“I think it’s interesting,” I correct, my tone sharp. “You two used to stay in your lane. Mind your own fucking business.”
“That was before you got Lola involved.”
Her name lands differently when he says it.
Reece closes the distance, getting right in my face. “You think she’s just another fucking conquest.”
The word conquest churns my stomach, it makes me feel sick. I bury it fast.
“Relax,” I say, shrugging it off. “I fucked her. She’s fine. The world didn’t implode.”
The second it’s out, I want to claw the words back in. Swallow them whole. Bury them somewhere they can’t do damage.
Too late.
Reece’s jaw clenches so tightly I can hear his teeth grinding. Noah’s fists curl at his sides, ready to fight.
I lean in, lowering my voice enough to ensure they hear every word. “Don’t act like you two are fucking saints. You spent years pulling the same shit.”
“Yeah, but Lola deserves so much better than you,” Noah says, his tone flat and final.
That one cuts deeper than I want to admit. I force a cocky smirk anyway, refusing to let them see the crack.
“Didn’t realize her pussy came with bodyguards.”
Reece shakes his head, disgust written all over his face. “You’re a piece of shit.”
Noah moves first, and for half a second I’m bracing for the hit, muscles tensing, ready for his fist to connect. But he just stops and stares at me like I’m something he scraped off his shoe.
“Stay the fuck away from her,” he says, voice dead calm. He turns and walks off, Reece falling into step beside him without a backward glance.
That familiar emptiness creeps in, wrapping around my chest as it always does. I should feel like I won, like I came out on top. Instead, I just feel like shit.
I toss the unlit cigarette aside and head back toward the school, head down, hands shoved deep in my pockets
Nicole’s voice cuts through the static in my skull. “Jace.”
I stop and glance up.
She’s standing there in her usual skimpy outfit. Her straight blond hair, perfectly in place. The skirt riding higher than the dress code permits. Eyes lined dark, hinting at the kind of trouble that used to get me off.
She’s hot. Everyone fucking knows it.
I’ve been inside her more times than I can remember. Had her mouth wrapped around my cock, her voice breathless, saying my name like it actually meant something.
It never did.
She moves closer, her fingers walking up my arm.
“Where have you been?” she purrs.
Her voice is an invitation into sin and temptation. A week ago, I would’ve had her pinned against the nearest wall before she finished that sentence. My cock would already be straining against my jeans just from the way she said my name, knowing exactly what was coming next. A quick, dirty fuck. Hell, I’ve even fucked her in her bedroom with her parents two doors down, herhand clamped over her mouth to muffle the fake moans spilling out.
Now…there’s…absolutely nothing. Because after having Bells—after one fucking night with her—she’s all I see.
Hair a mess, wild and untamed from my hands. Glasses slipping down her nose. Bottom lip caught between her teeth when she’s nervous. Standing in her kitchen, making eggs as if it was the most important thing in the world. Like I mattered.
Not some cheap fuck in a dark hallway. She is something real.
