Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series, стр. 16

“I’ve had enough. If she does much more of this, then I’m going to end up just being rude and plain cruel. I don’t want to do that. Can you tell her to stop?”

“Me?” I asked in amazement as I opened one of the bottles.

“You’re her friend. I’ve told her to stop, but she won’t listen,” he was really frustrated. “Every time I tell her I’m not interested she just says, ‘I know.’ If she doesn’t stop, I’ll say something I regret.”

“I’m sorry, but she wouldn’t listen to me even if I asked.” That was sort of a lie. If I told her I liked him, she would stop. If I just told her he had spoken to me about it, that probably wouldn’t have made a difference.

“Please. She’s driving me crazy!” He ran his hands through his hair, tempting me to wonder what it felt like. “Everywhere I go she seems to be there. Pure accident she says.”

“Creeped out yet?”

“Not creeped out, just annoyed.”

“Sorry, I can’t help,” I shrugged as if it was nothing to do with me.

“What is this?” He took hold of my wrist and angled the back of my hand into the sunshine. Across my skin was another scattering of ladybugs. Some I had even coloured in with red pen this time.

“It’s nothing,” I tried to retrieve my hand, but he held on.

“Ladybugs? I swear you always have them on your hand.” He was not really concentrating, still far too distracted by Ellie, and, rather frustratingly for me, he kept looking back over his shoulder to where she was.

“I just like them.” It wasn’t quite the truth. It was a habit. That was all. A necessary habit.

“Why not just get a tattoo?”

“I’m tempted, but a bit scared of the pain,” I pulled my wrist from his grasp and looked down at the doodles. There were nine bugs in total, quite a lot this time. One was telling off its friend with a shake of its spindly leg.

“The pain’s not that bad,” he glanced over his shoulder one last time, his gaze lingering on Ellie. “It’s mostly horror stories.” Why did he keep looking at her if he wasn’t interested?

“You have a tattoo?” I nearly choked on my water, looking at him with wide eyes. So I had been right when I thought I’d caught a glimpse of something on his arm.

Tye’s attention now shifted to me, laughing slightly at my reaction.

“I have a few,” he said with a low voice. Oh my. I had never realised how sexy tattoos were before, but I suddenly itched to remove his jacket and see just how many he had. “You look like you’re undressing me with your eyes here in a very public space.”

“Was not!” I looked back up to find his smile and eyes twinkling with amusement.

“Tye?” Ellie’s voice grew nearer.

“Oh for Christ’s sake,” he muttered just before she appeared, the humour vanishing so fast it had to have very fast legs indeed.

“We’re going out to Mandy’s tonight for a drink. Want to come?” She really was annoyingly beautiful, leaning on the cooler next to me with an inviting smile.

“No thanks,” his response was instant, curt too. He turned to walk away, and Ellie pulled a face.

“He is the hardest challenger I’ve had yet.”

My phone pinged in my Lycra-trouser pocket as we watched Tye walk away down the campus hill with his head bent. I passed Ellie her bottle of water as I opened the message.

YOU GOING OUT TO MANDY’S TONIGHT THEN? T

I angled the phone away from Ellie, discretely hiding the screen in case she looked my way.

ACTUALLY, I WAS GOING TO STAY IN HALLS. I

COURSEWORK? T

“Here comes Cara!” Ellie walked away to cheer on Cara as she crossed the line.

TRYING TO SAVE MONEY. I

I also didn’t fancy listening to Ellie complain about why Tye wouldn’t go for her, or her future plans to ensnare him. He had made it abundantly clear he was not going to say yes. Much to my delight!

FANCY COMPANY? T

I was picking up an extra couple of hours of work in the coffee shop that afternoon when Kyle walked in. I saw him first, much to my annoyance – his face lit up when he saw me. This was just weird.

He leaned over the counter as I prepared some convoluted drink he had ordered, something soya with extra shots of god knows what. I think he had made it more complicated so that he could stand there for longer. I kept my eyes away from him, constantly trying to keep the conversation neutral.

“Where did you and your family move away to, then?” I spilt the soya milk from the cup, frustratingly meaning I had to start again.

“Spill all you like, darling. The more you mess it up, the more I have to stay here.” His leering smirk was wide as I shot him a dark look. “To London,” he explained eventually. “Had any more thoughts on my offer from the party?”

“Nope!” Which was the truth. I hurried to make the drink, trying to get him away as quickly as possible. As I served up a cinnamon twist for him to eat, he took hold of my wrist on the plate. It was gentle, not a pincer movement like his grab on my elbow at the party, but it was still very much uninvited. “Kyle, let go.”

“I’m sure I could change your mind, you know.” He leaned on his elbows as I snatched my wrist away. He tipped the hair out of his eyes again – he must have thought it a come-hither kind of gesture.

“You do know there’s a difference between persistence and creepy, right?”

“This is persistence.”

“It’s definitely creepy.” I hurried