Page 6 of Veil of Lies

“But…”

Quinn slammed the door in her face, and I laughed. “Harsh, bro.”

“But necessary. That girl’s a fucking pain in my ass. Fuck knows why you bothered giving her the time of day,” he said, scowling at Brax. “Now she keeps coming here and pissing me off.”

Brax shrugged, giving no shits. “A BJ is a BJ.”

“Seriously? She’s terrible. She has no game.” I knew this because I still had teeth marks on my dick from when I stupidly let her give me head at a party last month.

“The hot girl from last night said that too,” Brax commented with a frown. “I still have no clue who she is.”

“Ask Avery, she always manages to ferret out the gossip around here. If there’s a new transfer student, she’ll have met her by now.”

Brax brightened. “Good idea. I’ll message her.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and began tapping on the screen.

10 seconds later, his phone pinged with a reply. “She says the new girl didn’t give her anything. Seemed a bit quiet and antisocial.”

“Remind you of anyone?” I asked with a smirk.

He looked up, puzzled, then the penny dropped. “Mouse girl.”

“Mouse?” Quinn raised one eyebrow.

“She’s tiny, like a mouse, and she scurries like one.”

“Well, maybe you need to set up a trap to catch that mouse.”

“Maybe I do,” he grinned.

Chapter 7

Stella

Every time I turned around, there was Brax, grinning at me. It felt like he was stalking me, yet I had no clue why. I thought I’d made it pretty clear in the cafeteria that I wasn’t receptive to his considerable charms, but apparently, rejection only made his heart beat faster.

He was starting to piss me off. I didn’t want to be his friend, although if I was being totally honest, banging his sexy ass was very appealing. Not that I had any intention of being that stupid. What puzzled me was why he was interested. I was going out of my way to look the opposite of sexy. My clothes were ugly-as-fuck, I tucked my hair under a hat most days, my glasses hid half of my face, and I never wore makeup.

I knew damned well he had half the girls on campus drooling over him.

I’d been treated to a constant stream of love-struck females in every class we shared, trying to capture his attention. The worse he treated them, the harder they tried. It was pathetic. Had these silly girls not read ‘The Rules’? It sure didn’t look like it.

The more you chase a guy, the less likely he is to give a shit. If I looked halfway decent, I might have believed Brax was chasing me because I was playing hard to get and he wasn’t used to rejection, but it seemed unlikely. No way was some grungy girl in ill-fitting clothes his type. There had to be another reason.

I walked briskly to my Marketing Principles lecture, keeping my head down like always. The lecture theater was half empty when I pushed the door open. I quickly grabbed a seat in the top right-hand corner, away from the rest of the early-bird students. All being well, the students arriving after me would leave me alone so I could make notes in peace and concentrate on the class.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be. “Fuck my life,” I muttered when my nemesis strolled up and sat down in the adjacent chair, man-spreading like the entitled bastard he was.

I ignored him and removed my notebook from my bag, writing down today’s date and the lecture title. Brax didn’t seem to have anything with him. Fuck knows how he planned to make notes. Not that I gave a shit. It wasn’t my problem if he couldn’t be bothered to listen or make notes. I was here to learn even if he wasn’t.

Professor Santos arrived and began setting up his laptop for the presentation. He started his introduction and I tried really hard to listen, but it was impossible. I was too aware of Brax to concentrate. The scent of him drifted over me, something fresh and spicy. Every time he shifted in his chair, my pulse accelerated, and my thoughts went haywire. All I could think about was his cock. It was as if he’d supercharged my libido to the power of one trillion.

After an hour, I’d barely written a page of notes, and I knew damn well when I read them back later, it would all be gibberish. After two hours, I’d given up listening entirely. What was the point?

By the time the lecture ended, I could barely wait to get out of the room. If Brax intended to sit next to me in every class we shared, I could kiss my degree goodbye. I shoved my notebook into my bag, desperate to escape the pheromones that were making a mockery of my good intentions. I didn’t know what brand of aftershave Brax wore, but it was very effective at turning sane women into weeping puddles of lust.

“Can I ask you something?” Brax drawled in a husky voice. My core clenched with need. It was just as well my sweatshirt was loose enough to hide my hard nipples.

“Ask me what?” I snapped, staring longingly at the exit door.

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