I use my body to stop Jenni’s quick strides down the street. “Just give me five minutes.”
When she tries to sidestep me, I block her path again. Her angry eyes lift to glare into mine.
Such a firecracker.
“I don’t date players.” Her voice is sterner than her little stature should be able to pull off.
“I know that, but I thought we had fun the other weekend?”
Incapable of harnessing my desires for a second longer, I rake my eyes down her body. This girl is a chameleon. She adapts her outfits to her surroundings. Today she's wearing a pair of ripped jeans, white Van shoes, and a one-shoulder, loose-flowing crochet shirt with a tight white cami underneath. She's full on casual, yet she’s still as hot as hell.
Noticing my prolonged gawk, Jenni’s brow arches high into her hairline. I smile at her. I was perving, so there’s no use lying. She has a nice body I can’t help but look at. Sue me.
“Your band has a song dedicated to how much of a player you are.”
It takes a shit ton of effort not to throw my fist into the air.I fucking love that song. Noah was stirring shit when he wrote it, but it's one of those songs that once you hear it, you can’t forget it. I was ecstatic when the band added it to our playlist a few months ago. Our fans love it, and before Noah hooked up with Emily, he benefited from it just as much as I did.
Unhappy with my lack of remorse, Jenni rolls her eyes as her lips curve into a ghost-like grin. It isn’t her knockout smile, but I’ll take any she's willing to give.
“You’re unbelievable.” She skirts past me then marches down the street.
I throw my hands in the air. “I’m more than happy to show you howtrulyunbelievable I am.”
Several locals stop what they’re doing to gawk at me. They’re not the only attention I’m gaining, though. Jenni has pivoted to face me. She’s still walking, just pacing backward. “Better luck next time.”
Stealing my chance to reply, she darts across the street and curls into her blue BMW. Now she’s wearing her knockout smile.
Jenni - 2
Me - a big fat 0.
A dismal score won’t stop me. She can pretend all she likes that she doesn’t want me, but I know that’s part of the game. Anytime you tell someone they can’t have something, they want it even more. It’s physics—or some shit like that.
Once Jenni’s car is no longer in my vision, I hotfoot it back to my truck. My teeth grit when I find a parking attendant in the process of giving me a ticket. “I was gone for like two minutes.”
I snatch the ticket off my windshield before pivoting to face the balding, middle-aged douchebag. He’s not the least bit concerned by my anger. He seems pleased. Shrugging, he mumbles something under his breath about my brother not owning this town before climbing into his dated sedan and taking off in the direction Jenni just went.
After scrunching up my ticket, I throw it on the floor of my truck, hop into the driver’s seat, then reverse out of the parking lot. Getting inside Jenni’s panties will be worth a one hundred and eighty dollar fine. She might even be worth double that.
* * *
Halfway back to Ravenshoe, my cell phone rings. You can imagine my surprise when I peer down at the screen and see Slater is calling me. I’m as stunned as fuck.
Shrugging off my confusion, I hit the call button then press my phone to my ear. “Hey, I’m heading to rehearsal now.”
My confusion doubles when I notice the time on the clock in my car radio. I still have an hour before I need to be at practice, so why is he calling me?
Some of my confusion eases when Slater snarls, “Practice has been canceled, fuckface,” but it does little to subdue my worry. The only time the band has canceled a rehearsal the past three years was when Noah’s brother committed suicide. That can mean only one thing: something is going down.
“Is everything alright?” I ask, talking through cotton-mouth.
Slater exhales deeply. “Not that you’d care, but Jacob is in some deep shit. He went and beat some guy nearly to death with his bare hands. Noah is getting him a lawyer, but it doesn’t look good for Jakeyboy.”
Not giving me a chance to reply, he disconnects the call.
I don’t know what’s more shocking: the fact Slater called me, or that Jacob has been arrested. Jacob is huge bitch, but he’s a teddy bear. I didn’t think he had an angry bone in his body.
* * *
