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We both laughed as we walked back inside.
****
Chapter 16
Jack
I made my way toward the cafeteria, half of me wanting to find Ava and the other half hoping to avoid her. I found Nikolai, instead.
“Hey, if you’re looking for your girl, she’s with Hannah.”
“Who said she was my girl?” I snapped.
Nikolai’s head jerked back. I tipped my head back and took a breath. I needed to calm the fuck down.
“Sorry.”
He punched me in the arm and shot me a knowing look. “I know that look, you poor bastard.”
“Fuck you,” I said, and punched him back.
“You look fucking spun out.”
I shrugged, not remotely interested in dissecting this, even though I trusted Nikolai completely.
“So, she’s not your girl?” Nikolai asked dubiously.
“No. Well, kind of, but not really.”
Nikolai threw his head back and laughed. “Fuck, if that doesn’t sound familiar. Let’s grab some food.”
We got some burgers and fries and walked over to a table in the cafeteria, sitting down across from each other. “So, what’s up?”
“I’m having a casual, sexual relationship with Ava.”
Nikolai gave me a quizzical look as he took a bite of his burger. “Okay, but why does that have you fucked up? You’ve had dozens of those,” he commented after swallowing.
“Well, we haven’t exactly had sex yet, so we’ve been talking a lot, texting, shit like that. I figured that’s what a girl like Ava would need, you know? I just…I just need to get her out of my system, so I can move on. We’re hooking up tonight, so by tomorrow our…whatever this is, should be over.”
Nikolai started scratching his jaw, and for the first time in our friendship, looked hesitant to respond.
“What?”
“You’re kind of fucking me up here, Jack. Hannah and Ava are good friends, so if you fuck Ava over, I’m going to be hearing about it from Hannah.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Nik.”
Nikolai smirked. “Probably. Anyway, I don’t know why you’re bothering to pretend this isn’t going to end with you locking Ava down.”
I jerked back, unsettled that Nikolai was directly confronting me on my greatest fear. That I wouldn’t be able to let Ava go after I’d had her, that one night wouldn’t be nearly enough.
“Don’t worry about that. Anyway, I need to find her. Addison had a chat with her in chemistry, it kind of rattled her. I told her to ignore it because Addison is one of Shelby’s best friends, and she responded with ‘Who’s Shelby?’ Fucking mess,” I muttered.
“Well, that explains Ava grabbing Hannah right before lunch and pulling her outside to talk. I have a feeling you aren’t going to have to explain anything to Ava about Shelby. Hannah will probably tell her anything she needs to know.”
I dropped my head into my hands. I really wanted to be the one to control the narrative around the thing with Shelby. For the first time in my life, I was having pangs of regret over my rampant sexual behavior. I wanted to blame Shelby for whatever Addison said to Ava to piss her off, but I knew it wasn’t anyone’s fault but my own.
It all felt overwhelming to process, so I decided to distract myself by dissecting Nikolai’s love life instead.
