3

My day didn’t get much better. Hailee was barely talking to me, and all everyone else was talking about was the Raiders upcoming game against Millington. Which meant all day his name followed me, a whisper on the wind, taunting me.

But it was fine.

I was fine.

I’d wanted to lose my v-card and I had. Okay, so I hadn’t anticipated giving it up to one of the most arrogant and conceited jerks I knew, but what was senior year if not a chance to try new things ... and then quickly regret ever going there.

Images flooded my mind as I pushed the sandwich around my plate. His hurried and needy and oh so hot kisses. His big strong hands splayed around my hip, my throat, possessive and dominant. The sting of him filling me... the almost tears.

“Flick?” Hailee narrowed her eyes at me. “Where’d you go just now?”

“Huh, I...”

“Forget it.” She went back to her fries, and guilt coiled around my heart. I hated that things were awkward between us. But she had walked in on me and Jason doing it, so I knew I had to give her time to come around. My best moment it was not.

“You know, you can go and sit with him.” I flicked my head over to where Cameron sat with the rest of the football team.

“I know. But we’re not attached at the hip. Besides, he needs this.” She glanced over at him. “After everything with his mom, he needs the team.”

“How is she?”

“Dealing the best she can. But she’s a fighter, and she really wants Cameron to focus on school and the team.”

I nodded. “So if he’s over there to bond with the team, why is it he hasn’t taken his eyes off you?” My brow arched, and Hailee fought a smile.

“He wanted me to sit with them.”

Swinging my leg over the bench, I stood up. “Come on, let’s go,” I said, prepared to take one for our team of two.

Hailee frowned. “What are you doing?”

“We’re going over there. He might need the team, but he needs you too. And to be quite honest, I can’t eat my lunch with him making moon eyes at you.”

“Flick,” she groaned, peeking over at the team. “I’m not sure...”

“Fine. I’ll go by myself.” I shrugged, grabbing my tray and moving around the table.

“Oh my god,” Hailee breathed out. “You’re serious, you’re really going to sit over—”

But her words rolled off me as I made my way over to their table. A few of the guys glanced up when I reached them.

“Fee, baby.” Asher’s eyes lit up when he noticed me. “And to what do we owe this pleasure?”

“Room for one more?”

“Oh, sweetheart,” one of the sophomore players, Joel Mackey, smirked. “You can sit right here.” He glanced down at his crotch and I rolled my eyes.

“Back the fuck up, Mackey.” Asher nudged the guy next to him and dropped his eyes to the space at his side.

Just as I went around to sit by him, Hailee approached the table. “I wondered how long it was going to take for you to give in,” I heard Cameron say to her, quietly. He swung his leg over the end of the bench and pulled her down, slipping his arms around her waist. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

I sat down, trying to look at anything but Cam brushing his lips over hers. God, they were so in love. So happy. So freaking perfect. Something inside me twisted.

“You okay over there?” Asher whispered.

“Who me?” I flashed him a warm smile. Asher was... well he was like a stray who followed you around; cute and annoying. But he’d never been anything but nice to me.

“You don’t need to do that,” he lowered his voice so that it was drowned out by the conversation going on around us. “Not with me,” he added.

“Do what?” I played dumb, ignoring the pit in my stomach.

His eyes flicked to where Jase sat. He was busy talking to one of the guys when a manicured hand slid over his shoulder. He glanced up, a sly smirk gracing his ridiculously perfect face, as Jenna Jarvis, star gymnast and head bitch of Rixon High, stared down at him with a salacious smile of her own. Without hesitation, Jase shoved his chair back slightly letting her drop onto his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and I almost gagged.

Suddenly, I felt Asher’s arm go around the back of me. My eyes slid to his in question but in true Asher style he simply grinned.

My cell phone vibrated, and I dug it out.

Hails: Are you okay?

Me: Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?

I didn’t meet her heavy gaze despite feeling it burn into the side of my face.

Hails: He’s just using her...

My eyes flicked to Jase and Jenna of their own volition.

Me: Doesn’t matter. I knew what I was doing.

You didn’t tame a guy like Jason Ford. You enjoyed whatever he was willing to give you and filed it away under ‘fun while it lasted’. Jenna knew this, all the girls at school knew this, and yet, it didn’t stop them trying to conquer him. To make him fall at their feet. And there had been many who had tried... and failed. But I didn’t bunch myself with them because I was under no illusions when it came to Jason Ford, QB One, and Rixon’s golden boy of football.

Hails: You deserve so much more xo

The xo made me smile. She might have been pissed at me for sleeping with her step-brother, but Hailee wouldn’t stay mad for long. We were ride or die, and it would take a damn sight more than some guy to ever come between us.

Me: I love you too xo

I hit send and finally looked over at her, both of us grinning. But then something caught Hailee’s eye and her face paled. I didn’t need to turn around. I already knew what I’d find. But I did it anyway. To prove to myself—and maybe her—that I was in control of this situation. That Jason was just a semi-drunk lapse in judgment.

The second my eyes landed on them—Jenna plastered against him, their lips moving, tongues licking—I knew it was all a lie though. One I kept telling myself over and over, because if you kept repeating something, it had to be true, right?

My hands shook as I pushed my tray out of the way and stood up.

“Fee?” Asher’s voice barely perforated the white noise in my head. Jason wasn’t only kissing Jenna, he was devouring her, and I was pretty sure in about ten seconds they would be fucking in the cafeteria. Sexual energy rolled off them, hitting me like a wrecking ball.

“I- I have to go,” I rushed out, trying to keep my voice even. “I forgot. I have an appointment with Miss Hampstead.”

He frowned up at me; eyes narrowing, clouded with suspicion.

“I’ll see you later, okay?” I forced a smile that I knew probably looked wrong.

“I’ll come with you,” Hailee said across the table.

“No, it’s cool.” I made myself meet her sympathetic gaze. “I’ll see you in fourth period.”

But the second I went to move I realized my mistake. To get out of the cafeteria, I’d have to walk directly by Jason and Jenna.

Crap.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed my tray and kept my head held high. I was so proud of myself for keeping it together. Only a few more steps and I’d be clear of them and their live sex show. Until something brushed the back of my leg, and I froze. My breath caught as I willed myself to calm down. It was nothing. A gust of wind from an open window maybe, or dust particles in the air. Before I could stop myself, I looked down. Dark eyes stared back at me.

Jason.

It was Jason.

He stared at me, through me, as I stood there paralyzed. Jenna was still kissing him, trailing her treacherous mouth all over his skin. Skin that less than forty-eight hours ago, I’d tasted. Skin I had been kissing.

A violent shiver rolled up my spine, my stomach churning.

Move, Felicity. Just keep walking.

Jason’s brow rose as he continued to stare at me, barely kissing Jenna back, but not stopping her either.

His intense gaze was cruel.

But then, I shouldn’t have expected anything else.

Steeling myself, I narrowed my eyes at him, lingering for a second, and then put one foot in front of the other and kept walking. Telling myself he hadn’t just ripped out my heart and stomped all over it.