Remember Me

Chapter 26

I know that Riley will be chased off and give up eventually. Today might even be that day. I’ve been far from the best that I could be to him and I’m starting to feel like I can’t blame Colton anymore, just myself at this point. But it’s for the best for both of us. All this road will lead to is inevitable pain to one or both of us. And I know for certain that I don’t want to be the cause of him losing the good part of himself. 

I end up stumbling on a skateboarding park. I slow my walk as my eyes focus on it, looking around at the two guys doing their best to perform and learn tricks. I can’t help but notice that neither comes close to how good Connor was. I wonder how long he had to be doing it to become that flawless at it. Suddenly, I walk straight into someone hard and fall to the ground. I wonder how I ever thought Riley felt like a brick wall when this was in my future. I land on my butt hard and have to bite my lip to hold in the yell. I feel my blood pressure shoot up instantly. 

“Jesus, watch where the f**k you’re going, you beast,” I snap, standing up and brushing myself off. I hear a dark chuckle that makes my eyes snap up. Wow, he’s tall. 

“Beast? There’s a compliment in there somewhere.” 

I meet his grey eyes and feel myself almost blanche. I quickly gather myself, refusing to show him any more weakness than he’s already had the pleasure of seeing. He’s wearing clothes that seem to be the norm for him, like me. A black beanie, tight black shirt, ripped black jeans, and black shoes. He’s holding his skateboard under his arm and his eyes are focus on me, scrutinizing me until I feel n***d under his gaze. His lips are turned up into a cocky and crooked smile that looked as dark as he is. I narrow my eyes at him. 

“There’s no compliment, I assure you,” I reply with my cold, cutting voice. 

“Maybe not to you, firecracker,” he says as his eyes roam over my body and then meet mine again. 

I cross my arms over my chest in an attempt to look more intimidating and cover myself at the same time but it only makes him smirk that irritatingly sexy and dangerous smirk more. Firecracker? Why is he calling me that? And why do I kind of like it? Get a grip, Natalie. I fix him with the glare that usually makes people shrink in their own shoes. I’ve even been told that being on the receiving end of it made it feel like I was murdering them but I don’t want to brag. However much of a badass this guy thinks he is, I could guarantee I was better at it. But one look at him could show just how unaffected he is or how good of an actor. I’m really hoping it’s the latter. His piercing grey eyes lazily scan over again before he meets my steady glare once again, humor and danger dancing in his eyes. 

“See something you like?” he asks me, his voice mocking and deep. 

“What?” I ask coldly, completely taken off guard but refusing to show it. 

“You were watching the park so hard that you ran into a beast,” he says, taunting me and clearly enjoying the hell out of it. His eyes widen slightly as he talks then goes back to normal. “Either you were looking for someone or you noticed something you like.” 

“None of the above. I just like observing.” 

“Everything but where you’re walking,” he retorts, stepping closer to me and towering over me. He’s so close that I can smell his intoxicating mixture of cologne, smoke, and something else that I can’t quite pinpoint. I can’t help but be reminded of how I first met Riley and the argument that ensued. A small ironic smile appears on my face for half a second before I maintain my composed and cold face again. My eyes betray me as they take in the muscles that his shirt is stretched around and the veins that bulge in his forearms that the bracelets on his wrist only draw more attention to. 

Thankfully he doesn’t seem to notice my momentary distraction as his eyes are scanning me once again, making me cross my arms tighter and run my tongue over my bottom lip nervously. His eyes snap to my mouth and watch me do this. He breaks into a taunting smile, showing his perfectly straight and perfectly white teeth as he bites his bottom lip and looks too captivating doing it. 

“Clearly I’m not the only one,” I tell him, my voice cutting like a knife. 

He shrugs a shoulder and shakes his black hair as far away from his eyes as the beanie would allow, which isn’t much at all. He’s still towering over me and feeling closer and closer to me with every second that passes. Why am I not moving away and putting distance between us? Why did I go to the diner looking for him and asking about him in the first place? What is he doing to me? 

“Is there a reason you’re invading my personal space?” I finally snap at him, getting too wound up by his proximity and what it’s doing to me. 

“Scared?” he asks in a low and incredibly intimidating voice.  

“Never,” I answer, not even allowing myself to blink. 

“That’s just too bad. Guess I’ll just have to do better next time,” he mutters, his eyes no longer on mine as he grabs a strand of my hair and twirls it around his pointer finger before letting it fall back into place. 

How can he be so captivating yet so intimidating and almost scary at the same time? I can see he’s getting all the pleasure the world has to offer from getting to me and winding me up. And I’m just falling into the palm of his hands. He’s downright infuriating. How does he even have this much nerve? 

“Trust me, there won’t be a next time,” I snap, shoving past him and starting to walk away but his voice makes me come to a halt and my eyes meet his again.  

“You never know. It’s a small world, firecracker. Especially when you’re trapped at the same school for eight hours a day,” he tells me, his taunting smirk making an appearance again. “Ah, you were hoping I didn’t notice you eyeballing me outside the office that day even though I clearly noticed you and was making my way to you before I was interrupted,” he continues once he notices the shock on my face.  

“I wouldn’t flatter myself if I were you. The only exciting thing to happen at that school is new kids or potential ones so, everyone was watching you.” 

“Oh, I doubt that’s the only interesting thing to ever happen. There’s a lot of gossip in that school and I can be a great listener. I have to admit, I didn’t think that boyfriend of yours would be your type.” 

“He’s not my boyfriend. But I guess I should be flattered that you put so much time and thought into what my type would be,” I say, turning the tables on him and shooting him a wicked and taunting smirk of my own.  

He rubs his jaw as his eyes appraise me then bites down on his lip again. I avert my eyes to avoid getting distracted and hear his dark chuckle. I shoot him one last glare before starting to walk away again. When I walk a short distance away, I hear the revving of a motorcycle and, before I can blink, he’s speeding by me so fast that it blows my hair and it makes my shirt float up to above my belly button. He’s really got diner Mary fooled if she honestly thinks he’s anything less than an asshole