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Look at me, I’m all buff and muscular. Whoo!
I grind my molars to dust, watching as he says something to make my mother laugh. A moment later, like the traitor she is, she reaches out and pulls him into a motherly hug, which he returns like he’s the prodigal son who’s returned home.
Steam erupts from my ears with my rising temperature.
Even my own mother isn’t immune to his charms. Then again, she never has been. Of all of my brother’s friends, she’s always had a soft spot for Jace.
I’m about to combust when Mom pulls away, wiping the moisture from her eyes. Apparently, Jace made her laugh so hard she cried, and I’m not sure what’s more annoying: The factthat he is here right now in the first place, or that my mom loves him like her own.
“Oh, there you are, honey,” Mom says once she finally stops kissing Jace’s ass to notice me standing here. “Look who came to help you move in your things. Isn’t that sweet?”
I turn my prickly gaze to Jace, who grins with the knowledge his presence annoys me. “So sweet,” I grind out.
“Cupcake,” Jace drawls in a way he knows gets under my skin, and it takes everything in me not to chuck my key at his face.
If I hit him square in the eye hard enough, he’d be forced to live out his days like a pirate.
The visual brings me joy.
Unfortunately, all the nicknames I have for him, I can’t say in front of my mother, so I just smile with murder in my eyes and press on. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? A party? Football practice? Your own apartment? A free clinic on venereal diseases?”
Jace just snorts and steps forward while my mother ignores us, as if our sparring is par for the course. And I guess it kind of is; we’ve been doing it for the past three years.
A waft of citrus and pine hits me all at once as he steps closer and reaches out to ruffle my long blonde hair like I’m a toddler. I swat him away, which only makes him laugh harder. “You’re so cute when you’re angry.”
I grunt and knife-hand his funny bone before I dance away from him, afraid of retaliation when Mom, who is completely oblivious to our feuding, smiles like this is the cutest interaction she’s ever seen. “You ready to get your stuff?”
I nod, knowing she’s on a time crunch, and make a beeline for the trunk, but Jace is quicker. He’s like Houdini as he swoops in and whips both suitcases out.
“We’ve got it,” I say, motioning for him to hand me the bags. “Mom and I can unload all of this in two trips.”
“Nope. I’m nothing if not a gentleman.” He winks at my mother who swoons predictably, then grabs my overnight bag and adds it to the mix. “Besides, I promised Teagan I’d look after you while we’re here, so that’s what I intend to do.”
Ah, yes. My ex-twin brother. I remember him well.
The moment Teagan discovered Jace was accepting a scholarship from AU to play football and still allowed me to accept early enrollment, knowing he’s my sworn enemy, he became dead to me. Okay, not literally. But I’m still pretty pissed at him, and I take every single opportunity to remind him just how much. But apparently, Jace’s presence on campus isn’t enough of a punishment. To add fuel to the fire, Teagan made Jace promise he’d watch over me.
Great!
“I’m so glad you’re here,” my mother says to Jace as I grab a plastic bin from the trunk, then slam it shut. “It’s such a comfort knowing Brynn will have a good man here like you to call on if she needs anything.”
I scoff, realizing a moment too late I did so out loud. But, seriously, Jace’s reputation in high school preceded him. Not only was he well known for his epic parties on his family’s property at Crow’s Creek, he was also known as one of the biggest players to walk the halls of Riverside High. The boy can’t even spell the word monogamous without having a good laugh. Life is one giant joke to him. He doesn’t take anything seriously. The closest he comes to commitment is football. So the idea that this man-child is the best candidate to watch out for me is laughable.
My mother shoots me a dirty look while Jace smirks and cocks a brow. Everything I do and say amuses him, apparently.
“It’s my pleasure to help your daughter,” Jace says with a straight face, like he’s a freaking Boy Scout. “I know how wildBrynn can be,” he adds, winking at me over her shoulder before the two of them break out into a fit of laughter.
Ha ha. Yeah, laugh it up.
“Yes, my dear Brynn is about as wild as a rake.”
My jaw drops as I gape at her.Roasted by my own mother.
“Hilarious,” I say dryly, as I swing open the doors to the dorms without bothering to hold them open for him. Still, he somehow manages to juggle both suitcases, my overnight bag, and still allow my mother to walk in before him. “I’ll have you know, I met my roommate briefly when I was in here, and we’ve already hit it off, we’re so much alike,” I lie. “In fact, we got onsowell, we even made plans to go to a party tonight. It’s going to be lit. Totally wild.”
Don’t oversell!
Jace eyes me like he knows I’m full of shit, but my mom beams like I just told her I’ve won a Pulitzer. “Really?Oh, that’s wonderful, sweetie,” she says, giving my arm a little squeeze. She looks as if she’s about to say something else when her phone begins to ring and she checks the screen. “Crap, that’s Betty. I have to get this.”
