Page 17 of Beautifully Devoted

“No classes for me, just work at the clinic,” Liam answers.

“Sure you don’t want to jump on Anatomy with us?” Cam points at the two of us. “It might be nice to get it out of the way.”

“I think that’ll be too much with my job,” Liam says.

Can’t say I blame the guy. He might’ve started working at the clinic to pay for his tuition, but with the three of us studying medicine, Cam and I can relate to the ruthless class schedule. Getting the break for the summer would be heaven, even if it was to work. However, we chose to get a head start on Anatomy to knock the hardest class out of the way while we’re on off-season.

“I still can’t believe you two are taking it,” Bennet says. “Anatomy on top of two-a-days? No thank you.”

“You’ve taken Anatomy before?” Cam asks him.

“Nah, man. I’m finance. But I heard that class sucks.”

“It’s just one class,” I point out. “We’d rather get it over with during two-a-days than juggle it on top of practice and three other classes.”

“What class do you have this summer?” That guy, Jeff, asks Bennet.

“Statistics.”

“I heard that’s surprisingly tough,” Cruz says.

“We’re football players, statistics should be like a second language,” Bennet replies.

“So you’re saying it’ll be an easy A?” I ask.

“Exactly.” He leans forward to tap his beer can against mine.

“I’m just glad we get to ease into a full schedule.” Cruz lifts his can and all us players mimic him in simultaneous cheers. All the players except Cam, whose head is bent so close to Aiden’s he doesn’t register me trying to actually tap my can to his since we’re close enough to do it.

Glancing over my shoulder, I catch his smile. Genuine. Flirty. And all teeth.

I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.

Cameron

“Ijust can’t picture sitting at a desk all day,” I tell Aiden when he describes what you can do with a computer engineering degree. “And staring at a screen on top of that? No thank you.”

“Are you telling me you don’t sit in front of a screen for hours at a time playing video games? I saw the setup in there, and Bennet says it’s yours.”

I fight to swallow a gulp of beer without coughing—they brought good stuff—and shake my head. “That’s different. It’s gaming, not numbers and equations and shit.”

“You mean coding, and that’s what’s behind the graphics you see.”

“I get that, but still… Numbers.” I shake off the shiver the courses through me.

“It’s not for everyone.” Aiden gives me a wistful smile, which almost makes it seem like he’s recalling fond memories of algorithms or something. Weird. Although, his smile is sort of cute.

Jagger shoves off my lap and strides purposefully inside, which I can only assume is because he’s serious about me trying to hook up with Aiden. I guess he wasn’t trying to cockblock me when he sat on my lap. Not that I want Aiden. Or that Jagger would actually try to cockblock me. He’s probably just operating on autopilot, and I’m overthinking.

I sneak a glance at the man next to me, trying to assess how I feel about him. He’s good-looking, with sandy blonde hair and big, chocolate-colored eyes that pull you in even when you’re talking about math. And while he’s not cut like the bodies I typically admire, he’s tall and lean, which I do physically gravitate toward. Or would’ve if I ever pursued trying something with a guy.

Physically, I think I could be interested. But emotionally…

Wait, WTF? Why would that be a consideration? It never is with the women I hook up with. We go through the motions of flirting, fuck around, and go our separate ways.

Maybe that’s why my mind went rogue. Aiden and I have a lot of friends in common, so we could never fully go our separate ways. Unless we had a friends-with-benefits arrangement—he used to have one of those with Liam and they’re cool even now that Liam’s dating Cruz—so I suppose it’s possible he and I could have the same thing. But do I want that?

I have always been curious about hooking up with a man. I may have resigned myself to the fact that it would happen, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t curious. And if Jagger thinks I should… I guess I could see where this conversation with Aiden goes.

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