A Girl Called Malice. Aurelia B. Rowl

cheeks as the memory of those long and lithe limbs wrapped around Josh’s waist flashed into Zac’s mind. He closed his eyes and briskly shook the images away.

      ‘Hey, stop it,’ Alice protested. ‘If I wanted to get wetter, I’d have stayed outside.’

      ‘Huh?’ Zac froze. He opened his eyes and noticed the windows were now splattered with water inside as well as out. Along with Alice. ‘Shit, I’m sorry.’

      Alice turned over the ignition and turned to heaters up to full. ‘You’re worse than a dog.’ Rain-soaked hair clung to her face as she rubbed her hands over her arms to brush away the newest drops, then turned her attention to the rivulets running down what had to be silky smooth legs.

      Zac followed the trail of water all the way over her shins and down to her feet. Parched from the sudden heat coursing through him, he coughed to clear his throat and captured her attention.

      ‘What? Have I got mud on me or something?’

      ‘No, I was looking at your shoes,’ he said, lamely latching onto anything to deflect where his mind threatened to take him.

      ‘You—a guy—were looking at my shoes?’ she asked, shooting him the raised eyebrow.

      ‘Yes. Me. I was trying to work out how you can actually drive in those things?’ he said, nodding to her feet to divert her attention away from his glowing face.

      ‘It’s easy,’ she said, pouting as she pushed the offending wet tendrils of hair behind her ears. To prove her point, she popped the clutch despite her heels and slipped the car into first gear, then pulled away smoothly.

      ‘I take it back.’

      ‘I always wear heels,’ she explained, navigating her way out of the car park. ‘Well, nearly always,’ she corrected, darting him a shy glance. At least it wasn’t just his face steaming the windows up any more. ‘Where to then?’

      His brain took a moment to catch up. ‘Richmond Road. Do you know it?’

      ‘Yep.’ Alice made her way onto the bypass and motored along with the wipers going full speed against the rain lashing the windscreen.

      Some way in the distance, Zac spotted a lonely figure walking along the grass verge. Whoever it was had no coat and had to be soaked. The next swipe of the wipers revealed that the unfortunate sod was Josh. Unluckily for him, Alice had recognised who it was too. She put her foot down hard on the accelerator and veered towards him, timing her approach to perfection to spray a huge puddle all over him.

      Partly out of concern but mostly for the comedy value, Zac peered over his shoulder. Laughter burst out of his chest as a bedraggled Josh stood stock still, his mouth gaping open in shock as he watched the Barbie car whizz away from the scene of the crime. ‘Alice, you’re pure evil,’ Zac said, still chuckling as he turned back to face the front.

      ‘Why? What have I done now?’ Alice asked, oh-so-innocently.

      ‘Just remind me never to get in your bad books, OK?’

      ‘Oh, come off it, Joshua’s a lowlife. You’re nothing like him, Zac.’ She tensed and darted a glance at him as she spoke, as if to gauge his reaction so he kept his eyes forward and his expression neutral. ‘No decent guy cheats on his girlfriend, especially with the likes of me,’ she continued, tightening her grip on the steering wheel so much her knuckles turned white.

      ‘Er…thanks,’ Zac deadpanned, spouting the first thing that came to mind. ‘I think.’ He couldn’t argue with the Josh-being-a-lowlife part, but as for the likes-of-me part Zac wasn’t so sure.

      Alice instantly relaxed. ‘You’re welcome,’ she said, disarming him with a playful smirk that made the corners of her eyes crinkle before her gaze drifted back to the windscreen to give the road her full attention.

      Relieved to have passed the test, Zac let his head flop back against the headrest and stared at the soft-top roof. How could sharing a ride home be so exhausting yet so unbelievably exhilarating at the same time? Christ, every time he thought he’d got a step closer to figuring Alice out, she’d do something unexpected and become even more of a puzzle. One that he desperately wanted to solve.

       Chapter seven

      Blues

      Alice

      Out of the corner of my eye, I risked a glance at Zac. His head lay tilted head back against the headrest, staring up and seemingly lost in thought. If it weren’t for his eyes being open, I could have been fooled into thinking he’d fallen asleep. Shame. It would at least have accounted for his lack of conversation; several minutes had passed and still he hadn’t spoken.

      In the funereal hush of my car, it was a wonder I couldn’t hear his heartbeat let alone my own erratic beat above the constant drumming sound of rain. The way my pulse ticked in my fingertips, I could have joined the percussion just by hovering my hands over the drum skins. Like I needed any more distractions when simply having Zac in the car did the job so brilliantly.

      Christ knows why, but I really wanted to impress him with my driving skills, especially after his comment about my shoes, yet the weather tried its best to thwart me. At last, I turned off the scary-as-fuck-in-the-sluicing-rain bypass onto a slower stretch of road and could reduce the angry swoosh of the wiper to a less-aggressive swish.

      I relaxed my grip on the wheel and shot another look at the super-silent Zac. He must have sensed my movement because he turned his head and caught me in the act.

      ‘You OK?’ he asked.

      ‘Me?’ I squawked. ‘Yeah, I’m fine. You?’

      ‘Er…if you say so.’ Zac grinned but I was too busy cringing at the total garbage tripping out of my mouth. ‘What’s got you all in a tizz?’

      ‘Nothing,’ I snapped.

      ‘Right,’ he said, drawing out the word and coaxing a half-smile out of me. ‘Cos this isn’t awkward at all. Should I stick to talking about the weather?’

      ‘Oh no, must we?’ I said, finally accepting his attempt to break the ice.

      ‘Good. You see, I’ve been thinking—’

      ‘Steady now.’

      ‘Ha!’ He nudged me in the ribs with his elbow. ‘Since I don’t have to talk about this bloody awful weather, can I ask you about your plans for tonight instead?’

      ‘My plans?’ I asked, forcing myself to keep the wheel straight and my attention on the road.

      ‘Yeah, your plans.’

      ‘Um…’ Where was he going with this? ‘I don’t have any.’

      ‘Great.’

      ‘Thanks a lot, Zac.’

      ‘No, I mean great for me.’

      ‘And how is that exactly?’ I said coolly, which took a considerable amount of effort.

      ‘I know this is going to sound odd, you know, after everything that happened back there with Josh but…’ Zac’s voice trailed off.

      ‘But?’ I prompted, not wanting to give him the chance to talk himself out of whatever he’d intended to say. In my peripheral vision, I saw him turn his head to face me.

      ‘Right. Um… Please don’t take this the wrong way.’

      ‘OK,’ I said, trying to move things along.

      ‘How would you feel about coming out with me?’

      ‘Out? With you?’

      ‘Just as friends,’ he added, in an effort to clarify his motives.

      ‘What would your girlfriend say?’ I asked, shooting him a knowing look.

      ‘I