Page 45 of The Jack*ss in Class

Me: You watching the game?

Me: Wouldn’t want to miss the commercials. That’s the best part. Especially if they’re tear-jerkers.

And finally, the most recent.

Me: How’s our favorite four-legged friend?

No response. To any of them.

“Earth to Flynn.” Gryff elbowed me inthe ribs. “You in there?”

I pocketed my phone and tried to look interested in whatever football talk I’d missed. “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking about the draft.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie. The draft was definitely on my mind—especially since getting picked up by the Mustangs would mean staying in Denver. Staying near her.

God, what was wrong with me? I was in a VIP suite at the fucking Bowl, watching four of my brothers about to play in the biggest game of their lives, and all I could think about was whether Tempest was ignoring my texts on purpose.

“The draft?” Isak’s eyebrows shot up. “Since when do you worry about anything?”

He had a point. Fun brother didn’t worry about shit. As far as they knew. Fun times with Flynn was practically trademarked in my family. Nothing got to me. Even all the pressure that came with the captain-of-the-football-team spot I shared with Gryff hadn’t changed that. But lately...

My phone buzzed and I grabbed it so fast I nearly dropped it. Just the Sport Network app with a game notification. Damn it.

“Okay, what’s her name?” Jules appeared at my elbow, a knowing smirk on her face.

“What? There’s no—I don’t—” I stumbled over the denial, which was basically admitting guilt to my baby sister. Jules could smell relationship drama like a shark smells blood in the water.

“Uh-huh.” She grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the snack table, away from the rest of my gossipy family. “Spill.”

I busied myself loading up a plate with wings, buying time. Through the suite’s sliding windows, I could see our brothers warming up on the field. Chris was running plays with Hayes, Ev, and the offense, while Dec worked with the defense. This was what I should be focusing on. I hoped to join Dec on the field next season.

“Flynn.” Jules’s voice had that same stern tone Mom used to use when she caught us in a lie. God, she reminded me of her. “You’ve checked your phone seventeen times in the past twenty minutes. I counted.”

“It’s nothing,” I insisted, but even I didn’t believe myself. “Just my Shakespeare tutor?—”

“Uh, but you love two fiction genres...sci-fi and Shakespeare.” Jules’s eyes lit up. “Oh my god, you’re flunking your class to get with your tutor? You’re disgusting.”

“I’m not flunking anything,” I corrected quickly. “We’re in a peer tutoring program. And I don’t like her. She’s stubborn and sarcastic and completely immune to my charm and—” I stopped, realizing I was only digging myself deeper.

Jules batted her eyelashes at me, grinning all innocent like. “Go on.”

I sighed, dropping into one of the plush chairs with my mountain of wings. “It doesn’t matter anyway. She’s so not interested.”

“The great Flynn Kingman, struck out?” Jules perched on the arm of my chair. “This I have to hear.”

“I didn’t strike out,” I protested. “I haven’t even... I mean, we’re just...” I shoved a wing into my mouth, frustrated. “I don’t know what we are. She’s different.”

“Different how?”

“She’s not like the girls I usually... date.” The words came out before I could stop them. I didn’t so much date, as...fuck.

Jules’s expression shifted from teasing to serious. “You mean because she’s plus-size?”

“What? No, that’s not—” But Jules cut me off. How did she know that Tempest was a thick girl anyway? She had to have some kind of spy network.

Besides, I’d slept with plenty of thick and curvy girls. Hadn’t I? I frowned.

“But she’s beautiful.” The words came out automatically, because they were true. Tempest was gorgeous, with her curves and her smile and the way her eyes lit up when she talked about...anything.

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