Getting Schooled (The Wright Brothers #1)(29)

We were two days past the anniversary of my father’s death, and while I still wasn’t feeling exactly myself, I was better than usual. The pain numbed a little more with each passing year, but it still hurt. This year, my recovery time was probably connected to the fact that I hadn’t drunk myself into a stupor or drugged myself to sleep with prescription pills, which was how I’d spent the first years. I was trying to do better though. Natural methods to get to sleep when I had trouble, and distraction instead of self-medicating.

But whether or not a one-night stand was a “healthier” coping method was pretty damned subjective.

“Good,” Devyn said, nodding as she patted my hand. “You know I laughed my ass off when E told me what you did at Refill, right?”

I shook my head. “I’m so not proud of that moment.”

“Girl why? Cause I sure the hell am.”

Devyn broke into another peal of laughter, and before long, I joined in. I was still laughing when I felt eyes on me, and glanced up.

My gaze fell right on Jason’s.

I fought the urge to look away, and instead let my lips spread into a little smile. He was across the store, standing with an older man I recognized as the owner of the store, and another man who was a little shorter and slimmer than him Jason, but sexy too.

Jason lifted his chin at me in a subtle acknowledgement, and then turned back to his conversation. I finally dropped my gaze, only to find Devyn looking at me with a huge grin.

“Is that Sgt. Wright?” she whispered, stealing a glance at the three men.

“In the olive shirt? Yeah.”

Damn why did that color have to look so good on his skin?

He was in a deep green Henley that clung to his chest and stomach, with the sleeves pushed neatly up to his elbows. Dark jeans slung low on his hips, perfectly worn leather boots… I eased my braids over my chest, trying to hide my rising nipples.

“Girl…”

I looked back to Devyn. “What?”

She grinned. “That’s it. That’s the only word I can find.”

“Trust me,” I said, shaking my head. “I get it.”

The group of men began to move, heading toward the back of the store. As they passed, I felt his eyes on me again, and looked up. He slowed down, watching me, and I cocked an eyebrow at him before me I rolled my eyes, wrinkling my nose at him. He shook his head, then shot me a wink as a sexy smirk spread over his lips.

My stomach clenched, and I squeezed my thighs together as I looked away. When he was gone, Devyn stood up, laughing as she reached for my hand to help me.

“Now,” she teased, “After I just saw you react to him like that… Don’t you dare tell me another lie about how you aren’t sleeping with him again. I know a challenge when I see it.”





Nine – Jay



F*ck Up Some Commas blasted through my earbuds as I lifted the weight over my chest one last time. I took a breath, then racked the barbell, sitting up to nod my head at the gym employee spotting for me, before he moved on to another patron. I was done, and my muscles were exhausted.

Too bad it wasn’t time to go home.

After my shower, it would be time to head to campus. I was beyond glad that once I finished this year, I’d be the proud owner of a shiny new mechanical engineering degree, with a focus on automotives. I wasn’t gaining any new knowledge in the classes that actually related to my degree – just confirming what I’d already learned in the army. But, the internships I’d found in the field – at least the ones that led to the good jobs - wanted you to have the piece of paper, so the next thirty credit hours would find me at BSU.

I took my time cleaning off the weight bench, since nobody was waiting for it. Even though I had somewhere to be, I had to walk through the cardio area to get back to the showers, and I wasn’t looking forward to that shit at all.

I made a mental note to get myself a weight set for home, sooner than later.

When I couldn’t put it off anymore, I pulled out my phone, tugging the cord to my earbuds from its secure spot under my shirt. I hooked them up again, but nothing was playing. I just had the phone out, hoping that the sight of it would make these women leave me the fuck alone.

Apparently, I didn’t have that kind of luck.

As I approached the area that housed the spin classes and didn’t see the normal crowd outside, I got excited. Hell yeah, they’re already gone, I thought. Unfortunately for me, that wasn’t the case. The door swung open as I approached, and about thirty women came streaming out. I didn’t stop moving, but I saw them so they definitely saw me, and about two seconds later, it started.

“Jaaay!”

“Awww!”

“I so admire your strength!”

“Do you need anything? Anything?”

Plenty of men would have loved this type of attention, but I wasn’t one of them. It was one thing for women to flock because they thought I was attractive – it was a whole other thing for me to get this attention out of pity.

The sympathetic looks made me sick to my stomach, and the sympathy pussy was even worse. I hadn’t even really dated in the time I’d had my prosthetic, because every time a woman found out about it, she wanted to “help” me, and “take care” of me, instead of just treating me like a regular ass human being. Obviously, that wasn’t counting the ones who were freaked out by it, as it if I were contagious, or an invalid, or… shit, some type of alien controlling a life-sized human doll.