“I’m sorry,” I blurted.
Jack lifted one brow. “I didn’t ask you to apologize.”
“Well, I am. I’m sorry for upsettin’ you and letting you walk away. I’m sorry for letting shit get to me so much that I couldn’t fight for us.”
He nodded once. “An acceptable start.”
“I’ll do this,” I said. “I want to do it, to stand up for myself. I gotta figure out how, but I want to.”
One corner of Jack’s mouth quirked, and with it, my heart tugged. “You know how. Same way you caught me.”
I huffed. “What? Glue all my daddy’s clothes together until he rages so hard he has a heart attack?”
Jack sighed. “There you go again, taking it too far. No, I just meant stop taking their shit. You never took mine.”
“You’re different.”
“How so?”
“I …”love you.
Jack raised both brows this time, as if he heard me, but said, “You?”
“You’re right. That’s all.”
He flicked his eyes to the ceiling and sighed. “I like the sound of that. Almost as much as you slurping on my dick.”
I blinked wide, then checked one way and another to see if anyone heard him. My cheeks burned, and Jack snickered.
“Damn, you’re cute.”
With those three words, the weakness of my convictions melted into a heavy lump low in my stomach. My balls tingled, and my dick kicked hard behind my zipper.
“Cute? No, that soft, pink treasure between your cheeks is cute. And so fuckin’ filthy when it’s gettin’ wrecked by my cock.”
Jack worked his jaw back and forth as a dark pink stain settled into his cheeks, then slammed a hand against the locker behind me, but I didn’t flinch. “Watch it, Winters. Or everyone will see me put you in your place.”
“And what place is that, Jackass?” I taunted, giving in to this game we played to throw everyone off the truth.
Arousal hung like thick steam between us, and I grinned, wanting him to lose it on me right here. The muscle in his jaw ticked wildly, and I hoped he was thinking the same as me: my place was on my knees.
A few students gasped and turned their attention fully on us, not even trying to watch covertly any longer. I didn’t care. They could stare and still never see. The fire in his glare wasn’t a rival renewed. It wasn’t a misunderstanding to launch another battle. That fire burned away the pretense, our surroundings, all the shit that didn’t belong with us. That fire ignited my soul and electrified my nerve endings.
I curled my fingers into tight fists to keep them from grabbing his hips and pulling them against mine. He did that. He could get me hot and desperate like a dog in heat, rutting against any part of him he’d let me touch.
He leaned in, closer, closer, our chests touching as we breathed each other in, and then his mouth was next to my ear. “It’s your ass that’s getting wrecked next, Princess.”
I gritted my teeth, willing my instant erection to calm down. It didn’t work, ever. Not with his spicy cologne filling my lungs or his body heat making sweat pop across my skin.
I shoved him away, using that distraction to adjust myself. “All fuckin’ talk.”
He stumbled, tossing me that evil grin that would’ve infuriated me at the beginning of the year. “We’ll see,” he said as he righted himself and turned to leave.
His swagger was all confidence and sensuality. I licked my lips, wishing I could’ve done the same to his instead. Desire cooled in my cheeks but not in my veins. Fuck, how I wanted him. In all ways. If Jack was the only good thing this life would give, then I’d still come out with a win.
“You have some nerve, Calvin Winters.”
I shook out of my blissful daydreams and turned. Sasha. Jesus, she was fucking short. I towered over her but did my best to grow taller and broader to back her down from whatever had her pissed now. Jack had been right. I didn’t deserve to take her shit, and I wouldn’t any longer. She wouldn’t do anything stupid with so many students around anyway.
