The Valentine's Dare (The Sycamore Serial Book 1) (10 page)

And he had a bet running about it.

One that he’d just won.

He was standing at the counter opening up a bottle of wine when she stormed out, her face red, eyes full of unshed tears.
 

“I don’t ever want to see you again,” Kierra said, those eyes meeting his in a blaze of hatred. “Stay the hell away from me, Mason Pryor.”

He reached for her, but she was gone before he could even say a word, the slam of the door in its frame reverberating through the whole room. Mason stood there with his mouth agape, corkscrew halfway through the cork in the bottle, when he realized what must have happened.

“I’m a fucking idiot,” he breathed, furious with himself. “I left her in the room with the chalkboard.”

How was she supposed to know that in just a few hours he was going to cancel the bet and pay out the pool to everyone, costing him over $1,000 in cash? All she saw was what she was worth - to him, to his friends, to the whole building. No wonder she ran out.

For a moment he considered going after her, trying to explain - but what could he say? The truth was, Mason hadn’t done anything to cancel the bet before they slept together; he hadn’t even thought he’d get that far.

I’m a fucking idiot,
he thought, as he finished uncorking the bottle and prepared to drown in his sorrows.
I lost the best girl I’m ever gonna get.

CHAPTER NINE

Saints and Sinners

February 14
th

The dreaded day arrived, and like every other Valentine’s Day in Kierra’s life, it was full of heartbreak and disaster.

It’s been a week and a half since she’d seen - and slept with - Mason. By avoiding the clubs and adjusting her schedule, she’d managed not to get closer than 100 feet away from him. Leila and Lacy had helped as well, fending off any visitors at the door and checking the hallway before she left for class to make sure he wasn’t outside.

To Mason’s benefit, though, he had made himself scarce. Leila and Lacy hadn’t told her if he’d come to the door to talk to her, but if he had he’d been warned off in no uncertain terms - and apparently, he’d listened.

She didn’t know how that made her feel.

Thankfully she had enough on her plate with the dance; sitting around and thinking about her feelings wasn’t an option. Kierra had thrown herself into the preparation of it, and she was pretty proud of how everything had turned out. For one thing, all her decorations were spot on; and for another, all her matches made sense.

Except, of course, for setting Mason and Anna up,
she thought; but at the end of the day it was what they both deserved.
Talk about a couple created by destiny.

If the thought of them together pained her, it was only some lingering feelings that would soon be gone - so she told herself, at least.

“Where do these go?” Kierra was interrupted from her reverie by one of the freshman volunteers coming up to her with a dozen heart-shaped mylar balloons. It was the day of the dance, after all, and they had preparation to do.

“Over there. Tie them to the chairs behind the table.” She pointed at the far end of the ballroom, near the head table where all the snacks and drinks were going to go. “What was your name again?”

“Carey,” the girl said, beaming brightly. “Nice to meet you!”

Her enthusiasm was so sweet that Kierra could feel her teeth rot. “Thanks for volunteering.”

“Of course!” Skipping away, the girl set to tying the balloons up. Kierra stared at the floating, red-and-pink monstrosities, more convinced than ever that Valentine’s Day was just a cheap excuse to make her feel sad.

Needless to say, cheering up in time for the dance was going to be difficult.
Let’s just hope the vodka gets here before I need it even more than I do right now.
The only thing worse than a lonely February 14
th
was a sober one.

Kierra cast her dark thoughts away and busied herself with the seating chart and corsages. Each of the tables set up in one half of the ballroom had a spot where a name placard would go; under the placard they each got numbered corsages, which had a twin somewhere else in the room. At the right moment in the night, Kierra would announce it was time, and everyone would pin the corsage on their dress, get up, and look for their date. All she had to do was survive until that moment; after that, everything was out of her hands.

“Looking good, chica.” Kierra turned to see Leila entering the ballroom and looking around at the decorations.

“It’s only halfway there. I still need the food, drinks, music, lights… and of course the people.”

“About that.” Lacy popped out from behind Leila, her short frame barely reaching the other girl’s shoulder. “Are you going to be alright tonight? What with Mason being here and… everything.”

“I’ll be fine.” Kierra smiled reassuringly, but even she could feel how fake it looked. “It’s not like we were engaged or something. So we had a shallow, poorly planned one night stand, but without all the alcohol. So what? I’m considering it my toxic rebound. Now I can move on.”

Neither of the girls appeared to be convinced at all.

“Just let us know if you need something tonight,” Lacy said. “Anything at all.”

“I don’t want to ruin your date with Frankie.”

She shrugged. “Hoes before bros. Sistas before mistas. Chicks before dicks. Ovaries-“

“Okay, I get it, I get it. No need to keep going.” Kierra held up a hand to forestall her continuing. “I’ll be fine, okay? Now go, and pretend like you don’t know who your dates are tonight.”

“Got it,” Lacy said, grinning.

“I actually
don’t
know who my date is,” Leila said. “But whatever.”

“He’s the only guy at Sycamore House who’s taller than you?” Leila scrunched up her brows in thought, but seemingly came up with nothing. “Thomas, Leilei. It’s Thomas.”

“Right.” Leila glanced over at Lacy. “So we’re dating Mason’s roommates. So what. Nothing awkward about that, right?”

Kierra tried to hide how nervous it made her feel. She felt bad, but she was almost hoping their dates went poorly, because otherwise she knew Mason would be in her life more - and even with his graduation just months away, she wasn’t sure she could take that.

Lacy changed the subject. “I’ve got to go study for my chemistry test on Monday. There won’t be any time tonight, after all.”

They left, and Kierra turned back to her work once more, but somehow she couldn’t get the nagging feeling out of her head that she was forgetting something. It was only hours later, staring at hands as red as the balloons, that she would realize what it was that had slipped her mind.

To say that everything went off without a hitch would have been an exaggeration.

In truth, the dance started off well because Kierra had planned things so thoroughly. Volunteers at the entrance helped people with their coats; at least one freshman was always available to escort them to their seats; the food was far away from the door, to encourage people to enter the room and visit along their way; and the music was loud enough to keep the energy up but not so loud no one could talk over it - with a dance playlist to go on when the lights dimmed and the romance began.

Kierra kept herself occupied as much as possible, flitting around the ballroom to check on things, her strappy heels clicking on the floor as she made her way around the perimeter of the room. If she was tense, it certainly wasn’t because every few minutes she looked up in anticipation of seeing Mason enter; it was just because she was in charge.

Keep telling yourself that,
she thought sardonically, glancing at the punch as she passed the food and drinks table. What she wouldn’t give for a glass or three right then.
Maybe after everyone has arrived and I’ve announced it’s time for the dancing to begin.
After all, no one would be looking at her once they had their dates on hand.

Speaking of dates, she turned and saw Lacy standing with Frankie. They hadn’t gotten their corsages yet, but she had a feeling they knew; or at least, Lacy did.
Broke the rules with that one, didn’t I?

Spotting her, Lacy said something to Frankie and then crossed the room, a smile playing on her pixie-like face.

“If you somehow screwed the pooch and forgot to set me up with him, I’m gonna be way pissed.”

“Really? Because I doubt he’d say no to a trade.” Kierra leaned in close, lowering her voice. “He totally was staring at your ass as you walked away.”

Lacy beamed. “That’s
exactly
why I wore this dress! You look great in yours, by the way.”

“Thanks.” Kierra was wearing a knee-length dress with slashed black-and-red; the red was on theme for the night, while the black set off her hair - and expressed her true feelings about the day.

“I actually came over to tell you something.” Lacy was practically grinning with glee. “Something Frankie told me.”

Oh boy, here she goes.
Kierra kept her mouth shut tight, knowing as usual that Lacy would spill the beans faster if she pretended like she didn’t care about the gossip.

“Okay, okay! I can’t hold it in.” Predictably. “Frankie just told me something about Mason.”

Kierra froze. “Really?” her voice came out strangled and awkward.

“Trust me, you’re going to want to know this. Apparently-“ she leaned in close, stage whispering. “Apparently, and Frankie is pretty upset about this, he cancelled the bet.”

Kierra frowned. “But he won, technically.”

Lacy shook her head. “No, he backed out of it at the last minute.
And
in order to do that, he had to lose, so he paid out everyone who bet against him - and from what Frankie said, it cost him a pretty penny.”

“Frankie’s upset about that why?”

Lacy sighed, frustrated. “I thought you’d be excited about this.”

“Nope, not excited, not at all.”

Stomping her foot in frustration, Lacy raised her voice. “But obviously he did it because he cares about you!”

Suddenly it seemed like the whole room was staring at them. “Keep it down a bit.”

“I’m just saying.” Lacy lowered her voice again. “If he’d just wanted to win the money, he
could have.
But he didn’t. That has to mean something.”

It probably did. Kierra just wasn’t sure she could handle figuring it out what it meant. “Thanks, Lace. You should probably go back to your date, though. He’s motioning this way.”

“I will. Just promise that you’ll think about it.”

Fat chance I’ll think about anything else all night.
“I promise.”

About thirty minutes after the guests had started to arrive, when the room was almost full and the playlist was trending towards sappy song, Kierra glanced over to the door and saw
him.

Not the boy from the fourth floor who made her smile; not the tender, French-speaking scavenger hunter who carried her up four flights of stairs.

It was Brooks.

She felt like someone had poured a whole bucket of cold water down her dress and slapped her repeatedly. Even from across the room, the urge to turn and run was overwhelming.
What the hell is he doing here? He can’t possibly have an invite, he doesn’t even
go
here anymore.