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Chapter 2 : Macey

“Go on a date with me,” Jayce said, sliding his laptop across the table, out of the way. He leaned forward, supporting his elbows on the table.

“What are you talking about?” I demanded. “I can’t date you. I’m your tutor, Jayce. You don’t even know me.” I shook my head, reaching to twirl my braid between my fingers, a nervous habit I’d had since childhood.

“Hence the date,” he said with a shrug, leaning back in the seat to secure his hands behind his head as he looked at me. “You’re cute. So, how about that date?”

“How about I pass?”

“Easy now.” Jayce rocked forward, placing the palms of his hands on top of the table. “You’re gonna break my heart.”

“Can we discuss the actual reason you’re here?” I said, leaning back as he leaned in. “You’re here because you need help passing your classes. Because what happens if you don’t pass your classes?”

“I lose my scholarship,” Jayce said with a slight shrug, but he looked away from me when he said it, convincing me that it meant more to him than he wanted to let on.

“Very good,” I continued. “Now, wouldn’t it be a sad day for you if you could no longer play…football?”

“Football?” Jayce repeated, and now it was my turn to shrug.

“I took a chance, sorry. Swimming?”

“Do I look like a swimmer?”

“Hockey.”

“I play baseball, Macey. Baseball.”

I cringed, mostly because out of every boring sport to watch and hear about, baseball was at the top of my list. That wasn’t saying much, though, because I had yet to find an enjoyable sport.

“I saw that,” Jayce said, brow furrowing as he leaned closer to me. “Not a baseball fan, I take it?”

“Must I be to get you to do your work?” I asked.

“Probably.”

“Still no, not a baseball fan.”

“That’s because you haven’t seen me play.” Jayce winked, which sent me into a small fit of laughter that only seemed to offend him more.

“Do you use that line on all women?” I asked. “And better yet, do they actually fall for it?”

Jayce pinched his lips, folding his arms across his chest. It was difficult not to notice the toned muscles in his arms pop as he did this or the way his short brown hair perfectly completed his complexion. Still, I forced myself to look past all that and focus on the issue at hand, even as the slight tingling between my legs became more prominent.

“Yes,” he said finally. “Yes, they do fall for it.”

“And you expect me to fall for it, too?”

“I expect nothing of the sort.” He winked again, leaning forward to rest his forearms on the table. “You’re different from the others. My charms would have already worked on them by now.”

“Maybe I’m not like the others,” I said softly, drawing a smile from Jayce.

“Neither am I.”

A tense silence settled over the table, and I watched Jayce look down at his hands, wishing I could hear his inner thoughts. Was he this cocky all the way through? Did he have a good side, a human side?

“Well,” I said finally. “We make quite the pair, don’t we?”

“Yes,” Jayce said, stunning gray eyes meeting mine. “We do. So, how about that date?”

I laughed mockingly, throwing my head back for effect. “Pass on the date,” I said. “But you’ll get me in trouble if you don’t pass your classes, so let’s focus?”

“I’ll focus today if we can circle back to the date thing later,” Jayce bargained. “Otherwise, I’d like to spend the entire hour flattering you until you just say yes.”

Shaking my head, I reached for his laptop and set it in front of him, ignoring the puppy dog eyes he gave me as I opened a notebook and took out a pen for notes.

He was good, but I was better.

“Work,” I said. “And not another word until we’re finished with this paper.”

~ ~

It was late, after ten, when I finally stumbled through the doors of the on-campus apartment I shared with my roommate, Kylie.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” Kylie teased as I kicked my shoes off by the door, dropped my pack, and crossed the floor to collapse onto the couch, physically and emotionally drained but too tired to make it up the stairs and into bed.

“Tell me about it,” I mumbled, slapping my arm over my face. “I feel as bad as I look.”

“It’s late,” Kylie said, going to the kitchen for two beers. “You’re never out this late. Did something happen?”

“No, just tutoring.” Kylie plopped down next to me on the couch, setting her own drink aside. I sat up and gratefully took the can she offered me, popping the top to take a sip, relishing in the bubbly carbonation.

“Tutoring,” she repeated. “I almost forgot about that. Anybody we know?”

“His name is Jayce Something. He plays baseball.”

“Jayce Gregory?” Kylie asked, turning her body towards mine, eyes growing wide.

“That’s the one.”

“Dude. Jayce Gregory is, like, really popular around here.” Kylie shook her head, looking disappointed in me.

“Really.” I rested my head against the couch and closed my eyes, wishing I wasn’t too tired to haul my ass to bed.

“Yes, really,” Kylie said. “He’s a notorious bachelor. All the women want him, but he doesn’t really date because it takes away from baseball.”

“We must be talking about two different people,” I said with a chuckle. “The man I met tonight had zero reservations about hitting on me.”

“He hit on you?”

“Yes,” I said. “Don’t look so surprised, Kylie, jeez.”

“I’m not surprised because it’s you,” my friend said, but somehow, I didn’t believe her. “I’m just surprised because Jayce Gregory doesn’t hit on anybody. Like I said. He’s the primetime bachelor at Eagle River.”

“Meh. He wasn’t really my type.” I rubbed my hands over my face and pushed myself off the couch, anxious to fall into bed, refraining from telling her that Jayce had not only hit on me but had asked me out on a date, and I’d turned him down.

“But he’s so cute,” Kylie said, standing up to follow me up the stairs. “And I’ve heard he’s super sweet, not so arrogant like the others.”

“He seemed just like any other over-inflated jock,” I muttered, pushing open my bedroom door. Kylie followed me in, still talking, but I started to undress anyway, pulling on a pair of sweats and the t-shirt I always slept in.

“When will you see him again?” she asked as I went to the bathroom to comb my hair and brush my teeth.

“The schedule varies. It depends on his practice schedule.”

“God, I am so jealous.”

“Of what?”

“Of all the quality time you get to spend with him!” Kylie wailed. “Don’t you know that every girl at ERU just wishes they could spend that much quality time with Jayce Gregory?”

“They can have him,” I said with a shrug, side-stepping Kylie so I could fall face-first onto my cozy queen bed. I kept my face hidden in the pillow, hoping she’d get the hint and go away. She didn’t.

“I’m just saying, consider yourself lucky,” said Kylie, and when I finally looked up from my pillow, I found her checking herself out in my vanity mirror.

“Goodnight, Ky,” I said with a groan, reaching for my bedside lamp to switch it off. “I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

“I’m just saying,” said Kylie, backing out of my room. “You could do worse than Jayce Gregory.”

“Repeat his name and I might just stamp it on your forehead,” I said with a yawn. I didn’t tell her that ever since leaving the library, I couldn’t get Jayce Gregory off my mind. And I knew damn well that the wetness between my legs had nothing to do with fatigue and everything to do with the golden boy himself.

Jayce Gregory.

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