Page 1 of Jack

Chapter 1

Jack

I stood against the wall by the keg at Mark Cassidy’s party. Bored. My usual routine at these things was to have a few beers, talk to a few friends, and find someone to fuck. Sometimes not even in that order. I’d already had a few girls hint that they were available, but I wasn’t interested. I would probably end up with one of them anyway. There was no way I was hooking up with Shelby anymore. She was a decent lay, but too fucking crazy, too much of a hassle.

I glanced to the right to see my best friend, Nikolai Ivanov, kissing Hannah Prescott, the girl who he was supposed to be pretending to date. If they were faking it, they both deserved a fucking Academy Award. Hannah had been getting hassled by some douchebag, Jeff Connors, so she asked Nik to pretend to date her, so the douchebag would leave her alone. Nikolai was a big guy with a tendency to punch first and ask questions later. I could see why Hannah chose him. Since Connors had just shown up at the party, I guess Nik and Hannah were making sure Connors got the message but were definitely taking their acting to new levels of realism.

Until this, Nik and I had the same philosophy on dating—we avoided it at all costs. I knew his reasons; his father being head of the Russian mob, fucked-up childhood, all that shit. My reasons were family-related as well, but we weren’t part of the mob. My family’s issues were your typical, screwed-up suburban family bullshit. Dad’s an alcoholic philanderer and Mom’s an aloof bitch who won’t leave him because it would look bad. She deals with her bad marriage by traveling and staying away from home as much as possible. I’ve never seen anything good come of relationships—ever.

My thoughts were disrupted by a blonde head I saw weaving through the crowd, moving toward the keg. I knew who it was immediately.

Ava Fisher.

She was new to our school this year, and we had chemistry together. We’d never spoken, but there was something about her. She pulled at me. For that reason alone, I avoided her at all costs. It had been easy enough until I found out today she was my new lab partner.

Now, here she was again. Staring at her, I felt my body respond to her closeness. My fist tightened, imagining itself tangled in her thick, white-blonde hair. Normally, I liked longer hair on girls, but hers, cut bluntly just above her shoulders, suited her. It was a perfect frame for her pixie-ish features. But it was her fucking eyes, such a pale green that I thought they were contacts when I first saw them. Wide eyes that cut through you when you made eye contact, like she could see inside your head, inside your soul. Those wise eyes were one of the many reasons I avoided her.

Normally, I would just hit on her, sleep with her, and move on. However, I had never reacted like this to the sight of a girl, so, even though I felt like a bitch admitting it, I was wary of interacting with her. As much as I had been trying to ignore her, I couldn’t help following her trim little body with my eyes as she walked through the crowd toward me.

I felt my brow tense the closer she got. Fuck, she was sexy.

I continued to scowl in frustration. The internal conflict wanting to fuck her and wanting to ignore her caused my stomach to knot. My instincts urged me to have her, but my brain was throwing up a stop sign. Ava walked up to the keg and darted a quick glance at me. Her beautiful eyes widened in justifiable apprehension at my undoubtedly sour expression.

She gave me a half smile, but when I didn’t respond, she just turned to the keg, picked up the hose, and pressed the tap. She frowned when only a small stream poured into her cup.

Instead of pumping the keg, she looked at the tap and shook the hose, like the beer was stuck, or something, and pressed the tap again.

What the fuck?

I was about to step in when she looked up at me in confusion. “Is it empty?”

I couldn’t help a small snort. I shook my head and started pumping the keg while staring pointedly into her pale eyes, then took the hose, opened the tap and poured her a beer.

Ava turned bright red. “Oh, shit, that’s embarrassing. Thank you,” she murmured into her cup as she took a quick sip of beer. I watched her pink tongue lick some foam off her bottom lip and nearly groaned.

Instead, I laughed at her self-deprecation. “Haven’t you ever used a keg before?” I asked incredulously.

She laughed and shook her head. “What gave me away?”

I smirked. “I think it’s when you fucking shook the hose to get the beer out.”

Ava threw back her head and laughed at her own cluelessness. “Not one of my finer moments. I’m Ava,” she said, extending her hand to me. “Ava Fisher.”

I stared at her small hand like it was a loaded gun, hesitating to touch her, as if I knew I would like it too much. I could be a real dick here and end our contact once and for all by leaving her hanging, making her feel stupid.

Just as an embarrassed flush started to tint her cheeks and she started to lower her hand, I reached out and snagged it, feeling how cold and soft it was, how delicate her bones were. She shot me a relieved smile that made me immediately regret being so nice.

“Jack,” I muttered.

She cocked her head at me. “I think we have chem together. In fact, I think we’re lab partners as of today. Jack Becker, right?”

I nodded my head, and realizing I was still holding her fucking hand, let it go like it was on fire. Fuck.

Fortunately, Nik and Hannah walked up and interrupted us. I was grateful for their presence. I will admit—small talk is not my forte when it wasn’t centered around getting a girl in bed.

“Hey, Ava,” Hannah greeted enthusiastically.

“Hannah!” Ava squealed. “I’m so glad you’re here. You look amazing! I love that top.” Taking advantage of her closeness, I stared at Ava, trying to figure out what it was about her I found so fucking captivating.

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