The Valentine's Dare (The Sycamore Serial Book 1) (8 page)

“First of all, why don’t we divide the groups. Let’s see… how many of you are in Elm House?” Seven people raised their hands. “Oak?” Eight hands this time. “Sycamore?”

Kierra’s hand went up, along with Mason’s across the way, and five others.

“Great. So along with those of you I already know are in Birch with me, we have a perfect division. This week, everyone will divide up into house teams.”

There goes avoiding Mason. What school are we doing to, Arterberry or Hogwarts?
She couldn’t leave now, though.
I’ll just focus on the game and nothing else.

Soon all the groups had coalesced and she was standing feet from Mason, the others in the circle conveniently apart enough that they
had
to look at each other.

Please say something first, please say something first…
“Your hair looks nice,” Mason said.

Kierra threaded her fingers through it. She’d put it up in a high pony this morning, and the ends trailed her collarbone. “It’s functional,” she replied dismissively, and he raised and eyebrow at her.

“I’ll remember that look on your face the next time I want to feel freezing cold.” He shivered all over. “Brrrrrr.”

Blushing, Kierra looked away. “Sorry if I’m rude. It’s just kind of awkward.” She spoke softly, trying not to let all the others around them hear. “You know, after what happened…”

“Of course.” Mason’s voice was bright enough, but there was something wounded in his eyes. “Friends?”

Her heart softened to him. “Of course. Friends.”

“Alright everyone!” Marcie called out, waving a sheaf of papers in the air. “Come and get your clues.”

They were off.

Kierra hadn’t realized how incredibly hilly the Arterberry campus was until she started running uphill in her first big campus wide scavenger hunt.

“Oh my god,” panted one of the other girls in the group, “if I’d wanted this I would’ve joined the damned running club.”

“Just think about the drinks we’re going to have after this,” said her friend, who glanced over and noticed Kierra was right there next to them. “Hi, I’m Penny, this is Stacy.”

“Kierra,” she told them, noticing how similar the two black-haired girls looked.

“Hey, hurry up!” yelled one of the boys standing at the top of the hill.
 

A few feet ahead of them, Mason turned and glanced down at the straggling girls. “You can do it,” he said, meeting Kierra’s eyes. “Here.”

He held out his hand and Kierra lunged upwards to take it, his palm rough and large in hers. With his strength she managed to climb up the last bit of rough, hilly terrain at the edge of campus, near the old quarry that the buildings had been built beside.

“Thanks,” she told him, slipping her hand out of his.

“Alright,” their team captain, Finn, took out the sheet of clues and frowned at it. “So we’re at the top of the quarry. Where is the old DANGER sign?”

They scanned the pitted terrain beneath them. Kierra for one was glad of the wrought iron fence that ran the length of the old quarry; from up here it seemed impossibly steep down to the bottom below.

“I think it’s over that way,” Penny said, pointing to their right. “North a bit.”

“Great. After that, we’ll head out to the Founders’ Garden and find the statue of Professor Penn.”

They all headed out, following one behind the other in a single line since the flat land at the edge of the quarry was so thin.
Three clues down and nine to go,
Kierra thought, staring at the back of Mason’s head in front of her.
Maybe I can survive this day.

“Watch out for this part,” Finn called from up ahead. “It’s a little-“

As if on cue, Kierra slipped on a pile of rocks and rolled halfway down the hill.

“Kierra!” Kierra heard, and she looked up to see Mason, running - half sliding - down the hill after her. He watched as she came to a stop, her right foot twisted uncomfortably under her body, face an expression of pain.
Fuck this hurts.

“I’m okay,” she called out, cradling the injured foot. “But, I think I sprained my ankle.”

Kneeling beside her, Mason reached out and touched her ankle. She winced, audibly sucking in breath.

“I don’t think it’s broken,” he said. “Can you straighten it out?” She did so, with effort. It was swollen and red by the bone, and painful.

“Shit, that looks bad,” Finn said, as the others joined them on the precariously steep slope of the hill. “We should get you to the clinic.”

There was a general feeling of disappointment from the others at the idea that they’d have to call off the hunt.

“No, you guys go on ahead,” Kierra, waving them off. “Finish it for me. I can go on my own.”

“Not with that ankle,” Mason said, shaking his head. “I’ll help you get back.”

They met her eyes, a significant look in his hazel depths. “If that’s okay with you,” he said.

“Of course.” She kept her voice light, trying to make it seem like it would be no big deal to be alone with him.
You can totally resist Mason Pryor’s charms,
she thought, insistently.
Just don’t kiss him again.

Mason helped her up, propping up the injured side of her body with an arm around her waist. Draping her arm around his shoulders, Kierra got her balance and gratefully took the weight off her foot.
 

“Thanks, Mason. The rest of you guys should keep going. Beat all the other houses!”

“Feel better, Kierra,” Finn said, leading the others back up the hill towards the sign so they could take a picture of it to prove they found it when the team returned to base camp.

“Lean on my as much as you want,” Mason said, propping her up comfortably. “I can take it.

“Got it.”

They hobbled down the rest of the hill together. Thankfully the ground here wasn’t as steep, and Sycamore house was closer to the quarry than most of the others houses.

His warmth against her, the smell of him so close, was enough to heat her cheeks and turn her thoughts in frantic circles. Mason smelled of some tangy, citrus scent, from his cologne or aftershave.
Why couldn’t he be stinky from all the running we’ve done all day?
His muscles flexed around her, holding her up and keeping her safe.

Soon enough they were standing in the courtyard of Sycamore house, the four stories of historic brick looming above their heads.

“I have a first aid kit in my apartment,” Mason said. “We should get some ice and maybe even a brace on that.”

“If you think we can make it up four flights of stairs.”

He grinned, taking the challenge in stride. “If you’re asking me to pick you up, I’m more than happy to oblige.”

“You don’t have to-“

But he did, swinging his arms under her legs and swooping her up like a traditional husband with a new bride. The world swam and swirled for a moment, and then she was laughing as he walked her into the building and headed towards the stairs.
God save me from this boy.

“Don’t drop me!”
 

“Never,” Mason promised, taking the stairs one at a time. “Though I may collapse completely once we get upstairs.”

“It’d be ironic if you hurt your ankle helping me out with my ankle.”

“Sweet poetry,” he agreed as they reached the top of the first flight of stairs. “One down, three to go.”

A girl passed them on her way down the stairs, giving Kierra a
“WTF are you doing”
look that made her blush.

“This is silly,” she said, wiggling in his arms. “I can make it on my own.”

“Nope. I’m not done yet.” Securing his grip on her, Mason continued to carry Kierra up the flights of stairs.
 

The rest of their arduous journey passed in complete silence, Kierra’s heart beating so loud she swore he should’ve been able to hear it. She could certainly hear his, which was straining to keep up with the physical exertion of carrying her up so many steps.

Finally, they reached the top, and Mason gently put her down. Kierra kept her arms around his neck, gingerly placing her foot on the ground to test how it took her weight. Not at all, as it turned out; wincing, she picked it back up.

“Don’t worry, I gotcha,” Mason said softly, taking up her weight with his shoulder and helping her hobble down the hallway. “Just a little bit further and then we’ll get that thing iced.”

“Thanks so much for this,” Kierra said, realizing that she hadn’t thanked him yet. “Really, thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do.”

They reached his room, and Kierra eased as much of her weight off of him as she could, despite the twinge that emanated from her ankle at the movement. “I got it from here,” she said.

“If you say so.” He opened the door and she stepped confidently through, ignoring her little limp. “It looks like you’re limping.”

Kierra made it to the couch and flopped down, sighing as the pressure eased off the sprain. “Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Yeah,” he said, ducking down the hallway and out of sight, “I would say that’s true.”

“I just can’t believe I hurt myself so easily.” She grumbled. “What a klutz.”

“It could’ve happened to anyone,” he called from around the corner. “I almost fell down the hill myself.”

Kierra snorted at that idea.
He didn’t even come close.
She knew that he was trying to make her feel better, though, and it warmed her heart - which was, in and of itself, dangerous.
Freeze back up, heart of mine.

But like Anna after Elsa’s kiss, her heart insisted on melting.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Tender

Mason had quite the skill with an Ace bandage.

Kierra watched as he carefully iced for a moment, then removed the ice pack and began wrapping the ankle to support it, his cool fingers a welcome balm against the swelling.

“I swear you have practice at this or something,” she said, observing the way his fingers danced across her skin.

“Something like that,” Mason said, his voice soft. “I’ve changed quite a few bandages in my life.”

“How so?”

He glanced up at her, something odd in his expression. “Just sports injuries and such. I’m a bit of a klutz myself. In fact I’m shocked I’m not the one who fell down the hill.”

“I’m not,” she said. “If it was bound to happen to anyone, it was going to be me.”

There was a lull for a moment as he tightened the bandage a bit and tapped it shut. “There, all good. The compression should help keep the swelling down. You may want a brace for it if you’re going to keep trying to put weight on it, though.”

Kierra laughed softly. “I promise not to run up any stairs anytime soon.”

“Oh, stair running is fine. Just don’t leap out of any windows,” he said, a smile dancing across his lips. “Do you want anything to drink or eat? As long as we’re sitting out of the physical activity, we may as well enjoy it.”

“Well…” Kierra trailed off for a moment, weighing her desire to stay versus her desire not to become entangled in anything as romantic and complicated as Mason.
Face it, you’re not exactly
unentangled
at the moment anyway,
she thought. “You could go back to the scavenger hunt if you’d like. I’m sure you could join up with them if you call Finn and find out where they are.”

“Nah. To be honest, I just wasn’t into this week’s scavenger hunt. Too many hills for my taste.” Walking to the kitchen, Mason took out two tall glasses and opened the fridge door. “We have water, orange juice, what I think is melted Jell-O shots, and some margarita mixer.”

“I’ll just have water, thanks.”

“I’m gonna get you some snacks, too.”

She watched him for a moment as he busied himself around the spacious fourth floor kitchen he had. No one else seemed to be home; maybe his roommates were out enjoying the temporarily warmer weather, or maybe they just stayed in their rooms. Either way, Kierra felt a strange, safe calmness when she was alone with him. Now that she’d blocked Brooks' number from her phone, she knew that his calls - and memories of him - weren’t going to interrupt and ruin her day. For the first time in a while, she felt both cared for and utterly content.

Mason returned from the kitchen with a bad of cheese puffs, two bars of chocolate, and some beef jerky. “Guy kitchen,” he said apologetically as he handed over her glass of water. “We don’t really have anything healthy.”

“You’re making the classic assumption that I
eat
anything healthy. I’m proud to tell you that I’m health food free since ’93.”

He cocked an eyebrow at that. “’93? Really?”

“It rhymes.”

“Fair enough.” Mason took a seat next to her on the couch and started fiddling with the armrest. He seemed preoccupied for some reason, like he had something on his mind.

For a moment they stewed in awkward silence, neither of them saying anything. Then Kierra reached forward to grab a snack, and at the same time Mason reached forward, so they collided from wrist to shoulder.

“Sorry,” he said, pulling his hand back. Kierra stared at his face, so close and so handsome.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, watching as his eyes darted to her lips and then back up to her eyes. “I forgot what I was even reaching for.”