Page 33 of In Doubt
“His pack?! Two days ago you couldn’t stand to be within a foot of that man. Now you’re swanning off on dates with him and his pack.”
“It wasn’t a date. They were going anyway and Jake said I could tag along.”
“But you went … willingly. And here you are returned with an armful of gifts and a huge grin on your face.”
“From the temple, Sia. Not from Jake Grantham.”
My words catch the interest of Zoe and Maya who both look our way.
“Are you dating?” Maya asks.
“Who? Jake Grantham? NO!” I shriek, perhaps a little too loudly because Maya’s eyebrows shoot up in alarm. I cough. “No, Jake Grantham is the last man on earth I’d want to date.”
“Really?” Zoe asks, her nose wrinkled like I’m slightly deranged. “Half the university and the city wants to date him.”
“Or at least screw him,” Maya chimes in.
“Why?” I ask in genuine disbelief.
“Errr.” Zoe laughs. “Have you seen the man play rugby?”
“Have you seen him without his shirt on?”
“Once and no,” I reply, trying really hard not to think of Jake Grantham with his shirt off. “Have you?” I ask them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jake’s plastered topless photos of himself all over the internet. Or perhaps they’ve seen the real thing. My stomach drops.
Sia grins. “Shit, Giorgie, you’ve seen the calendar, right?”
“What calendar?”
Maya starts tapping on her phone. “The rugby team did this calendar for charity at Christmas time. It’s super hot.”
She passes her phone to me and I peer down at the screen. Then shriek, dropping the thing in my lap.
“Oh my god, Giorgie.” Sia bumps her shoulder against mine. “What?”
I gulp, then pick the phone back up and squint at the photo. “I just wasn’t expecting …that. He’s naked.” And by the looks of things all oiled up, the dark lighting making his skin gleam and accentuating every contour of his muscular body. A small towel hangs between his legs but a fair patch of curls is visible just above it.
“Nah,” Zoe says. “Unfortunately, you can’t see his junk.”
“Why didn’t I know about this?”
Sia shrugs. “You don’t usually want to know about Jake and his rugby team.”
“True,” I say, wanting to drag my eyes away from this photo but finding it almost impossible.
“There are more …” Sia sings, reaching over to flick her finger across the screen.
Another image appears, this time of Levi. I gulp. He’s laid out on his back, long dark hair tumbling around his face, arms tucked behind his head, legs dangling either side of a bench, looking like he’s about to do a situp. Every muscle in his stomach is bulging. And there are a lot of muscles in his stomach.
“Holy shit,” I whisper, flicking through several more shots. One of Dylan holding a leek provocatively and laughing at the camera, and the last one of Aiden, a huge Christmas present balanced in his strong arms and protecting his modesty.
Maya coughs and waggles her hand at me, and with reluctance I hand over her phone.
“Oh, come on,” Sia says. “You knew he was hot.”
“I guess,” I mumble.
“Has he asked you out?” Maya asks, staring at the pictures herself.
