Page 45 of His Reckless Freshman

“You’re welcome.” I smirk at him and he flips me off with a laugh, returning to his oatmeal and continuing to eat it despite the fact that it’s likely stone-cold. The girl beside him rests her empty coffee mug on the table.

“I’m gonna take off.”

“Yeah, cool.” Darian glances at her. “Thanks for a good night.”

She grins, pressing a kiss to his cheek before moving around him. She glances over her shoulder as she heads for the door, catching Mac’s eye. He winks at her again, and Darian throws him a sharp frown.

As soon as she’s outside, Mac starts to laugh. “I’m just messing with you, man. I won’t go after your girl. Even though she obviously wants me.”

Darian rolls his eyes, dropping his spoon into the bowl. It rattles as he stands tall and clarifies, “She’s not my girl. We agreed to one night of fun, that’s it. But don’t be winking at her when it’s obvious she spent the night with me.”

Mac snickers and shakes his head, walking out of the room.

I glance at Sawyer, then head for the stairs to go shower when I hear Darian say something that makes me pause.

“What’s her name again?”

“Jolie.” Charli pulls open the fridge. “Why are you asking?”

“I don’t know.” Darian’s lips curl at the edges, and my gut starts to twist. “Wonder if I should track her down and thank her personally, you know.” He looks at me and waggles his eyebrows. “She pretty?”

I don’t know how to answer him. The girl he spent the night with left less than a minute ago, and he’s already asking about Jolie?

My first instinct is to growl, “Stay the fuck away from her.” It’s such a visceral internal reaction that it takes me a second to hide it.

Darian’s eyebrows pucker, so I force a smile. “She’s a dorky little freshman. Not sure she can handle the likes of you, man.”

He starts laughing, and I wait for him to say something else, but he doesn’t.

Taking the stairs two at a time, I head up to the bathroom and start to think about the girl I spent all weekend trying to forget.

The thought of Darian making a play for her sits ugly in my chest.

I don’t want guys like him anywhere near her.

She needs protecting.

Maybe I should text her to check in. I could thank her for the article, see if she wants to meet for a decent milkshake at Eat Your Faves.

It wouldn’t be a date or anything, just two people hanging out.

Stepping under the hot spray, I soap myself down and figure there’s no harm in a casual catch-up… and while I’m there, I can warn her not to get caught by one of Darian Gomez’s flirtatious smiles.

15

JOLIE

It’s been a long day.

It should have been a triumphant day. My article was published!

But it’s felt long and stressful because I’ve been obsessing over what Ben thought of the article, what his teammates thought of it, if I’ll ever get published again, and if I even want to because I still feel awkward around Kieran.

I forced myself to the morning meeting and hunched over my pad, scribbling what looked to be notes but was basically garbage because I couldn’t focus.

You know what I really feel like doing?

I want to hide away in my room and binge-watch Bridgerton. I’m actually really getting into the show, caught up in the lives of the characters and rooting for them to find true romance. A love match.