Free Wanted by Annika James Page A

unfazed. “To discourage some of the throng of dudes who are suddenly lusting after you.”
    “Is it working?” Dare I hope?
    He shrugged, taking a drink. “Not sure, yet.”
    “Ashlinn. How was your morning?” Tre Davis sat down next to Matt.
    I swallowed nervously and threw Matt a look. “Hey, Tre. It was fine.” I tried to be polite.
    Matt froze mid-bite and leveled a stare at Tre, who smiled. “Hey, Finley. What’s up?”
    Matt swallowed. “Tre.”
    The chair next to me screeched against the floor and Conor sat, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “Hey, babe,” he greeted me.
    He breathed in my ear, “Just go with it.”
    My smile was shaky. Straightening, he took my left hand in his and squeezed. My stomach fluttered at his touch. I glanced around the table. Tre studied us. Steven arrived and sat next to Cora, the two of them whispering quietly. Matt stared at his food.
    Tre cleared his throat. “Conor, man, I heard you and Ash were dating. When did you guys get together?”
    “Saturday night. At my party.” Conor seemed to have no problem with Tre suddenly eating with us, or showing interest in me. “Our first real date was last night. Pizza.”
    He smiled at me, sharing the memory of our talk and dinner. My nervousness melted away under his gaze. Matt had now switched to studying us. He looked like he wanted to say something, but remained quiet.
    Tre nodded as he ate. “Cool. So you moved on from Victoria pretty fast.”
    Conor raised a shoulder, eyes narrowing at his friend. “Vic and I are really just good friends. We were more together because our parents expected it. You know that, Tre, my man.”
    Tre paused a moment before turning his icy eyes on me. “So, I’m having a party Friday night. You want to come?”
    Conor stiffened. “Oh, I don’t…”
    “Matt and Conor have to be there anyway. You might as well come, too. Unless you want to blow off the party with me and hang somewhere else?” Tre grinned.
    “Um…” I started, not knowing how Matt and Conor wanted me to answer.
    “Ashlinn will be at the party,” Conor told Tre. “With me.” I looked at him, eyes wide with surprise. News to me.
    “’Scool. Maybe another time.” Tre chugged his milk and stood. He picked up his tray and threw me a lady-killer smile. “See you later.”
    I turned to Matt. “What the hell is going on?”
    Matt glanced at Conor. “Apparently, your popularity is spreading.” Matt’s mouth pulled into a tight line.
    “Tre’s parents are on the Council,” Conor put in. “They probably told him. It’s just like him to do something like this.”
    “You mean pretend to be interested in me?” I retorted raising my eyebrows at him. “You know, because I’m powerful.”
    He reared back a little. “Ash, I’m not…”
    I held up a hand. “I know. I know. You’re for real. I have to trust you. And apparently, now we’re supposed to pretend we’re dating.”
    Matt gave Conor an “I told you so” look.
    Conor flushed a little and stammered, “We thought…”
    “We who?” I demanded “You and Matt? You thought it would be good to pretend we were dating to keep all the other guys away? So I can’t consider anyone else? What if I like Tre?”
    Matt leaned forward. “Ash. We said Conor because if you and I were dating, there’d be no reason why Conor was suddenly hanging out with us. And you don’t like Tre. You never have, he’s not your type.” His voice was so reasonable. Damn it.
    Cora and Steven continued eating, silently taking everything in. Her presence beside me was comforting, though.
    “It was my idea to give you a boyfriend.” Matt shrugged, eating his lunch. “I figured all the attention would wig you out a little bit. Having a boyfriend may make some of them back off. And would you really want someone besides your best friend or the dude you’ve been obsessing over for months to bite you?”
    “Matthew!” Cora admonished. My face flamed at Matt’s candidness.
    “What?”