Page 37 of The Jack*ss in Class

I froze. Every muscle locked up as she curled into me, her head tucking perfectly under my chin, her lush ass filling my lap perfectly.

“Tempest?”

“Shh.” She pressed her face into my chest. “M’comfortable.”

Jesus Christ.

My arms moved without my permission, wrapping around her. She was soft and warm and felt so damn right against me that my chest physically ached.

“Fuck,” I breathed, more to myself than to her. “I needed this.”

She hummed something that might have been agreement, her fingers curling into my shirt.

The room had gone suspiciously quiet. I looked up to find at least six phones pointed our way, and both Hannah and Alice wearing identical knowing grins.

“Don’t you dare,” I mouthed at them.

Parker just wiggled her phone at me and mouthed back, “Blackmail material.”

Great. She was totally going to blame me for this.

But Tempest shifted against me, making this little contented noise, and I couldn’t bring myself to care. Let them take their pictures. Let them spread their rumors. Right now, all that mattered was the girl in my arms and the way something in my chest had finally settled, like a key clicking into a lock I hadn’t known was there.

“You smell good,” she mumbled into my shirt. “Like... like my hero would smell.”

“Your what?”

But she was already pushing herself up, her eyes wide. “I think... I need air.”

That was my cue. Time to move this to the back porch before I had a vastly different kind of mess on my hands.

“Tempest.” I ducked my head to meet her eyes, which had gone slightly unfocused. “Let me get you some water.”

“Let me get you some water,” she mimicked, thenimmediately pressed a hand to her mouth. “Oh. That wasn’t nice. Guess I’m a mean drunk. But at least I’m not a bully like you...”

Bully?

Fuck me. Did she really think I was a bully? I thought we were having fun poking at each other.

Double fuck.

She trailed off, her face going pale, and I knew that look. I’d seen it on enough rookie partiers.

“Okay, time to get you that air.” I wrapped an arm around her waist, guiding her toward the back door. To her sisters, I added, “I’ve got her.”

Hannah, wait, right, got it now, definitely Hannah this time, gave me a look that promised creative dismemberment if I screwed this up. Tempest’s roommate, Parker, gave me two thumbs up and a smile, but then she narrowed her eyes and flashed the two finger I’m-watching-you signal. I respected that. These girls looked after their own.

The back porch was mercifully empty. Tempest pulled away, yanking her arm from my hold, but then promptly slid down to the ground and pressed her forehead to the glass of the sliding door.

“The world’s spinny,” she muttered.

“That tends to happen when you try to drink an entire spring break’s worth of alcohol." I sat next to her, close enough to catch her if she toppled over, but not so close that she’d feel crowded. “Want to tell me what that was about?”

“You,” she poked me in the chest, “left. With sexy Sasha.”

She lifted her head to glare at me, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the way she had to squint to focus. “Which is fine. You can leave with whoever you want. I don’t care.”

She very clearly cared. And if she were in better shape, I’d be fucking delighted.

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