Getting Schooled (The Wright Brothers #1)(25)

Okay. So… I dropped a reference to the book I’d been reading for Professor B’s class. The main female character, Viv, had caught her boyfriend in some wild shit on social media, and was ready to risk it all for about five minutes before she thought better of it.

After those words left my mouth, Reese stared at me for a full five seconds, lips parted, before she dropped her gaze and let out a little sigh, smoothing her dress over her legs. I didn’t even know what had compelled me to say some corny shit like that, but as I watched, a smile spread over her face. Even though she still wasn’t looking at me, and was shaking her head like she didn’t want to smile about it… mission accomplished.

She leaned forward onto the table, with her elbows propped on the laminate surface, and put her chin onto her hands. Something in the mood had shifted, yet again, and she looked up at me with those sexy big brown eyes.

“You remember that offer you made me?” she asked, and my whole damn mouth went dry.

I cleared my throat, and tried not to look like she’d snatched the wind out of my lungs with that question. I smirked. “Yeah. Why? You tryna take me up on it or something?”

“Yeah. Why not?”

Shit, she is killing me.

Almost any other night, under any other circumstances, I would already have her in my car right now after a statement like that. But on this night, she was tipsy, heartbroken, and mourning the death of her father… it wasn’t really prime time for me to follow through.

“Because,” I said, wetting my lips with my tongue. “You’re not… you’re not in any shape to be making a request like that.”

“How do you figure?”

“Come on, Reese. You’re not really yourself, right now.”

“Come on, Jason—”

“Everybody calls me Jay.”

“Jason. I hope you don’t think you’re doing some honorable thing right now – cause if you do, I’m about to tell you why that’s bullshit.”

I grinned, crossed my arms, and then sat back in my seat. “Okay. I’m listening.”

“I’m cognizant enough to consent, I’m more pissed than hurt about the mess with Grayson, and regarding my father… this is the healthiest coping I’ve done in years. But besides all of that… I’m a grown woman. I’m capable of asking for what I need, when I need it. And what I need now, is the dick down you offered me two weeks ago. Or were you just making shit up, and that’s not really something you can handle?”

I lifted an eyebrow, and then uncrossed my arms to give her a little round of applause. “Wow… that was compelling as hell, princess. But listen, Reese. I’m not one of these little nice dudes, who will take you home, wrap you up in a blanket and put you to sleep, like you really need. I’m also not going to “make love” to you. If that’s what you really want, I’m not the guy. If you’re asking me to take you home and fuck you, that’s what I’m gonna do.”

She stared at me for a few seconds and the smiled, grabbing her purse from beside her.

“Great. Let’s go.”





eight.





What the heck are you doing Reesie?

Shaking my head at my reflection, I covered my face with the cool towel one more time, making sure I was completely calm.

Completely sober.

Completely sure I wanted to do this.

The ride from Sammy’s had been quiet – I was sure Jason was mulling this over as hard as I was, because for all our shit talking, having sex with someone was a whole other level.

Especially when you end up in a relative stranger’s house.

Yeah.

That.

I’d insisted that we come to his house instead of mine. The last thing I wanted was to have sex in a place where Gray had been, where I’d been with him. Obviously I’d cleaned since the last time we were together, but just knowing that he’d been there at all made me want to scrub everything top to bottom, with bleach. That would happen before I even slept there again, so there definitely wasn’t going to be any intimacy.

Not to mention, the memories. Gray and I used to have fun, and that was reflected in pictures on my dresser and mementos from things we’d done together. I didn’t want to be anywhere near any of that.

So to Jason’s place we came, with him driving.

I’d excused myself to the bathroom as soon as we got here, to see what I looked like after a bar fight, several drinks, and a ridiculous amount of crying. It wasn’t good. I washed my face, dug a little miniature of mouthwash out of my purse to freshen my breath, and unpinned my braids to let them fall around my face. I used the bathroom, utilized my little packet of wipes to make sure everything was extra fresh, even though I’d showered right before I left my house. Went back and forth about it, and then decided to take my panties off and stash them in my purse. After I little debate, I took my strapless bra off too.

I was thinking about this too hard. Did men even care if you were extra fresh and pretty when they took you home from a BBQ joint?

I laughed at myself, and then unlocked the bathroom door and pulled it open. I’d left Jason in the kitchen of the open-concept house, but he was nowhere to be seen now. I pulled the bathroom door closed behind me, and he must have heard it, because suddenly he was calling out to me from somewhere in the house.