* * *
“I slept with Jonah.”
I didn’t tell her that I already knew. That Jonah had already told me that morning with a big dreamy grin on his face.
“I hope he made you happy.” If he hadn’t, I’d make sure we weren’t on the same teams at rugby practice tonight so I could tackle him extra hard. Fuck it, I’d do that anyway.
She smiled, then giggled. “Yeah. You know, it was the first…”
“I know. You did tell him?”
She nodded. “He knew. I thought when I first met him that he’d be a total dick. I knew he’d slept with a load of girls already and I wasn’t his usual type…”
“Because you actually have a brain which you use.”
“Well…” She waved her hand to dismiss the compliment. “I thought he’d be a twat about it, about me not being experienced but he wasn’t. I didn’t think he’d be like he was.”
She was beet red by now. I passed her some sugar for her coffee, figuring she probably needed the energy.
“Did he make you come?”
She went redder.
“Seriously? He had specific instructions…” I raised a brow, gave a half smile, drank my coffee.
She nodded. It was sweet.
“Good. He’s set his baseline. Each time has to get better.”
“How would you know? You never sleep with the same girl twice!”
“That’s a lie. No more than three separate occasions and never consecutive.”
“How many people have you slept with, Callum?”
“I don’t know. I don’t keep a tally, only bastards do that.”
“Nicola Strauss in my hall was talking about you at breakfast a couple of days ago.”
I rolled my eyes.
“She said you’d turned her down.”
I was surprised. I’d have thought she would told everyone we’d fucked.
“I did.”
“Why?”
Because my father had spoken to me, even though it was Marie who had called, like always. He’d tried to be interested in my course, tried to sound excited about me coming home for the next set of holidays, tried to talk to me. It was the fact he’d tried.
And I had no idea how to try back.
“Wasn’t in the mood.”
She sat back, crossed her arms, looked fucking puzzled as shit. “Why?”
I shrugged. Drank more coffee.
