“Yeah.” Alex looked excited. “We need them to spread the word they were there,” Alex said to Wade, leaning forward. “Word gets out we have Devils in our fanbase, man, we’ll be made.”
“They’re just guys,” I grumbled.
“Yeah, they are,” Wade said with a grin. “But I don’t think they’re fans,” Wade said cheerfully as he looked in the rearview mirror. “I met Jett last Friday. Guy was looking for his keys.”
“His keys?” I asked Wade.
“Yeah, he lost them. Was pretty worked up about them too.” Wade shrugged. “I asked him where he’d been, and he said he’d been at a party on Cedar. I was heading that way, and I told himI would give him a call if I saw them.” Wade snorted out a laugh. “He full on tells me he doesn’t answer unknown numbers, so I made him give me his number, and I texted him so he’d know who I was if I found them.”
“He must have,” I said more to myself than the van. “Found them, I mean.”
“Yeah, or one of his brothers was home,” Wade spoke to me.
“Brothers? Ash is his cousin,” I corrected.
“You know a lot about the Santo guys,” Shane said to me. His look was searching.
“Ava’s a huge football fan, she knows the team’s stats,” Mia piped up, and for the next few minutes, I was tested on my football knowledge.
It broke the weirdness between Shane and me and answered my curiosity about Jett. As we headed into the basketball players’ dorm house, I tugged Wade’s arm to get him to stop.
“He came all the way to the bar to say thanks fornotfinding his keys?”
Wade looked at me, his face thoughtful. “Why are you so curious?” he asked. “Thought Spence was your QB of choice.”
“He is. It just seems so anti-Santo.” I nudged him with my shoulder. “I’m just nosy, let’s go.”
“I’m fucking with you,” Wade joked. “You give me or him, I’m not sure who, too much credit. I never told him I didn’t find his keys, and he didn’t come to say thanks. Either way, you’re thinking about it too much. They were in town, heard the music, came in. He saw it was me and said hi. The brother, the fierce-looking one, he grilled me, but Jett told him to cool off. He’s an alright guy.”
Ha.
The party was in full swing when we went in, and we inevitably got separated before meeting again. The room wasn’t as full as it would be if it were a Friday night. Sticks disappearedto the basement pretty quickly, and Wade saw a guy from his class he needed to talk to. Mia dragged Alex to dance, and then it was just Shane and me. We stood in companionable silence for a while, and then he said he was going to rescue Alex from the dance floor, and I suggested we take them outside. It was too hot in here, and I needed air. My top was sticking to me.
As I went ahead of them into the backyard, I was almost relieved to take a deep breath, even if the air was thick with humidity. I watched two guys get into an argument, and opting to stay out of the way, I crossed the yard to take shelter at the corner of the house. A flare of cherry red alerted me to the fact that there was someone further in the shadows, smoking a cigarette.
“Sorry,” I told them. “Didn’t mean to encroach on your solitude.” I grinned at whoever stood in the darkness. They moved forward, and my jaw dropped. Jett looked at me, half hidden in the shadows. What was he doing out here,smoking? Wait,whywas he smoking? “You shouldn’t smoke!” I berated him, taking a step toward him in irritation. “You’re an athlete. Your body needs to be at its best!”
He took a long drag of his smoke, his eyebrow lifting in challenge. “A full night in the bar and you’re still uptight.”
“I’m not uptight.”
“Sure,” he scoffed as he took another pull of his cigarette before he stubbed it out on the side of the house. “My bodyisat itsbest; you know that.” He gave me a sly look as he took a step toward the light. His attention was caught by the guys arguing, who were now swinging punches. A bottle went flying through the air, and Jett grabbed me, pulling me out of the way as the projectile flew through the air, coming toward me.
I had no idea where the bottle landed, because I was pressed up against the side of the house with Jett pushed up against me, one arm resting against the wall as he leaned into me. I hatedsmoking, but weirdly, the smell of nicotine mixed with the scent of him, which was almost cedarwood-like with an undernote of vanilla, made me breathe him in.
“They missed,” I said to him in a low voice when I realized that he knew I’d basically just sniffed him.
“Mm-hmm.” Jett didn’t move, and as we were away from the lights of the house, I could no longer see his face clearly.
“You can move,” I reminded him.
His answer was to press his lower body into mine. “You’re so . . .nervous. No. Not nervous, jittery.”
“Jittery?” I gave a low chuckle as I looked up at him. “Well, a guy I hardly know has me pressed against a wall in a dark backyard,” I hissed at him.
“Hardly know? Now, now, Uptight, you’re forgetting we’re old friends.”
I felt his hand skim down over my hip and onto my thigh. He bent slightly, and feeling my skirt being gathered in his hand, I might have stopped breathing. “What are you doing?” I asked him as I felt air around the top of my thigh.
