Page 25 of Obsessed with my Temptation

Like Travis.

Nope, I wasn’t thinking about him.

He cooly said hello to them before turning back to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. “There’s a get-together tonight at my frat. We’ll just be chilling for a bit, maybe playing some games and stuff. Want to come?”

The invitation was technically for all of us, but Eliot and Antony were quick to decline for themselves—Eliot was seeing his boyfriend and Antony had an essay due tomorrow.

My first instinct was to say no. It was Thursday, for a start, and I tried to be good and only go out on weekends.

I tried to be good.

Maybe it was the reason I should say yes. Because, now that I thought about it, my roommate had mentioned he would be staying at his girlfriend’s place tonight—perks of having an older girlfriend with an apartment, I guess—and since I’d been trying to avoid thinking about the boxer currently ignoring me, I’d already done all of my homework. Tonight, it would be me, a dark room and blank walls accompanying me, nothing stopping the monster now shaped like Travis to come for me and hold me in its grip.

I want Travis.

It was an unpleasant revelation, and the one that made me say yes.

Because it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to indulge this misplaced attraction again. My short-lived secret vow of celibacy was renewed.

There wasalsothe fact that Travis would never go for someone like me—spineless and too concerned about what other people thought about me.

It didn’t bother me at all.

“Cool, then, I’ll see you there,” Mark said, squeezing my shoulder before leaving.

I felt a prickling sensation on the side of my face. Glancing toward Travis, he was stillnotlooking at me, but his jaw was set hard.

Don’t hang out with Mark,he’d said.

He didn’t get to tell me what to do.

Tonight, I was going out. I’d be back to my dorm before twelve and fall to bed, exhausted, and have sweet, dreamless sleep.

If only.

Chapter 8

Scott

Mark Jacobson was the local mayor’s son and older brother to Monica, an ex I dated last year as a freshman. We hadn’t seen each other for too long, since the spark had faded quickly and we’d both decided to put a stop to things, so I hadn’t had much of a chance to get to know her brother either.

From what I knew, Mark was also a fairly good student, always on the top of his classes and on a good path to becoming a successful businessman like both his parents were (or, at least, his father had been before becoming the mayor). He’d suggested we hang out a few times while I was dating his sister, but after we broke up, the invitation was left hanging in the air and never re-offered before today.

“Here,” Mark said, coming to hand me a beer before sitting beside me. “You drink, right?”

“Sometimes.” I wasn’t a really big drinker, and I especially didn’t make a habit of drinking during the week, but I didn’t want to look uptight, so I accepted it even if I wasn’t going to drink it. “Thanks.”

Mark smiled at me, a Cheshire-cat grin seeming to overtake his face. His auburn hair reached his ears, pushed back in a way that made it look effortless. He was half turned toward me, his right arm resting on the back of the sofa, close enough to my back that I could feel his warmth.

“I was almost expecting you not to show,” he said, taking a sip of his own beer. “The unattainable Prince. It’s like you’ve been escaping through my fingers, you know?”

I felt one of my eyebrows raise in surprise, but I cooled my expression quickly. I didn’t think people really saw me as unattainable, but okay. “Yeah, well, I’m here. Trying something new.”

Mark leaned into me conspiratorially. “I’ll make sure you have a good time, don’t worry.” His eyes seemed to glitter with secrets, like he knew something I didn’t and he wanted to keep me guessing for a while longer.

“If it isn’t our own charming Prince himself,” a voice came to us, making Mark lean back. “Did you get lost on your way to your castle?”

The owner of the voice was Henry Campbell. Charming asshole, junior, and well-known as ‘the Heartbreaker’.

---