“Just dealing with my divorce lawyer. That woman is trying to take half of everything I’m worth!”
“I’m pretty sure that’s usually how divorce works,” I muse.
“Did you do anything shady during your marriage that she could use against you?” Elijah asks. “Or that you could get caught for?”
“And that, my friends, is why neither of you will ever get married.” Jared smirks. I crumple up a bar napkin and toss it at him. He holds up his hands in defense. “It’s been what? Three months since you’ve even been on a date?”
“Four,” I grumble.
“I went on a date this morning.” Elijah shrugs.
“Does it really count as a date if it’s with the one-night stand from last night?” I fire back.
“That depends.” He grins, pretending to think it over. “Do you go to third base on a first date?”
“I think we’ve established I don’t date often.”
“And that sunny disposition of yours doesn’t help,” Jared adds as the bartender drops off a basket of fries. He pops one in his mouth. “Your pessimism isn’t going to get you any dates anytime soon, and you,” he says, pointing at me with a fry. “Need to get laid.” He gestures toward Elijah. “You could probably use some abstinence.”
“You picked all that up from this short conversation?”
“No, I picked that up because you’ve both been a pain in my ass lately.”
I scoff at him as the door to the bar opens, and musical laughter reaches my ears. My heart feels like it shoots up into my throat. I look over to see that Summer has walked in with her friend from class, and they’re both laughing and clutching at each other’s arms. They make their way over to a booth near the window, and Summer wipes tears from her eyes as they sit down. An unexpected burst of jealousy hits me at the fact that someone else can make her smile like that.
Jared turns to look over his shoulder at what’s caught my attention. I see his mouth drop open a bit before he turns to me and waggles his eyebrows as he mouths, ‘wow’ at me. “Do you see those legs?”
“Yes,” I say through gritted teeth as Elijah spins to look her way. He shrugs before returning to his beer.
Jared cranes back for a second look, then snaps toward me so fast I worry he’ll break his neck. “Her face screams innocence, but that skirt and heels are telling me she issuperdirty.” He grins.
“Okay,” I say, trying to bring a stop to this. “You’re still in the middle of your divorce.”
“Exactly, what better way to get me over my five-year marriage than to getunderher?” He must see the dark look on my face because he shoots me a shit-eating grin. “Unless you want a crack at that? I’ll give you a thirty-second head start.” Jared runs a hand through his blazing red hair, trying to tame stray flyaways. Elijah opens his mouth to say something snarky, but Jared waves a hand at him. “I’m not competing with you. You always beat both of us. Once you go talk to her, neither of us has a chance.”
Elijah breaks out a smug smirk.
I grind my teeth together so hard that I’m surprised I don’t crack a molar. “That’s one of my students for this semester,” I bite out.
“I’m sorry,that’sone of your students?” Elijah asks, as if the idea of a hot schoolgirl has never crossed his mind.
Jared stares at her in disbelief. “I definitely would’ve remembered having her in one of my classes,” he says as he gives her another thorough once-over. I feel annoyance start to collect in my gut at their reactions. “Does she dress like thatevery day?”
“So far she has,” I grumble.
“That is rough,” Elijah laughs.
“Is it wrong that I’m hoping she just hasn’t gotten around to taking my class yet?” Jared asks as I chug half my beer. “Because I’dreallylike to teach her a thing or two.”
“Can we not?” I snap.
“Yeah, Jare, neither of you can offer to buy her a drink. Me on the other hand…”
“Oh, come on,” Jared snorts. He leans toward me conspiratorially, the fluorescent lights catch the spots of green in his hazel eyes, and make the freckles scattered across his pale face stand out more prominently. “You can tell me if you think she’s hot. I won’t tell anyone.” I glare at him as he continues. “It’s okay to appreciate them from a distance.”
“It definitely isn’t.”
“You do know they’re all over the age of eighteen? Most of them by nearly a decade?”
