Bad Rep (Bad Rep, #1)(16)

“Yeah, I contemplated serious bodily harm once I found out, trust me.”  I took another drag from my cigarette and exhaled, watching the smoke plume out in a thick cloud.  “And you don't even know the worst part,” I continued.  Riley watched me, waiting.

“His girlfriend is Olivia Peer,” I told her.  Riley's eyebrows drew together as she tried to place the name.  “You know, the president of Chi Delta?”  Recognition registered and her eyes widened in surprise.

“You are shitting me?!” she breathed out.

I shook my head as I leaned over to stub out my cigarette.  I flicked the butt over the banister of the balcony.  I propped my feet on the wrought iron and leaned back in the chair.  “Yeah, I couldn't have been more surprised than if he had told me he was gay.”  Riley, who had been leaning back in her own chair on two legs, slammed back down onto the ground.

“So he at least came clean, right?  I mean he told you he had a girlfriend?” she asked.

“Nope.” I let my mouth pop around the word.  “I found out from one of my sisters.  Vivian told me he and Liv have been dating for like three years or something.  I knew he looked familiar, but I just assumed it was because he was a Pi Sig and I had seen him at parties or something.  But now that I think about it, I have heard his name mentioned a lot.  I can't believe I was such an idiot. Of course a guy like Jordan Levitt would be with a girl like Olivia Peer.  They're both beautiful, popular, and f*cking perfect.  They make sense,” I said a little depressed.

Riley swatted my arm.  “Stop with the self-hating bullshit.  You aren't some fugly social reject.  You're hot and popular and all that other trite crap as well.  Olivia ain't got nothin' on you, babe.”  I grinned at my best friend, appreciating her efforts to perk me up.

“Love you, Riley,” I said, blowing her a kiss.

“Back at ya, chica.  But seriously, I want to kick his ass.  That was a total dick move.  Asking you out while he was taken.  What a dog.  But do you see why I told you to stay away from guys you work with?  Because now it'll be weird.”

I stood up and opened the sliding door.  Riley followed me inside.  “No it won't.  Because I barely know the guy.  There's no sense in getting all worked up over someone I just met.  At least I know it's not going anywhere.  Now we can just be friends.  No drama.”

“Who can you just be friends with?” Eli asked from the hallway, his voice husky from sleep. I whipped around to see him ambling into the living room, pulling his shirt over his head.

Riley smirked and went back to her room, leaving me with a barely functioning Eli.  He sat on the couch and pulled on his Doc Martens, tucking the laces inside.  Which for some reason I found really annoying all of the sudden.  I mean, how lazy do you have to be to not take the extra two seconds it takes to tie them?

I found myself glaring at his shoes and had to snap myself out of it.  “Uh, nothing.  No one.  Just some guy at work.” I replied in what I hoped was a blase attitude.  Eli zipped up his jeans and left the button undone and I could see the dark hair trailing from his belly button and disappearing into his pants.  Normally I would have found that hot.  This morning I just found that he looked sloppy and unkempt.  Nothing like the sexy deliciousness of Jordan Levitt.

Crap.  Snap out of it!  Eli pulled on my hand and I ended up in his lap on the couch.  He wrapped his arms around my waist and started sucking on the skin at my neck.  I pulled away.  “If you give me a hickey, I'll kill you,” I warned and Eli chuckled.

“You've never minded it before,”he said as he tugged the collar of my shirt down so he could lick the cleft between my breasts.

I felt the familiar stirring between my legs and then just as suddenly as it came, Jordan's face flashed in my mind and it was like throwing a bucket of cold water on my libido.  I slithered off of Eli's lap and plopped down beside him.  Eli reached over and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.  “Sorry for my less than stellar performance last night.  I was f*cking wasted.  I didn't even make you come.  That's unforgivable,” Eli murmured as he worked his fingers under the elastic of my shorts.

Normally, I loved Eli's sexual candor.  But now, with another boy on my mind, it just made me feel uncomfortable.  I barked out a fake sounding laugh and wiggled out from underneath his hand.  “That's okay, baby.  You needed to sleep.”  Eli looked at me strangely but didn't comment on the way I kept trying to dodge his touch.  We both knew it was unusual for me to stop him once he got started.  But I just wasn't in the mood and he'd have to deal with it.

“Yeah, thanks for letting me stay the night.  I enjoyed sleeping next to you.” His heavy lidded eyes smoldered at me and I had to blink in surprise.  Eli was anything but a romantic.  So his sweet sentiment threw me.

Eli leaned over and kissed me softly on the lips.  “You're beautiful first thing in the morning.  I think I could get used to that,” he whispered as he attempted to deepen the kiss.  This is what I had wanted him to say since we had started hooking up.  But now it just left me feeling cold.