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He sat back. “Go home. Don’t come back. These woods are dangerous.”

She stared at him. Was this guy for real?

He held out a hand. “Come on, then.”

Eva put her palm in his and he hauled her up as if she weighed
nothing, which couldn’t be further than the truth. Her hips were the bane of
her existence.
The only thing worse than being the girl whose
dad killed himself was the
fat
girl whose dad killed himself.
She
took a deep breath and shoved those thoughts away. Her therapist told her she
had to stop tormenting herself with negativity or some bullshit like that. And
Mr. Gorgeous was looking at her, waiting for her to do something. “I thought I’d
broken my ankle,” she said, standing carefully. The last thing she wanted was
for her leg to give out again.

He shook his head.
“Just a little strain.
Don’t go running on it tonight and you’ll be fine.” He stepped back, looking
angry again. The silver specks in his eyes flashed. “Go straight home.”

She wrinkled her forehead. He might be handsome, but he was weird.
And cranky.
“What do you care about where I go?”

“I don’t. I just don’t like people on my property,” he growled.

“Grumpy,” she muttered, vaguely offended.

He turned his back on her. “Ask around. Everyone knows not to come
here.”

Eva tentatively put more weight on her ankle. It didn’t hurt at
all.
“Fine.
Whatever.” The only reason she’d come here
in the first place was to get away from Frank and his asshole friends. “I’ll
try to keep away from your precious trees.”

“Good,” he said calmly, melting into the woods like some kind of
ninja assassin.

“Jerk,” she muttered, heading back the way she’d come. She walked
slowly this time, not wanting to trip again.
So what if he’s gorgeous?
she
thought.
He’s not very nice.
And she certainly
didn’t need that kind of drama in her life. She’d already had enough to last a
lifetime.

****

A week later, Eva walked into the woods again, this time
deliberately. She’d had a shitty day at school. Her
calc
exam had been a disaster. She’d had a terrible morning, too. When she’d come
out of her room, her mom had been sitting at the kitchen table nursing a cup of
cold coffee, hands on her temples. Eva could tell she was in the middle of one
of her migraines again, though her mom tried to hide it. Eva had made her some
oatmeal and tried to talk her into taking a sick day, but her mother was
nothing if not stubborn.

Which is probably a good thing, since Dad was a total loser,
she thought, angry all over again.
Neither she nor her mom had any clue why he’d done it, not that it mattered
anymore. He’d wrecked their lives. They’d had to move to a completely different
town in the middle of Eva’s senior year of high school because her mom couldn’t
afford to keep the house on her salary.
And
don’t forget how everyone at school began to treat you like a leper. Ugh.
At least moving to a different town had solved that problem, sort of. Everyone
at her new school disliked her because she was moody and strange, not because
of her dead father. That was a vast improvement over being pitied.

“So Dad was an asshole, so what,” she said aloud, just to hear the
words. She stopped hiking and stared at the root that had tried to eat her foot
last week. It wasn’t very big. She kicked it. It didn’t budge. She kicked it
harder and kept going until her boot tore a large chunk of bark from the top.
That made her feel
better. She sat down, breathing heavily.

“I told you not to come back.”

Eva twisted around and looked up, heart knocking on her ribs.
There he was: Mr. Tall, Gorgeous, and Grumpy himself. She’d asked about him at
school and everyone told her not to go anywhere near the mean old guy in the
woods. This man did not look old. She’d also been told that the woods were
cursed. She didn’t believe a word of it. Mr. Gorgeous might be cranky, but he’d
been mostly decent to her. One of the girls who was becoming sort of a friend
had freaked out when Eva had told her she’d gone hiking here, but she’d refused
to explain anything.
Because
everyone in this town is crazy.
Truth was, she’d come back here
hoping he’d show up again. She’d reasoned that once she saw that he wasn’t as
hot as she remembered, she’d be able to stop daydreaming about him all the
time. Looking at him now, she knew that her plan wasn’t going to work. He
looked great.

“So you did,” she said, finally answering his statement. She wasn’t
going to apologize. Instead, she let her eyes take him in. Today he wore
another tight shirt, this one grey. It made the silver specks in his eyes stand
out even more. His jeans were worn. He even had a rip in the one knee. Most of
the adult men she knew wore khakis. Her dad had worn khakis.

He frowned at her. “So why are you here?”

Of course he’d ask.
She blinked back sudden tears and
looked away.
“Because.”
What the heck was wrong with
her? She had to get a grip. She took a deep breath and told herself to stop
being a freak.

“Didn’t they tell you not to come here?”

She snorted.
“Yeah.
Whatever.
What are you going to do, arrest me? You don’t look like a cop.”

He sighed.

She looked up. He’d crossed his arms over his chest, making his
muscles bulge like a fitness trainer.
It’s kind of weird that he’s a real
person. Most guys who look like that are on television.

“You’re not going to leave, are you?” he asked.

She shook her head. No, she wasn’t. Why should she? She liked it
here. “What did you do to those guys? Frank hasn’t come near me all week. It’s
been awesome, so, thanks for that.”

He tilted his head. “They bothered you a lot?”

She nodded.
“Yeah.
At
school.
I just moved here with my mom a couple months ago and they think
I’m weird.”

“What did they do?” he growled.

She wrinkled her nose.
“The usual.
Grabby hands.
Nasty words.”
She
shrugged. “Whatever. I can deal.”

Unexpectedly, he sat down next to her. “They won’t be bothering
you again.”

“What did you do to them?” Eva could feel the warmth coming off
his skin and shivered. It was a cool night. She should’ve brought her jacket.

“Nothing permanent,” he said gruffly, loosely twining his fingers
together.

She stared at his ring. She didn’t care about Frank and his gang,
especially not with this guy sitting next to her. “Where did you get that ring?”
she asked. “It’s cool.” She barely kept herself from clapping her hand over her
mouth. Did she really just ask him such a stupid question? Apparently, close
proximity to the monster in the woods turned her into a twit.

He rubbed a finger over the engraving. “It was a gift.”

As if someone else had taken over her body, Eva watched her hand
reach out and touch it. The metal was warm and his skin even more so. “It’s
pretty.”

He pulled away. “You shouldn’t be here.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t you ever say anything else?”

He stood up and walked away. “Go home.”

Eva watched him disappear. “Huh. Story of my life,” she whispered.
She stayed until the first stars appeared above the treetops, and
then
she walked home.
Just because.

****

“Why do you keep coming here?”

Eva spun around, not surprised to see him. He showed up every time
she ventured into his woods, after all. “I like it here.” She was happy today.
Only one week until graduation.
Yay.

“Doesn’t your mother worry about you?” He leaned against the tree.
So far, he hadn’t yet cracked a smile.

“No. She’s working.”

“On a Saturday?”

Eva shrugged. “Since my dad hung himself she’s had to work more. I
have a job, too.” She watched his face as she said the words, wanting to see if
he’d react. He didn’t
so
much as twitch.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself,” he said, unexpectedly.

She went still, her gut clenching. “What do you care?”

“The sins of the father never pass on to the children, no matter
what anyone says.” He pushed off the trunk and headed off trail.

“What.
The.
Fuck,” Eva said, angry. “You’re
an asshole!” He disappeared into the trees. She hoped he fell and broke his
neck.

****

“You misunderstood me,” he said a week later.

Eva jumped, but didn’t turn around. “I’m not in your stupid woods.
This is my own backyard. See?” She waved a hand around the unmown lawn. So what
if his damn woods butted up against their rental property? She didn’t care,
especially not after he was such a jerk last week. When he put his hand on her
shoulder, Eva tried really hard not to care how nice and warm his palm felt on
her skin. “And normal people don’t pick up conversations weeks after the last
sentence, you know.”

He snorted. “It’s barely been a week. And who said I was normal?”

She spun around. He didn’t look any different.
Still
annoying.
“Maybe I meant
I
wasn’t normal.”

He let his hand fall. “You didn’t.”

Eva looked away, toward the yard. The house her mom had found for
them really needed work. Whole chunks of old paint peeled down the siding near
the back door. She rubbed her palms over her arms. “What are you doing here,
anyway?”

“Happy graduation,” he said, putting something in her palm.

What the—? She looked down. He’d given her a stick? “You’re really
weird, you know that?”

He smiled.

Eva’s breath caught, despite her irritation. She’d forgotten how
insanely gorgeous he was because he’d pissed her off so badly she’d been
thinking of him as
that annoying man
in her mind. But now, looking at him smiling, she felt like someone had taken a
bat to her head.

“Plant it.”

She curled her fingers around the stick. “I’m going away to
college at the end of the summer.”

He nodded and began to back away. “Good.”

Eva couldn’t think of anything more to say, so she just stood
there, watching him
disappear
yet again.

****

“I planted your dumb stick. Nothing’s happening,” she said to the
empty air around her. The trees rustled in the breeze. She crossed her arms and
kicked at the root again. It was definitely looking worse for wear after all
her abuse. “I think
it’s
dead.”

“That root never did anything to you.”

Eva’s heart skipped. There he was, grumpy as ever. Lucy said that
everyone was afraid of these woods and that sometimes people didn’t come out.
Total
bullshit,
she thought, staring at him. “It tripped me the first time I came
in here.”

He lifted an eyebrow.

Eva blushed and looked away. “So, your stick isn’t growing.”

He chuckled.
“Patience.”
He walked
closer,
then
put a finger to her cheek. “It’s a
willow. They’re known for their toughness and tenacity for life.”

Eva’s breath picked up.
Oh my God, is he going to kiss me?
she
wondered, dazed from his touch. She’d been daydreaming
about him for weeks, but never in a million years did she think he’d be
interested. She was too fat and he probably thought she was just a kid, but
now… He stepped back, his habitual frown reappearing. Her hopes plummeted.

“It will grow. It just needs water and light.” He pivoted on his
heel and walked away.

Eva swallowed.
He’s way too old for you, anyway.

****

“Are you still letting that girl
wander
around your woods?” his brother asked with an annoyingly bland tone.

Greyson grunted.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Bruno leaned forward. “You know, you’re
going to regret this.”

“Says the man who allows mortals to roam all over his territory,”
Greyson growled, irritated.

“I live in the middle of Manhattan, Greyson. It would be weird if
I didn’t have other people in my building.” Bruno’s blue eyes glittered, the
silver specks barely visible through the viewer screen. “Besides, I like
people. The rest of you are crazy, isolating yourselves the way you do.”

Greyson wished he could reach through the communication device and
grab his brother by the neck. Choking him to death would amuse him. “I can’t
scare her away. I tried.”

“You mean, you
won’t
scare
her.”
Bruno
chuckled. “You like her.”

“She’s a child.
Just out of high school.”

“Not forever, she won’t be,” Bruno said, his voice going quiet.