“As I thought.”
He looked at me with his head tilted to one side, as if he wanted to plant his deep eyes inside me, inside my soul, and god, he intimidated me. I didn’t talk. I restricted myself to grabbing the towel and wrapping it around my waist again. I made sure to cover my stomach again since I didn’t have his or Jackson’s abs.
But the thought of the two of them right there together deceived me, and James took advantage of that immediately.
“Blaze, Blaze, the effect I have on you—devastating.” Damn it, he’d noticed. He smiled cunningly. My heartbeat started racing like a train about to derail.
“But other than your crazy hormones, how is the old man? Did he stop playing detective?”
“You should stop, James,” I ordered him seriously.
His lips grazed against mine again, but this time James didn’t beat around the bush like he usually did. I had to fight with everything I had not to stick my tongue into his mouth. I hated when he behaved like this. But who was I kidding? He was irresistible. I wanted him to kiss me. Again.
I wanted him to maybe be nice, unlike Jackson. Like that time he saved my life.
“Think again about what I said, Blaze. Especially since you owe me, right?” No, even he didn’t forget about it.
34
June
I loved the sensation that enveloped me when I left the bathroom after a warm shower. I brushed my wet hair and thought about Tiffany again. It felt good; I couldn’t deny that.
Tiffany was so beautiful that sometimes I wanted to be like her. Not to have a perfect appearance, but to feel the thrill of feeling sure of myself at least once in my life. But then in bed with James I felt so weird. I went back to Jordan’s words.
I didn’t know anything about James.
Up until a month ago, he was nothing more than the class jerk in my eyes, but now that description didn’t hold up anymore. He was still the guy who threw wild parties, who switched who he was with three times a night, sold drugs at school, loved to get in fights and take part in illegal races—basically everything I’d always hated. But then? Jordan’s words broke my heart. I wanted to find out more.
James often talked a lot, but rarely about himself.
“June, move it!”
My mom was already going on the offense; she was doing nothing but taking out her irritability on my poor bedroom door. I put on the white shirt and pleated skirt she’d picked out for me and, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I looked like I was ready to go to church. I decided to take off the shirt and put on a supernormal white T-shirt. I went downstairs and withdrew into a corner. After a few hours, the living room of my house had turned into a haunt for old ladies with weird hair and guys with differently shaped glasses.
When James and Jasper arrived, I noticed them right away.
“June Madeline White!”
My mom shouted at me because she’d just seen me bite into a pastry. Obviously her reprimand didn’t go unnoticed. Jasper immediately covered his mouth to snicker.
“Do you think you can sneak into the kitchen to raid the trays they’re going to serve at the reception?”
“Mom, don’t call me by my full name!” Especially not in front of these two.
“Get away from the food, please, and keep your hands to yourself!” She reprimanded me with a glare before turning back to her friends, smiling and syrupy sweet.
Her face suddenly changed, like someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
“I think Madeline hides vibrators under the bed, Jas.”
James’s voice made me roll my eyes, but when my eyes went to him, all my neurons wavered. He was wearing a white shirt and a pair of dark pants. The tight-fitting fabric emphasized the athletic figure of his statuesque body, once again reminding me that he was the picture of perfection. The problem was that he wasn’t just hot, he was a mind reader.
“If you find me irresistible, you can tell me out loud, Madeline White.” He bit his lip, overwhelming me with his midnight-blue eyes.
“Yeah, look, I’m fatally attracted to the still life in front of me.”
James didn’t dignify that with an answer, but his eyes moved along my whole my body. That was enough to shut me up.
