Chapter Seven

McKenna

"Get behind the counter," I said with a hiss.
Jace froze like a deer in headlights. His mouth hung open and his blue eyes were wide. He was gripping his notebook so hard that his knuckles blanched. It was weird seeing this big, tough football player petrified.

But Jace was different, wasn't he? Different in a way that made something deep inside my body shift.

"Get back here." I motioned with my left hand. "Aren't you, like, the fastest running back on the team? Hurry up!" Jace threw the rest of his chili dog onto the tray, then bolted behind the counter. I grabbed his tray and set it on the counter behind me, then stepped to the register. Jocktastic was so big, my leg brushed against his shoulder as I took my place at the register. The contact sent an unfamiliar surge of energy right through my abdomen.

I could not freaking believe my elementary school crush was squatting down on the floor right next to me, his tight body brushing against my leg. Even more, I couldn't believe the mini fireworks session it was triggering in my belly.

"Welcome to The Hot Dog Shack, what can I get you?" Oh my gosh, had my voice just cracked? What the hell was going on with me?

Kyle scrunched his nose when his eyes landed on me. Joel and Beckett followed behind him.

"Nice to see you, too, Kyle." I rolled my eyes and stood with my hand hovering above the screen I used to enter orders. Kyle Walker was a star running back, much like Jace, only he wasn't nearly as nice. He used to be scrawny and had bad acne. Then, the summer before our sophomore year, he filled out, morphing into a six-foot-tall, tanned, blond-haired cover model. The only two things he knew besides football were how good he looked and how to be a massive jerk.

Meanwhile, Jace didn't seem to know how beautiful he was. Maybe that was why I'd always kept him in my sights while I was starring in the Twin River High production of My Invisible Life; too bad I was the only person in that four- year-long production.

"Goth Girl! Didn't know you worked here." Joel let out a chuckle. "I figured you worked at a funeral home."

I felt Jace's body flinch. Since the ignorant nickname Goth Girl surfaced so many years ago, I'd learned to ignore it when someone called me that, but Jace flinching; that took me by surprise.

And warmed my heart.
"This isn't a zoo. I'm not some exhibit that you can pay to stare at," I snapped.

"Like we'd pay to look at you," Beckett said.
All three guys started laughing.
I pressed my lips together and bit my tongue. As much as I hated to stand here and get made fun of, I couldn't risk losing my job by yelling at them. Especially when Derrick was in the kitchen.

Guys like this were another reason I wanted to skip town the second I graduated. They treated everyone like shit, only looked out for themselves. They didn't realize that they were in the best years of their lives right now. Everything was downhill after their star-studded high school experience. They'd soon have beer bellies and meaningless jobs.

And these were Jace's friends?

It reminded me of the saying, "Hang out with trash and you start to smell like garbage." That Caroline Manzo really knew what she was talking about.

"What can I get for you?" I plastered a fake smile on my face.

After all three placed their gigantic orders, they crowded together at the other end of the counter and waited for their food. Seriously. These guys strutted in here and dropped the same amount of money on hot dogs, fries, and drinks that I'd make on today's shift.

Without blinking an eye.

Plus, leave it to them to place such huge orders fifteen minutes before we closed.

I might have to slip some extra spicy stuff in their food.

Kyle turned toward Joel and Beckett. "Practice was no joke today, huh? If Coach had made us run bleachers much longer, I was for sure going to puke."

Joel laughed. "Yeah, I thought Jace was going to pass out. Did you see how red his face got?"

Stay calm, I silently willed Jace. These jocks, who were supposedly his friends, were about to start ripping on him and I wanted to tell him to just let it roll off his shoulders, but I couldn't. Instead, I gently leaned one of my legs against him. When dogs got scared in thunderstorms, they wore those anxiety vests to help them remain calm. Maybe this would have the same effect? Either way, these guys were jerks. They probably ripped on people like this all the time.

"What's up with him lately anyways?" Kyle asked. "Finding him with Goth Girl, being all moody, and then bugging out of practice early..."

I reached down and placed my hand on Jace's shoulder. His body tensed and his skin radiated heat through his shirt. Damn, these guys were major assholes. First, the Goth Girl comment, totally directed at me. I mean, hello, I'm standing right here! Then calling Jace moody?

"Order's up," Derrick shouted.

I shoved all the food into their respective bags, then tossed them onto the counter. They were football players, they could check the bags and then figure out whose was whose. "Have a great night."

"See you tomorrow, Goth Girl." Joel laughed. "Or, should I call you Sword Goth Girl?"

My fists clenched. So I dressed in black, had piercings... What gave them the right to call me that? I always pretended it rolled off my shoulders, but it actually hurt.

Regaining my composure, I glared at them. "Seriously?" I couldn't stop myself. "How is that even funny?"

Joel scowled. "Bitch."

My body stiffened and anger shot through my veins. "I get it—you're jealous. But honestly, it's pathetic. Just because I'm basically the most popular person online at the moment doesn't mean that you need to act like a dickweed to me in person."

Beckett's lips formed an O as he said, "Ooh!"
"Goth Girl got you good, Joel," Kyle added.
A small smile played on my lips.
"I've got to clean up this place and get ready to close. If

you could go on and leave, that would be great."
The three of them left without saying another word.
I counted to thirty before looking down at Jace. "It's safe."

"Thank you." He got up and made his way back around the counter.

"You mean, thank you again." I grabbed a spray bottle full of disinfectant and a rag.

"You're right. Thank you again. I owe you."
"Yeah you do. Big-time. And you can start by wiping down the counter while I take out the trash."

Jace's eyebrows shot up.
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" I spun on my heel, leaving the cleaning supplies behind. Humming a song that I'd had stuck in my head all day, I grabbed two bags of garbage and made my way out to the dumpsters behind the mall.

I needed the quick break, too, because those assholes had pissed me off. Surprisingly, though, I felt worse for Jace. An angry wave of heat swarmed through me when they were talking shit about him. What right did those jerks have to do that?

Jace had them all beat in pretty much every category.

I hated how much I noticed that—noticed him. I drew in a deep breath of the crisp air. Sure, it was still pretty early in September, but the sun had set a while ago and there was a fall nip in the air.

By the time I'd come back in, Jace had wiped down the counters, refilled the condiments tray, and loaded the napkin holder. Wait a second...seriously? He'd done all that? I'd been hopeful he'd maybe finish wiping down the counters semi-adequately. But all of this?

"Holy shit, Rovers." That was about all I could get out due to the shock.

He stood there, leaning against the counter, looking at his phone, but then glanced at me. His eyebrow quirked up as if saying, Yeah, I'm hot and domestic AF. What'd you expect? It was like the guy was good at...everything.

I wasn't sure how he got away with doing all that without Derrick throwing a fit, but I was thankful. Now I could leave. I waved to the assistant manager as I grabbed my bag from under the register. "See you, Derrick."

He nodded at me, then went back to cleaning the grill, so I stepped out from behind the counter.

"Impressive, Rovers," I said as I slung my bag over my shoulder.

"What can I say, I'm more than just a good-looking jock."

"Fair enough."

"So you think I'm good-looking?"

"Are you flirting with me?" I blurted out, hustling around the corner, past the benches beside The Shack.

"You thought I was cute!"
"Whatever." For real though... Was Jace Rovers actually flirting with me? Had my third grade fantasy finally come true?

Yeah, right.

I picked up the pace toward the exit because I didn't want him to see the smile that had tugged at the corners of my lips, not to mention that my cheeks felt like they were on fire.

A few more of the part-timers working at the neighboring stores were heading out ahead of us. I gave a nod to the ice cream shop girl. She was cool, gave me free cones once in a while.

"Can we talk about the book now?"
"I already told you, I'm way too busy, WriteEmHard." Jace chased after me. "Come on. We need a POA." "POA?" I repeated.
"Plan of action." Jace fell beside me as I headed toward the nearest exit.

"I know what a POA is, what I don't understand is why you think we need one." I bent down and picked up an empty paper tray that we served our French fries on. I despised litterbugs.

"McKenna."

"Jace," I snipped back. At least I tried to, but I couldn't help grinning.

"You stepped in—" He jabbed his fingers through his hair. "I need—help," Jace grunted out.

I tossed the tray into a nearby garbage can. "Tell me something I don't know."

"What will it take?" He shoved his hands in his pockets. "To do this? To pose as WriteEmHard?"

I stopped inches before the exit door and faced off with him. The tiny light above the exit cast a slight shadow over his face. But what it did was highlight a cute little dimple in his left cheek. Shit. It was already difficult enough to refuse those ocean eyes of his. Seriously, they practically melted my panties and now a dimple?

Not fair.
He did not fight fair.
This was important to him, I could tell. I got that. I mean, with my acting stuff and my mom... If people found out what was really going on in my life, they'd freak as well. I understood what went into keeping a secret.

And his was a doozie. A seventeen-year-old football guy writing kissy-face stories? I mean, you couldn't make this shit up.

But I actually got it. I totally did.

"Fine, but I don't have time to read your story. You and Ernie will have to give me the highlights."

He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed, yanking me off the ground and into his hard body. "Thank you!"

I closed my eyes and inhaled his scent. Holy crap. I totally didn't hate the fact that he was hugging me right now, but I needed to be smart about this. Jace wasn't crushing on me. He was just grateful that I'd helped him cover his ass on more than one occasion. "You're in my bubble! Back it up."

Jace released me and grinned, a mischievous light flaring to life in his eyes.

My heart picked up a beat or two at that sly smile. And as much as I hated to admit it, his arms around me for that brief second threw me for a loop.

Strong, comforting, and really warm. He gave great hugs.

I shook off the thought, needing to stay firmly planted in reality. A reality that didn't include warm fuzzy feelings about Jace Rovers.

"I'm parked out there." I pointed to a door about ten feet away. "You've got until we get to my car. Then storytime is over for tonight."

"No more killing the prince talk. Need him alive until the very end." Jace spoke so quickly, I could barely understand him. "But killing a main character was actually a good idea. It's very Game of Thrones."

He jogged ahead and opened the glass door leading out into the parking lot.

"The whole story revolves around the prince. The kingdom is ruled by an evil king and queen who killed his parents and are beyond corrupt. No one but their inner circle knows just how evil they are, though..."

"This is a lot of information." I spotted my car about two hundred feet away.

"I've never done an elevator pitch before. But you're being especially difficult..." Jace shrugged.

"Well...if you think I'm being difficult, I could—"

"No! Wait." He whipped out his irrefusable grin and I caved with a sigh.

"What is an elevator pitch?" I asked.

"It's how you pitch your story in a few sentences or less. Brief, like the time it would take to get from one floor of a building to another in an elevator."

"Ah, that makes sense. Okay, continue."

"There's someone on the court, a knight named Ephraim Osric, who thinks there's something fishy going on."

"Kill him," I said. "Your readers won't expect it."

"What's up with you wanting to kill everyone?"
"Kill the knight. All hope will be lost."
"Damn, you're ruthless!"
I got my car keys out of the front pocket of my bag. "Kill your darlings."

"Where did you hear that? I thought you weren't into writing?" Jace asked.

"Mr. Kline has a mug that says it. I asked him what it meant one day after lit class." We were only a few feet away from my car and I was surprised how that made me feel. It was actually kind of fun hanging with Jace. "Stephen King said it once. I hear he knows a thing or two about writing, even published a few books."

Jace's eyebrows pulled together and his eyes narrowed. "You're a genius."

"Tell me something I don't know," I joked.

His ocean blue eyes latched onto mine and it was like my lungs went into spontaneous paralysis or something. Nobody affected me like that. What was up with him? Even more, what the hell was up with me?

Jace's warm fingers gently curled around my wrist and he pulled me toward him. My heart raced and I stood frozen in place as the distance between us disappeared.

"Thank you," he whispered. "What you're doing. Means a lot."

"It's fine. I—"
"By the way, Joel calling you Goth Girl—he's a shithead." "Thanks." The sweetness coming from Jace wrapped around me like a warm breeze on a summer day and for the second time today, I found myself wondering what it would be like to be with him and not only as his secret keeper.

My phone buzzed. I looked down and saw a message had come through from my mom.

Ugh. Back to reality.

"It would be great if you could read some of KOS. Maybe even drop some more Stephen King knowledge on me?"

"I'm sorry, Jace. I really don't have the time." I held up my phone. "Mom needs me. I gotta go."

Without another word, I got into my car, leaving Jace standing there, dumbfounded. I jammed my key in and gave it a crank.

The engine grumbled but didn't turn over.

I tried again and the lights dimmed, the engine barely turning over.

"Shit." I pounded my steering wheel. The last thing I needed was a knight in shining armor, but it looked like I was about to ask for one. 

Happy Double Update Friday!

What are your weekend plans? 

Lynn is recovering from covid and I'm taking things easy until the docs can figure out what's going on. Lynn and I are quite the pair! LOL! 

Kelly & Lynn xoxo 

P.S. If you want to read more before the next update, GUTTER GIRL is available online most places you purchase books! 

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Caleb Oquendo (IG: caleboquendo)

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