All Bets Are Off

Chapter Eleven - Ella Fordman: The Girl of Surprises

 

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Dedicated to 1olMichelle for the amazing banner to the side! Thank you so much; I love it :)

 

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Chapter Eleven – Ella Fordman: The Girl of Surprises

 

“T-Talk?” I stammered out, feeling the color disappear from my face as I stared into those ethereal brown eyes that bored into mine. He stood so close to me that I could feel the body heat radiating off of him, and my heart constricted in my chest. This could not be good. Carter Prince and I had never talked before, and there was no way this was just some coincidence. That just didn’t happen… especially not with my luck.

He smirked, leaning even closer, and my heart felt like it was ready to beat out of my chest and attack him at any given moment. Did he know the effect he had on women? My guess? Most probably.

“Yeah,” he said in a deep, velvety voice, his eyes burning with amusement as a smirk toyed around his mouth. “Talk.”

“W-What about, Carter?” I asked, and then froze. Suddenly, it was like a switch flicked in my brain, and I could feel the word vomit rising within me. When it came to Carter, it was either short, one-worded answers and incoherent sentences, or word diarrhea. There was no in between with me. “I mean, am I allowed to call you Carter? Do you prefer Mr. Prince? Or Sir? Master? I can even do Mr. Carter, if you prefer?”

Carter was looking down at me as if I were maybe just the slightest bit crazy, though he was still amused at that. Well, good to know I could be entertaining. “What are you talking about? Carter’s fine, Ella.”

Holy crap. He knew my name. Carter Prince knew my name! How was this even happening? Things like this didn’t happen to me! This was Carter, the bad boy, we’re talking about. I couldn’t decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing that he knew my name.

“Sorry,” I muttered, once again reverting back to the one-word answers. Oh, God, could I be any more embarrassing?

And, no, God, that was not a challenge.

“So, anyway, I’ve been hearing some rumors,” Carter said, leaning even closer. My stomach lurched and did somersaults as his cool, mint-smelling breath fanned my face, and my head swum. Any closer and he’d be kissing me, which was a very distracting thought, once placed in my mind.

So he knew. I had no idea how. I mean, I’d only told Phoenix, and he wasn’t the type of guy to tell—especially not to Carter himself. He wasn’t that type of boy. But somehow the rumor had spread, and I was officially screwed. I could feel a blush coming on, and adverted my eyes.

“R-Rumors?” I stuttered out, before wanting to kick myself. What was wrong with me? Was it that hard to have a civil conversation? He was a normal human being. It wasn’t like I was conversing with a cyborg! Why couldn’t I just talk to him normally like all the other girls did? I hated girls without backbones, and yet here I was, practically killing feminism and equal rights from where I stood. Way to prove that females are the stronger sex, Ella. Well done!