Deception by Cyndi Goodgame Page B

down to whisper something super close to his face.  I tried to keep my body from going rigid, but this girl was too close to him. Unable to hide my reaction,, my death glare eased when Caylie cleared her throat.  Ian isn’t mine and  needed to cool it, it said. Josie was nice enough some of the time, but she wasn’t good enough for him. 
    The room was too loud for me to hear her clearly.  Ian nodded, and the snake named Josie slid away.  Caylie was now jabbing her fingers into my thigh under the table.  I popped up with an “Oww!” and gave her the death glare. 
    “Cool it!” she mouthed. 
    I let Caylie off the hook with the small finger-sized bruises that I felt forming.  She was just being a good friend.  A good friend who was reminding others that best friends don’t act territorial!  Harrumph!
    I detested not knowing.  “What did Josie have to say?”  I tried to sound like I didn’t care.  Caylie’s face showed that it definitely wasn’t working.
    No expression on his face gave any answers away.                “Nothing important!”
    Harrumph!   He hadn’t turned to look at me yet.  I was steaming.  My face scrunched up.  He chose that precise moment to turn and look at me. He laughed.  The fool laughed!
    I looked away!  The jealous monster inside me screamed its fangs in a silent hiss.  He put his hand on mine under the table, squeezed, and let go. 
    My traitorous heart fluttered amorously.  It was worse that he knew and never said anything about it.  I was so easy to read. It may have started as a crush in junior high, but somewhere along the way it grew.   For six years!  He wasn’t blind, he was heartless.   I tried so hard to hide it. 
    Caylie was my rescuer this time.  She asked the whole table including the couple who, joined us, “Name your worst Halloween?”
    Everyone jumped in then and starting talking at once, except for me and Ian.  I let them take turns talking back and forth purposefully not veering his direction.  I reached for the creamed puff snacks on the table in front of me and consoled my ailing heart with food.  Soon, my mind was into the story Caylie was telling about the Pumpkinhead that jumped out and grabbed her in the street when she was ten.  She had just told the part where Kin had pulled the real hollowed out pumpkin off his head when Ian stiffened his posture against me.  I unconsciously started looking for Kin even though I felt my usual abnormal detections that sent me alerts when he was near.  I could read Ian’s signals too.
    The rest were laughing, eating, and telling scary stories about their Halloween dress ups of the past when Kin and the new guy walked through the back door.  The entire room went extremely quiet, as always when Kin walked into a room.  Ian’s hand shot up to shield my face from seeing him or so I thought.  It is not like he has laser beams shooting from his eye so I reached to move his hand and Ian laid it across the table in front of me.
    Just then, Ian yanked me from my seat and we were headed for the hall.
    My skirt caught on the doorframe in the hallway and ripped into quick, not sewn very well, shreds.  Ian wasn’t stopping.  All of the sudden, I was in a mini skirt and tights that were torn at the knee and a small cut was screaming like a bee sting on my leg.  I heard Caylie yelling behind me restate  her earlier assessment about my Ian radar being unhealthy.
    “Oww!” I dug my heels in warring to stop his half run.  “What is wrong?  Why are you afraid of him?”
    “I’m not,” he growled, “but I need air.  We are going outside for a minute,” he said as his eyes darted around still holding on, visibly shaken.
    I shot an apologetic look at Caylie and heard someone at the table say to Caylie as I zoomed away, “She ever gonna see past the Ian radar?”  Caylie said something back about my radar and I missed everything but the Dear Abby part.   “A spade is a