Free Swish by Marian Tee Page B

Growing up, she never had a chance to have any friends from the same sex. No one in her school had wanted to be friends with her, knowing MJ’s background, and at home, all of the visitors she received were James’ biker pals.
    Hallie had been her first female friend, and right now it seemed like Bobby could be the second.
    She said shyly, “You and Leandro look very good together.”
    Bobby seemed pleased. “Thanks for saying that. I’m sure you know we fight like cats and dogs all the time. But it’s not really that bad between us.” 
    MJ hesitated, the other girl’s words reminding her of the time when the uni was rife with gossip about the two weeks Leandro had spent in Greece being photographed with numerous women while Bobby remained here, pining for him.
    She said haltingly, “Do you ever worry…about Leandro liking another girl?”
    A shadow fell over Bobby’s face, making MJ say quickly, “I’m sorry. You don’t have to…”
    Bobby shook her head. “Nah, it’s cool. I know you didn’t ask it idly.” She chewed on her lip, considering her words carefully. “I worry, but…I like to think I’m worth worrying about, too. So you know, it’s his loss. I won’t go after him. And I didn’t go after him when that happened.” She looked at MJ. “I hope you know… you are worth worrying over, too.”

Chapter Ten
     
    Helios was about to kill someone. He knew, of course, that he was the only one who felt like that. Everyone around him was in the mood to celebrate. For tonight’s party, the yard had been transformed into an outdoor club, with a professional DJ in charge of the music and strobe lights installed to create just the right kind of mood.
    But he didn’t give a fuck. Tonight was said to be the hottest party of the year, as far as students of Christopoulos University were concerned, but Helios didn’t give a fuck. All he knew was that he wanted to kill someone. Right now.
    It was a toss-up between Kellion and Yuri, with how they allowed MJ to fawn all over them. His teeth gnashed together. Just thinking about her was enough to make his mood worsen. She was the one he really wanted to kill. For days now, she had been ignoring him. She had the fucking gall to ignore him, and she had done it so subtly that Helios had thought he was going mad, wondering if it was all in his mind.
    Yesterday, they had bumped into each other in the hallway and before he could say anything, she had been running away. “So late for school,” she had gasped over her shoulder without looking back.
    Of course, he knew now that was a big fat fucking lie.
    The other day, she had been trying to clean the top of the living room’s ceiling-high windows. He had asked her – he even had the generosity to ask her if she needed help, and what the fuck did she do? She packed her retractable ladder and duster out of the way and ran out of the room. “Vertigo,” she had gasped, also over her shoulder, and also without looking back. 
    That one was a fucking lie as well, but he had fallen for it, enough to order one of the rookies to buy pills for her vertigo.
    There were so many similar instances, but only now – only now, when there was no way for her to escape his company, that everything was coming together.
    It was his fucking birthday, and she hadn’t even come to greet him. When everyone sang him a birthday song, he had watched her. And he had seen her fucking mouth the song, like he wasn’t worth wasting her voice over.
    Who the hell did she think she was, not singing ‘happy birthday’ to him?
    And now…
    Rage enveloped him as he watched MJ smile, chat, and trade jokes while she took snapshots of everyone but him. This was his damn birthday party, and she was taking everyone’s photos but him. Was she fucking for real?
    “You should have a photo too, moro mou, ” Kellion urged.
    Helios’ gaze moved towards his dessert fork. Would Kellion survive if he poked his eye with the fork? Kellion should know