I hadn’t seen him without a shirt, but even hidden away, his shoulders were rounded, meaty. The material was loose at his torso and narrow hips. And I already had the vision of his legs in his uniform that wouldn’t go away. Yeah, Jack had nice legs. Long and muscular—
“You’re doing it again.”
I jolted and snapped around to my right. Asher stood a few inches shorter than me with an all-too-knowing grin spreading on his face. He didn’t smile often, preferring to be all emo with Jamie, but he certainly was now.
“You don’t know shit,” I muttered, trying to play it off, butnot, apparently.
“Yeah, I think I do.” Asher shrugged and scanned around us, giving me a break from his obnoxiously piercing gaze. “My cousin Trev plays soccer with the twins. Did you know?”
I shook my head. “How many cousins do you have, man?”
Asher snorted a laugh. “Hell if I know. I swear every year Momma introduces me to more of ’em.”
“Well, that’s cool. Trev any good?”
“Nah.” He turned on his heels to fully face me. “Wasn’t my point, though. I’ve been to a few soccer games and practices because of Trev. I probably don’t know the twins any more than anyone else, but I’m a people watcher, you know? I think that’sbecause of my siblings.” He chuckled. “I swear they multiply like my cousins.”
“Your point, Asher?”
“Right, my point. I notice things.” He kept his voice low and his features nondescript as he said, “It’s really okay, you know? You glaring at him like that.” He smirked, holding my gaze. “He’s doing it again too.”
Uh, come again?
My mind sputtered as I replayed those words. Asher moved to Jamie’s side, but I stared after him, trying to make his comment mean something else and begging it not to in the same breath.
He was … Jack was …
Don’t look.Don’t look.
I looked.
Across the crackling flames flicking sparks into the sky stood the guy who’d taken over parts of my brain I’d likely never regain. He wouldn’t tell me what he wanted with them, what he’d do with them, but he controlled them nonetheless.
Jack stared. Arms by his side, face tilted down enough he had to peek through his long bangs.
I didn’t move, didn’t turn away, didn’t breathe. What did his eyes say? What did I want to hear? The air around me grew hot, and as much as I wanted to back away from the fire, from the heat of Jack’s gaze, I couldn’t. He had me trapped, frozen in the unknown of what this was, what I wanted this to be.
His attention wasn’t unwanted or uncomfortable. My mind couldn’t put together any words of hate to throw at him, but it also couldn’t decide what it wanted, what this next step should be.
A nip of pain, like a needle poking the inside of my bicep, interrupted thoughts running through my mind faster than falling sand.
Instinctively, I pulled my arm tightly into my side to protect it as I muttered, “Ow.”
“Well, I tried to get your attention, and you ignored me,” Sasha said from beside me.
“Didn’t mean you had to pinch the tar outta me.” Jack’s mouth thinned into a tight line before he turned away, and onlythendid I bow my head to Sasha. “What do you want?”
Her expression changed with a slow blink from irritated to flirty. “You ready to go, babe?”
“Yeah,” I choked out. I needed to get away, gain some distance and sort this shit out.
Sasha led the way to my truck, and it wasn’t until she smoothed her hand up my leg that I noticed how eager she was for this. She wanted to hook up. My dick thickened as she rubbed across it, confused and running on fumes from staring at a certain someone all night. I moved her hand, lying to her that it would be unsafe to get distracted while driving when I just wanted to tell her no.
“Daddy’s church,” Sasha purred. She loved getting a little dirty at church, and I couldn’t say why I pulled into the darkened lot behind the small chapel. Habit? Submission? Someone was giving me direction, and I was sorely in need of being told what the hell was going on with me.
Jackaddict? Really? Away from his pull, I wasn’t so sure.
As soon as I engaged the emergency brake, Sasha launched at me, raking her nails into my hair as she smacked her soft lips on mine.
