Page 20 of My Turn

“One more thing, though.”

His lips came down on mine, startling me. I was immediately conflicted. Part of me wanted to kiss him because he was a nice guy and I was attracted to him, but it still didn’t feel right. It was too soon.

I was about to pull away, but he did first. It was so abrupt, I stumbled. When I opened my eyes, I saw someone wearing a Jason mask and a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. He slammed his fist into Mike’s face, knocking him to the ground.

“What the fuck?” I shouted. When I tried to crouch beside him, the other man grabbed me by the arm. I screamed and tried to get out of his grip.

“Alana,” he said in a familiar voice. He raised the mask and my mouth fell open.

Mike scrambled backward before he struggled to his feet. “Oh my god.”

“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded.

Jayce raised a brow but otherwise remained expressionless. He maintained his grip on my arm and even when I tried to shrug him off, he held on.

“Well, are you going to answer me?”

“We had plans,” he replied simply.

“Then I found out you betrayed me.”

He scoffed. “I didn’t betray you.”

“You sort of did!”

“It’s not my job to relay all of my brother’s sins, Alana!”

“Oh, are there more?” I snapped.

“I’m sure I can think of a dozen, but they don’t fucking matter because he’s dead. What good does it do to cause you pain?”

This time when I shook him off, he released me. I walked over to Mike and looked at the blood on his lip.

“I’m so sorry,” I rushed out.

“No, uh, it’s fine. Who is this?”

“This is my friend, Jayce. Apparently, he thought you were going to hurt me or something.”

“Or something,” Jayce repeated dryly.

“Right,” Mike drawled. “I have to go relieve the babysitter.”

“Yeah, of course. You should do that.”

He hesitated, his eyes moving to Jayce briefly. “Seven tomorrow?”

I smiled a little and nodded. “That’s perfect.”

I watched him until he got into his car, then I turned on Jayce. “You can’t go around punching people.”

“You’re at a party kissing a random guy. What was I supposed to think?”

“That I’m an adult and I can kiss whoever I want.”

“Maybe we could’ve avoided this entire situation if you told me where you were going.”

“I went to the store and forgot my phone, then I ran into Mike.”