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Nothing more.
With no other options, I cross the room and settle on the edge of the mattress.
This is ridiculous.
Why am I here?
The guy is intent on ignoring me.
I pull out my phone and check the time.
Now we’re down to thirty-five minutes.
Well…whatever.
If Austin wants to waste his tutoring time by working out, that’s fine with me. The less we interact, the better off we’ll be. As soon as school is released for the day, I’m out of here. No one can say that I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain. And that’s all that matters.
My gaze reluctantly drifts to Austin before licking over his sculpted muscles. It’s crazy how buff this guy is. He must spend hours a day working out in addition to football practice.
Jasper plays the same sport but looks nothing like him.
This is the first time I’ve been in Austin’s presence, and he’s made a point of ignoring me. Normally, when we’re near one another, even in passing, his gaze is firmly locked on mine. It’s obvious that he holds me responsible for what happened Saturday night. If he’d just give me a chance, I’d explain that I had nothing to do with it. I was as shocked and appalled by how Jasper humiliated him in front of the school.
My ex played both of us.
I should have realized something was up by his abrupt change in behavior, but I was too relieved by his agreement to break up amicably to inspect his motivations more thoroughly. Now, I’m paying the price.
I glance at Austin.
We both are.
My mind tumbles back to the night he pulled up alongside me on the road. That was the first time we’d delved beneath the surface and really got to know one another. If there was any chance for us to move forward with a relationship, it’s been blown to smithereens.
Austin Hawthorne despises me.
And I can’t blame him for it.
I snap back to the present when he sets the weights on the floor and rips off his headphones, tossing them onto the nightstand next to the bed.
His cheeks have a slight pink stain to them, and his breathing is labored. Intensity fills his eyes as his attention locks on me. That’s all it takes for a punch of arousal to hit me square in the gut.
“I need to hop in the shower.”
I jerk to my feet. “That’s fine. I’m going to take off. There’s no point in me sitting here and wasting more time.”
It’s obvious from the past ten minutes that he has no interest in working together. I’ll talk to our teacher tomorrow morning and see if there’s another student who can tutor him.
“I’ll be back in five minutes and then we’ll get to work.”
Before I can argue, he disappears inside the private bathroom attached to his room. When he doesn’t bother closing the door as he strips and steps inside the shower stall, I spin away so I won’t be tempted to take a peek.
It’s like he’s doing everything in his power to make me squirm.
My gaze slides over the sparseness of the room before I gravitate to the antique dresser. There are three framed photographs interspersed with a handful of trophies on the polished-to-a-high shine surface. The first picture is of him, Summer, and his parents.
If I had to guess, I’d say this was snapped a year or two ago. He’s not as well-defined as he is now. They’re all wearing summery clothes while posing with a lake in the background. After studying it for a handful of seconds, I set the frame down and move on to the next one.
It’s a picture of Austin in his football uniform. There are dark smudges beneath each eye and his shoulders look ridiculously broad with the thick pads beneath the black and red jersey. He’s grinning at the camera with a trophy raised in one hand. Unable to help myself, I drag a finger across the glass, as if it’s possible to touch him in this happy moment.
