Free Tell Me When by Stina Lindenblatt Page B

I want to ask who hurt her, but I get the feeling she won’t tell me.
    The protective feeling I experienced last night at the party, the one I’ve never felt for a girl before, stirs deep. I push it away. I don’t need this.
    “Would you stop calling me ‘Kitten’?” she says, tone tight.
    “Can’t.”
    “Why not?”
    “I have to call you something, and since you haven’t told me your name, ‘Kitten’ will have to do.”
    “My name’s Amber.”
    “Marcus.”
    “I know.” She bites her lower lip. I don’t think she even realizes how hot it is when she does that. It makes me want to gently guide her lip away from her teeth, run the tip of my tongue along it, then suck it into my mouth and see how she’ll respond.
    That’s what I want to do, but if she runs, and something tells me she will, there goes my chance to earn some serious bucks.
    We order our coffees, which Kitten looks like she needs more than anything. Though from the amount of sugar and milk she pours into it, it’s clear coffee isn’t her drink of choice.
    I lead her to a table in the food court and sit. Compared to during the week, the place isn’t busy. Mostly students getting together to work on group projects, and young families hanging out after using the sport facilities.
    Again, Amber scans the area.
    “You looking for someone?” I ask.
    “No, it’s just....” The fingertips of her right hand tap against her thigh. “I mean no.” She sips her coffee. “By the way, thanks for helping with that guy last night.” The hand with the coffee in it shakes a little when she mentions him. “I told him I wasn’t interested but he wouldn’t listen.”
    “You know him?”
    “He told me he’s in my bio class. There’re so many people in it, I’ve never noticed him before.” Pain or fear, or both, flare in her eyes. Once again, she glances around.
    “Don’t worry about him. After last night, I doubt he’s gonna touch you or talk to you again. But if he does, just let me know, okay?”
    She nods, not looking too sure what to think. “What happened after I ran off?”
    My lips curl into a smirk. “I hit him and threatened him if he comes near you again.”
    She smiles, the movement small. Her body relaxes a little more, though there’s still an edge of wariness to her that she’s had since I first noticed her at Your Designs.
    “I wanted to make sure you were okay but couldn’t find you. Where’d ya go?”
    “I was there.” She removes her text and binder from her backpack, and opens the book to the chapter on algebraic equations and inequalities. “This is what we were covering, but I got an F on my test.” She looks like she’s going to puke. “I’m not sure I understood everything.”
    No shit .
    “Do you have your test?”
    “Yeah, sure.” She searches through her binder and hands me the booklet. Her right hand drops to her lap and she bounces her fingers against her thigh again.
    I flip through the pages and study her answers. I can feel the grand slip away. She got a few right, but she didn’t finish most of the test.
    “Why do you need the class?” If she’s this clueless about math, why the hell is she in the course?
    “I’m taking pre-veterinary sciences. It’s part of the required courses.” She lets out a long breath. “So, do you think you can help me?”
    No. I nod. “But it’s not gonna be easy.”
    “I’ll do whatever it takes to pass. This is important to me.” She smiles, but it gets lost somewhere between her mouth and her eyes.
    “Okay.” I rip a page out of her binder. She cringes but doesn’t say anything. “Did you know there’re three kinds of people in the world?” I smirk. “Those who can count and those who can’t.”
    This time the smile on her face is genuine and she chuckles. “And you’re planning to help me with math?”
    “Damn straight I am.”
    We spend the next hour going over what she’s covered so far in class. As far as I can tell, she’s not dumb.