“Life?” I guessed.
“No, the fucking snake and the meat— oh shit, is the room spinning?”
“Uh, no. Maybe…” I grabbed his arm before he passed out again. “…you should just sit for a bit?”
“But protein.” He shuddered. “And the bed. I’m a guy. I have to build… oh hell!” He started gagging as his gaze landed on the box with our dinner. “If you don’t move the snake box, I’m gonna hurl all over your shoes, and I actually like them, so maybe we take care of that first…” He risked a closer look, and his face went pasty pale. “Oh fuck, is that another head?”
Because I also liked my shoes, I kicked the box away immediately. “Why don’t we order pizza?”
More gagging.
“Do you like need…a minute?” I patted him on the back.
“Childhood trauma.” He looked away. “Yeah, pizza. Now snake, the snake has to go, far, far away, can we burn the snake? Oh shit, it’s staring right at me; it senses my fear!”
“It’s dead.”
“Its soul lives!” He scrambled to his feet and ran his fingers through his hair. “Why is this internship the worst thing ever?”
“Well…” I dumped the snake box in the trash. “If you’re asking, it’s all this elaborate test. I mean otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense, you know?”
“Nothing, and I do mean nothing, about Max makes sense.” Mark went to the sink and gargled some water, then spit it out like he’d actually eaten said snake and nearly gone into anaphylactic shock from the experience. “You ordered pizza, right?”
“DoorDash.” I held up my phone. “Figured pepperoni was better than snake. Hey, you gonna be able to make that bed for us?”
He glared, his skin still pale. “I’m a guy, I can totally—” Tons of stumbling and the windmilling of arms.
“Did you, um, just trip on your shoelaces?”
“No. Yes. I’m a man!” he shouted. “Where the hell are the tools?”
I studied him critically. I wanted to legit win the position, not kill my opponent. “Should you be using a hammer, though?”
“AHGHHHHHHHH!” he screamed.
“Fine, fine!” I held up my hands. “Closet, go to the closet, geez.”
He stomped off.
And I watched as he grabbed a toolset from the utlility closet and went into the bedroom. Seconds later, I heard pounding. Then cursing.
Then, the most terrifying of all.
Silence.
Our pizza arrived twenty minutes later, and because I felt guilty for not helping, I finally grabbed him a slice and made my way into the bedroom, expecting to find Mark somehow built into the headboard staring off into space like, where did it go wrong? Was it during the snake episode? The cursing? The tools? And if I could do it over, would I have used that hammer or just asked for help?
Huh.
“H-hey there, big guy,” I said, walking into the dark room.
Miraculously, the bed frame was done, the mattress was on said frame along with the sheets, and Mark had tuckered himself out trying to be all manly, so there he was, lying on the righthand side of the bed.
Smiling, I walked over to him and gently laid the slice of pizza on his side.
Without even speaking, he sniffed, like a true predator, picked up the slice, took three bites, barely swallowed, then asked, “Are we done?”
“Um, do you not remember the last two hours?”
“Good pizza.” His answer. “C’mere…”
I had no choice, and honestly, he looked so cute I would have chosen the same. I crawled into bed.
He pulled me against his side. “Good teamwork.”
“Yup. Totally.” I smiled against his warm chest.
“I hate snakes.”
“I’m aware.”
“But I like you…maybe I shouldn’t say that, but I like you, Olive.”
I would take it to my grave as I smiled against his chest again and whispered. “I like you too.”
Chapter Eleven
Mark
“I’m scared of dragons, you know…” Olivia said in a sleepy voice. “No need to feel weird about the snakes.”
Instantly I was wide awake. Snakes? Aw shit.
All of last night came rushing back, swear I had an actual episode after seeing the snake head and skin. I mean, what the ever-loving hell?
I rubbed my eyes and checked my phone, set it down, then realized that Olivia was curled up against me.
Wait, how did this happen?
And why was I questioning her warmth and awesomeness?
I pulled her closer against me. “Does this mean you hate Pete’s Dragon? Because honestly,” I rasped, my breathing lazy, “I really like that bro.”
“Stop saying bro.” Her voice floated over me.
Swear on my life, she was angelic at three in the morning. HAH, my brain reminded me, but she’s the fucking devil during the day, so yeah, good trade, good trade.
“And yeah, I loved the movie they just did; I cried…why?”
“Aw…” I patted her on the head. “You actually have a soul!”
“Aw…” She twisted my nipple in her right hand. “You have feelings.”
“Damn it!” I batted her away. “Honest moment, if we had one parachute, would you take it?”
Silence.
“Good times,” I muttered after an uncomfortably long three minutes where she was one hundred percent not sleeping. “Thanks, by the way, for last night.”
She shrugged, still not pulling away. “What do you think Max has in store for the Emory Games tomorrow, or… I guess today?”
“Other than hell, you mean?”
“Maybe he’ll go easy on us?”
I burst out laughing. “And maybe you won’t kill me in my sleep to gain an advantage. Sure, yeah, okay.”
She wiggled against me then leaned up, her lips caressing my ear. “Could have done it way earlier, Mark, but I have this thing called…” Her tongue slid around the outside of my ear. “This thing called self-control.”
“So,” I choked out. “I’m alive because of you?”
“Yup.”
“Gee, how do I express my thanks to the psychopath in my arms?”
“I can’t even begin to imagine.”
“Mmmmmm,” I tugged her against me. “I can, I fucking can.”
I didn’t let her protest.
I kissed her.
I kissed her hard.
It wasn’t a tame kiss, one where you ask if it’s okay first. Nah, this
