Untouchable (Untouchables, #1)

by Sam Mariano

“I’m not going on a date with you, Carter,” I tell him, plainly. “Why not?” I stare at him for a long moment, then sigh and shake my head. “You are relentless.” “Yep,” he agrees, before popping a salty French fry into his mouth. “You know why I won’t go out with you,” I tell him. “You can ask 20 more times, the answer isn’t going to change. If you wanted to date me, you should have started there, not… where you started.” “Well, I didn’t know I wanted to date you then,” he states, somehow reasonably. “I just thought you were some shy, boring nerd who grossly overreacted to Jake wanting to bang you. It took a couple interactions before I noticed what he must have noticed first. Now I see it. Now I want you. I’m much more persistent than Jake Parsons, I’ll tell you that now.” “See, that sounds like a warning,” I point out. “I don’t go out on dates with guys who exude such willingness to do harm. My type is ‘not a dangerous sociopath’ and I’m not convinced you fit the bill.” Carter smiles like that amuses rather than offends him. “I’m not a sociopath.” I press my lips together with exaggerated firmness. “That’s just what a sociopath would say.” “I’m aggressive when I’m going after something I want, that’s all. That doesn’t make me a sociopath.” I tick off fingers. “Superficial charm, intelligence, grandiose sense of self, ability to harm others without any apparent remorse, relentless pursuit of your own desires at the expense of others, liar liar pants on fire…”