"Dirty girl," Bailey mutters, perusing the menu again.

"Good afternoon, lovebirds," a waitress in her early thirties greets us like we're a couple.

I'm too shocked to say anything, and Bailey looks amused by the comment.

"What can I get you two to drink?"

"Do you have anything special? We're celebrating."

"We are?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

He eyes me momentarily, "it's our three-year anniversary, baby."

Heat bats in my belly and floods down my legs, washing into my cheeks. I ward it off, staring pointedly at the menu. He needs to stop be considerate and confusing and never call me baby again. I might jump his bones just for a taste.

Geez, stop it.

"We have a delicious house Moscato, or some champagne, but honestly it's disgusting," the waitress contemplates.

"Remind me, baby, do you like Moscato?" Bailey is so casual calling me baby that I can only flush harder.

"It's been a minute," I squeak.

"Just a glass for her. I have to drive," Bailey decides, "and some water for both of us."

"I'll be right back," the waitress doesn't even bother to card us before disappearing.

"What was that?"

"What?" He keeps his eyes fixed on the menu, "I didn't feel like taking the time to correct her."

"So, you made up some story that it's our anniversary?"

"She didn't card us, did she?" Bailey peeks at me, "do you know what you want to eat?"

I fold up the menu, "I know what I want."

"You're not ordering something cheap, are you? You can order whatever you want, Max."

"It's what I want," I shrug.

"Cheap?"

I groan, "it's not the cheapest thing."

His eyes narrow, but he doesn't say anything. The waitress returns several minutes later with a wine glass filled with a yellow, fizzy liquid that smells fruity, and two plastic cups of iced water. She pulls out an order pad this time and Bailey orders the barbecue burger with onion rings on the side instead of fries.

"And you darling?"

"The bacon cheeseburger."

"Fries?"

"Please. I hear you guys have the best fry sauce around."

"It's our specialty," she jots down the order before scurrying off to put it in.

"I like a girl who can eat," Bailey sighs, leaning into the back of the booth and resting an arm across it.

"Oh, I can eat when I'm allowed."

Why did I say that?

Bailey scowls at me, "what does that mean?"

I shake my head, "I meant when I'm not busy hiding."

"That's a lie." He points a finger at me, "you have a tell."

"What?" I ask curiously.

"I'm not telling you then you'll stop doing it."

"Not that it's any of my business, but do you have a job or something?"

"Yeah, I do." Bailey is so casual about it.

"What do you do?"

"I work," he gives me a crooked smile that lights up his blue eyes in an unfair way and makes my thighs tingle.

"Oh really?" I roll my eyes.

"Why do you want to know what I do?"

"Just trying to figure you out, and it seemed like a fair question since you're treating me to... Uh, food or whatever."

"Figure me out, huh? Why would you want to do that?"

I tilt my head, "because you keep showing up wherever I am, and it pisses off your girlfriend. It makes me a target and I don't particularly like being on her radar."

"Cassie is nothing to worry about," he laughs softly.

"No?" I hold up my fingers.

"They're not broken," he grimaces averting his eyes.

"Wow... That's like me kicking you in the balls and saying go jerk one off, you'll feel better."

Bailey's head snaps back to me, astonished, "you're pretty ballsy, Max. You're not behaving."

"It's hard to follow the rules when you don't know them," I sip the wine, surprised how much it tastes like juice.

"You've never followed the rules."

Is he talking about my habit of skipping classes?

It feels like he is challenging me not to behave.

The waitress returns with our food after ten minutes of silence. I've almost finished the wine already, so I try to focus on the water. I don't have anything to say to Bailey. He's only confusing me more by talking, so it's best we just eat this food and get back to school.

I test out the fry sauce only to be greeted with something sweet and tangy that makes my taste buds explode. Bailey smirks when he sees me finish off the fries and sauce before I even touch the burger. I haven't eaten so much in such a long time that I barely get a few bites into the burger before I am too full.

"Well, you talk a big game, but you can't follow through," Bailey snags the rest of the burger and finishes it in four bites, "that was delicious."

"I already told you I don't play games."

"You just won't drop it, will you?"

"Would you?"

Bailey chuckles, "I like a girl who can fight back."

"But you don't like me. You have a girlfriend. You're just amusing yourself with me," I hate the realization.

"Amusing myself?" He scolds, eyes darkening, "Max. Now, now. You're not behaving at all today."

I groan, "I'm not a little girl that you can just boss around, Bailey. If I don't want to do what you say then I don't have to. You haven't even told me what you want me to do to begin with."

"Why do I have to want something from you?"

"What deems me not behaving? The fact that I have a mind of my own? That I'm my own fucking person?"

Bailey's scowl returns solemnly, "I like that you are your own person, Max. And I never said there is anything wrong with you misbehaving."

I'm so fucking confused, "you sure don't sound pleased when you say I'm not behaving."

"You want to please me?" He cocks an eyebrow.

I roll my eyes, "get over yourself, perv."

Bailey genuinely laughs, "I actually have an idea, and it's not sexual, Max. Chill the fuck out."

So, he's definitely not interested in me for any sexual reason.

That's great news.

Totally great.

"What exactly did you have in mind?" I want it to sound like I'm not at all interested in whatever the hell he wants.

"What are you doing this weekend?"

"Uh... I'm... Busy." I haven't a damn thing going on.

"Liar. Remember I know your tell."

"Ugh, fine... Nothing."

"Do you ever have anything going on?"

I can't lie, "no."

"Why not?"

Ugh, "what do you do on weekends, Bailey?"

"How was everything?" The waitress clears our plates and sets the bill down on the table, "did everything taste alright?"

"It was great, thank you," Bailey passes her a debit card with the bill without looking at it.

She snags it with the dirty dishes and strolls off in a hurry.

"So?" I press.

"All sorts of stuff."

"Wow, that's almost like a non-answer. No, wait that is a non-answer," I roll my eyes dramatically.

Bailey frowns and then gives in, "work, party, homework, do stuff around the house for my mom, sometimes I have practice or a game. Just the usual stuff, Max."

"What's your job?"

"The kind that pays," he grins that crooked smile.

"I can't help but notice you didn't include Cassie in any of that," I don't sound like I am teasing like I mean to.

The scowl returns, "Cassie and I don't have to be together every second. We have lives."

"Do you spend much time at all together outside of school?"

The waitress returns with his card and the bill. He puts his card away and leaves her a twenty-dollar tip in cash. I notice that lunch didn't even cost twenty bucks. Bailey scoots out of the booth, holds out his hand and beckons me to take it.

After a deep breath, I seize it and he scoots me out of the booth smoothly, and stands me up. Then he hooks my hand on the inside of his elbow and escorts me out of the diner.

"Such a gentleman."

"Not always," he unlocks the pickup, but doesn't open the door.

"Is that supposed to be proof?" I go to open it.

Instead, Bailey scoops me off my feet and spins me into his chest, pressing my back into the pickup door. I scramble to wrap my arms around his shoulders as his hands find my ass and fix my hips in place against his pelvis. I hook my right leg around his waist and my left leg just sits there, but Bailey holds it in a comfortable position. His dick hardens in his jeans against my bare thigh and he dips his mouth close, barely brushing his lips with mine. I can taste bacon on his breath.

A whimper catches in my throat before I feel it. Bailey chuckles deep in his chest, rumbling like thunder. I shiver as a chill sprints up my spine and spreads goosebumps all over my body.

God damn.

"W-what are we...? Y-you doing?" I rasp with bated breath.

Bailey's eyes fix on my lips as he leans back, but he doesn't put me down just yet. His fingers dig into my ass, squeezing me eagerly and he shifts his pelvis forward, rubbing against my center. My head falls back as my panties drench and a small moan warbles to the surface.

"I'm not always a gentleman," he murmurs, sweeping his gaze over my face.

I lift my head up, and bite my lower lip, silencing another moan. I want him to take me right here, but he has a girlfriend. Even if I said that to him out loud, he would deny that's what he wants. He would shut me down and say he is just proving a point. I can feel how much he wants me between my thighs, but that can easily be explained as hormones. My own response can be described as hormones.

"What are you thinking?" He releases one hand to brush loose strands of copper blond hair from my face, "I can see you overthinking all of a sudden."

"W-why?"

"Why what?"

I can only manage to look down between us. I'm not just referring to his hard dick, but the way he picked me up and did this. Either he's an amazing actor, screwing with my head, or he doesn't like that he wants me. Neither of them makes me feel very good.

"Is this how you break me?" I snap forcefully.

Bailey narrows his eyes and drops me. I stumble, falling to my ass on the unforgiving pavement. He grumbles impatiently.

"Fuck, Max," Bailey kneels down, and brings me to my feet again, "I'm not... You're not..." He bows his head like he is ashamed, "can we just forget everything that happened this week?"

I don't know what to say.

As far as I can tell, he's actually trying to be a decent person. Bailey opens the passenger door, holding my hand until I get inside and am comfortable. Then he shuts it and moves around to the driver's side. He doesn't start the engine and sits there fiddling nervously with the keys.

Today has been odd, especially since he showed up during the last class of the day. He hasn't done or said anything that I don't like. He keeps teasing me, but nothing he has said is meant to hurt my feelings. He fed me when he realized I am hungry. Even though I don't know what he wants, he never says anything he doesn't mean.

"Max," Bailey props over the steering wheel, "what are you thinking over there?"

"I-I... I don't know what you want from me, and you won't give me a straight answer... So, I'm struggling to figure out what I should or shouldn't want."

"Tell me what you want without a second thought," Bailey says softly, demanding me, but trying to distribute freedom.

It should be easy to admit I want to know what he can do between the sheets, but he has a girlfriend. Not just any girl, but Cassie Vincenzo. She's after me and he is the reason.

"I want to not have to deal with Cassie anymore."

Bailey grumbles under his breath, "you're tough."

"Are you saying I can handle her?"

"If you want to, but no..."

"No, I can't handle her or...?"

"No that's not what I was saying," he cuts me off.

"Oh..."

Bailey turns his baby blue gaze on me, "I'm saying you make it difficult to get a straight answer."

"You're the one talking in a roundabout way."

"You're not much better."

"You're frustrating."

"Just answer the question honestly. Tell me what you want."

"Right out there," I gesture to the parking lot, "I wanted you... I want things, but it doesn't matter."

Bailey flushes, "why doesn't it matter?"

"You have a girlfriend and she hates me."

"I didn't do anything... Max..."

"You are just messing with me!" I throw up my hands.

"No, I'm not..." He falls silent like there's no way to respond that will get the reaction he wants.

I need to change the subject, "What did you want to ask me?"

"What? When?" Bailey is thrown off course.

"You wanted to know about my weekend or something," I mumble.

"Ah, you're right," Bailey rolls with me, "I want you to come to a party with me this weekend."

"With you?"

"Well, meet me there."

"Of course..." It's not like he'd break up with Cassie to show up with me.

Why do I keep thinking that what he wants is me?

He took advantage of me outside his Cheyenne. He saw something in me that made him realize I haven't had sex since I was fifteen. Nothing that is going on here is what he wants. He is just screwing with me. He might actually be a decent guy, but for whatever reason he is with Cassie. They are fucking me over just because they can.

"So, you'll go?"

"Where is it?"

"Zane's. Have you been there?"

"I know the way."

Bailey doesn't ask me to explain or reverse our conversation to clarify anything we discussed. He starts the pickup and drives back to the school. He talks about lacrosse practice. Keeps glancing sideways at me like he's worried he is boring me.

My mind is running a hundred miles an hour. I actually care about his athletics, but I can't focus on anything coming from his mouth. I'm too busy dissecting what the hell just happened since we left the diner.

"Here we are," Bailey parks next to my car, but before I can get out, he snags my hand, "wait. I want to see your phone."

"What? Why?"

"Just pass it over," he demands.

This is the closest he's come to being the guy who was intrigued by me in the cafeteria on the first day of school. There was something on his face then that is mirrored now. Whether it's my hormones or my own pathetic heart being too trusting, I pass over my phone. He scrolls through contacts, pausing ever so briefly on Asher's number. Then adds his own, and sends a text, so he can save my number.

"Now, I can get ahold of you whenever I want."

"You're not going to call me in the middle of the night for anything, are you?"

"Would that bother you?" He seems to be teasing, but it's hard to tell with him.

I don't have the best track record reading his little insinuations.

"Thanks for the food," I get out and slam the door shut.

Bailey rolls the window down, "should I follow you home?"

"Why?"

"Make sure you make it there safely."

I roll my eyes, "I've never had a problem before. You're not going to make a difference."

"We'll see about that, won't we?" He gives me that crooked smile, but doesn't say anything else.

I hurriedly get in my car and pull out. He waits for me to leave before heading in the opposite direction to the shitty part of town. I don't know what he wants from me. He's so back and forth, and all over the place. Maybe he doesn't know what the hell he wants either. Even if he does know, it doesn't seem like he approves of the idea of us. He's just tormenting me...

Right?

My conclusion is just to go with it. For now... And see what happens at the party. I don't even remember the last party I went to.