadly look. "I'll think of something." He climbed over me and jumped out of the car, landing safely on his feet. He was about to run after Francesca but I grabbed onto his wrist, holding him back.

"What happened to not caring about what other people thought of you, huh? Do you want to know what you're doing now? You're fucking caring. Too fucking much, might I add," I snapped at him. "I've tried to be patient with you, Scar. And that's only because I really fucking like you. So if you want to be a real fucking man, then you'll let the fucking bitch go and get back into the fucking car!"

He stared at me in bewilderment, obviously surprised at my sudden outburst. Hell, even I was surprised that I had it in me. I had been way too passive when it came to Scar, so it was about time that I unleashed the beast.

I had a feeling that my words knocked some sense into him, because Scar's lips twitched into a small smile. "God, Jamie. You're really fucking demanding."

**

A/N:

I have about a week left until I go back to school, so I'm hoping to squeeze in a few more updates.

What was your favorite part of this chapter? Mine would have to be anything dealing with Max, because he's crazy and I love it.

The picture to the side is of Jamie. I found it and thought it was hilarious.

It's probably been like two months and this book already has 70k reads. How freaking awesome is that? Thank you guys so so so so much for being so so so so awesome and I love you so so so so much. Honestly, this book wouldn't be what it is without you. So, thanks. You're the real MVP!

Until next time,

Lara <3