Page 15 of Trip Through Your Wires

Cruz flicks his eyes from Ellery to Jake, his concern over what Ellery is planning to do, clear.

“Look,” Jake says casually. “We don’t have to figure this out right now.”

Cruz looks at him in gratitude. Jake always has a cool head and his best friend needs that right now. We all do.

“We need to shower and I’m sure everyone is hungry,” Jake continues. “Why don’t we get cleaned up and grab some takeout. We can eat and talk over dinner. Okay?”

We all agree to table this for now and I grab my suitcase and follow Ellery up the stairs to the guest room so I can unpack and we can catch up. But I don’t have to look over my shoulder to know Jake is watching me. I can feel his eyes on my back. His eyes and his concern.

Chapter 3

Jake

“So that’s why you were in such a hurry to get home,” Cruz says under his breath as the girls make their way up the stairs.

“Dude.” I hold up my hand and give him a look that says not another word, then turn back to the stairs. Once Ellery and Jenica hit the top and start down the hall, I motion for him to follow me downstairs.

When we hit the lower level, I stride past the game room, heading for my own.“Not a word until we get to my room.”

When Ellery first bought this place I thought she was crazy. She insisted the four of us needed more space, but I never imagined she would buy an entire house.

The lower level had been converted into two bedrooms, with their own bathrooms, as well as a game room with a TV with a screen big enough to make the theater on campus jealous. She’d also updated all the flooring in the living areas, and new carpet had been laid in all the bedrooms, as well as fresh paint all throughout the house.

I know Ellery will go wherever Cruz does once he’s drafted, but I hope she keeps this place. It could be fun to come back now and then for reunions and what not. If anything, it could be one hell of a rental property. I’ve suggested it to her before. Maybe she’ll consider.

We reach my room and not two seconds after I’ve closed the door, Cruz starts talking. “How long?”

“How long, what?” I ask casually.

“You and Jenica,” he waves off my feigned ignorance. “How long have you two been a thing?”

“We’re not a thing,” I roll my eyes.

“But you two have hooked up, right? I mean, from what I saw earlier…”

“Surprised you could see anything with the way you and Ellery were going at it on the floor.”

“We weren’t going to go at it,” he grins.

“No?” I arch a brow.

“No,” he laughs, “because we already went at it in the parking lot.”

I hold up my hand, shaking my head. “TMI brother.”

“Sorry,” he shrugs. “You asked for it. But back to you and Jenica.”

“There isn’t a me and Jenica,” I shoot back. “We’ve fooled around. That’s it.”

“You what?” His pupils get bigger. “When?”

“I don’t know.” I kick off my cleats, then peel off my socks, tossing them into the hamper in the corner. “Why? Not getting your rocks off enough, so you need a blow by blow when I do?”

“Oh wow,” he drops his head back. “So much to unpack in that comment.”

“First, there’s nothing to unpack.”

“The hell there’s not.”

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