Page 63 of Fundamentals of Chemistry

“Hi, Alan,” I said as casually as I could in spite of my face burning.

“Dude, get out of here!” Jack said, and I had to agree.

“Right. Yeah. Carry on! Forget I was here!”

The door closed with a bang as Alan abruptly departed, leaving on the blinding overhead lights. At least the sounds of the dance music were suddenly muffled again.

Jack dropped his head to his hand before glancing over to me. “Fucking Alan… I’m so sorry about that.”

I bit back a smile. This whole situation couldn’t have been more ridiculous if we had planned it. “He’s a good friend,” I said. “He was probably just wondering where you disappeared to.”

“He’s a fucking terrible friend,” Jack countered, shooting me a half smile. “Though now that I think about it, I was supposed to bring him a drink refill. I guess that makes me the terrible friend.”

He looked absolutely stunning on his knees next to me. His lips were red and puffy from our kisses, and his chest was flushed and glistening with a thin sheen of sweat. A peek down at his jeans revealed a telltale bulge that belied what we had just been caught doing more than anything else.

I glanced down at my similarly debauched state and couldn’t help but giggle. This was beyond ill-advised. This had been downright reckless. But somehow, I couldn’t find it within myself to be upset. The interruption hadn’t changed anything for me. The question was whether Jack had come to his senses in the harsh, fluorescent light.

Jack groaned and swiped a hand down his face again. “I should go talk to him,” he said, sounding like he’d rather do anything else.

A rock fell into my stomach. His fingers were probably still wet, and he was already regretting this.

“Probably,” I agreed, pulling on my shirt. “We wouldn’t want him to say anything to anyone.”

I got to my feet and buttoned up my jeans. My hair was a wreck from Jack’s roving hands, so I tied it back in a ponytail until I could brush out the tangles. I didn’t even want to consider what my makeup looked like. I was going to have to go straight back to my apartment before anyone saw me like this.

Jack, on the other hand, looked perfectly put together in no time at all. The only indication that he had just been rolling around the wrestling room was a healthy flush to his cheeks.

He paused with my hand on the door and looked back at me. “I’m sorry—”

Righteous indignation flared inside me. How dare he apologize like this was some kind of mistake? We were two, consenting adults and had done nothing wrong, though, admittedly, our choice of location could have been better.

“Well, I’m not,” I said. “I’m glad—”

“No,” he interrupted. “I’m sorry we had to stop before you came. I owe you an orgasm.”

My mouth opened into an O as he stepped into the hall and the door fell closed.

Chapter 20

Just One Night

The padded walls dampened the bang as the door closed behind Jack. I sat down on the squishy floor to collect myself before leaving. I needed a moment. My brain and body were swimming in dopamine, oxytocin, and latent adrenaline. And my poor lady bits… disappointment was the prevailing feeling south of my belly button.

I collected the two empty cups that we had dropped at the beginning of our little tryst. I twisted them by their plastic stems while my brain tried to reconcile what had just almost happened.

Alan’s interruption had been completely unwelcome, but it was for the best. Hooking up in a field house full of students, staff, and parents was complete insanity. Anyone could have found us. Frankly, we were lucky it had only been Alan.

That and… I really didn’t want to have sex on a high school wrestling mat. No amount of bleach could remove the years of teenage-boy sweat that had likely penetrated every molecule of the foam.

Abruptly, I stood up, wiping my palms on my jeans as if that might remove the cooties.

No. It would be better if—on the off chance anything ever did happen—we were somewhere private, and, arguably, in a bed. We were adults, too old to be sneaking around like teenagers.

But now, under the harsh fluorescent lights, I was faced with the stark reality that if we started up again, it would be a deliberate choice and not just because we were caught up in the moment.

Is that what I wanted? Did I want to make that choice? To cross that line?

The answer came to me without a moment’s hesitation. Yes. I did.