Page 30 of Perfect Sin

“You are insisting on shoving that foot in your mouth, aren’t you? You don’t know her. We’re from out of state.”

He shrugs. “My mistake. I’d like to make it up to you. A bunch of us share a house not far from campus. We’re having a party on Wednesday. You should come by.”

“What are you doing here, Jesse?” I hear Ford ask over my shoulder.

“It’s the campus cafeteria, Shaw, take a guess.”

“How about you fuck off to your own table,” Ford snaps.

“Relax. I just came over to invite Sin to my party.”

“He’s not interested.”

Jesse crosses his arms and leans forward on the back of the chair. “Can he not speak for himself?”

He turns his attention to me. “Come on. It’s college, live a little. You can bring your wife. It’ll be fun.”

“Ford’s right. I’m not interested.”

“Suit yourself.” Jesse rejoins his friends, and Ford takes his seat, flipping it back around since he’s not a generic asshole.

“I’m glad Raven wasn’t here when he decided to introduce himself. That guy is bad news. He was on the football team last year until he was accused of assaulting one of the cheerleaders.”

“He’s in our English class. He started flirting with her right in front of me.”

Ford’s face looks serious. “Look, I know we can handle this guy, but we’ve got to be careful. He’s a snake and doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“Where’s Raven right now?”

“With Lucien. He wanted to go to the bookstore and she needed something so she went with him.”

“Do you know which way they’d come here?”

“Yeah, we can eat at home. Let’s go.”

Ford and I catch up to Lucien and Raven outside the student union. I grab her hand and steer her away from the building.

“Aren’t we having lunch?” she asks, confused.

“I don’t feel like being around a crowd right now,” I lie.

She looks around me and sees a full cafeteria through the windows. All the tables are occupied, even the one I was holding.

“Okay,” she agrees and squeezes my hand. It’s enough for me to know she expects an explanation, a real one, when we’re alone.

* * *

After leavingcampus we head straight to our house, with Ford and Shane in tow.

“Luce, will you go with me to the grocery store?” Raven asks.

“Aren’t domestic tasks like this more of a husband’s job?” he asks.

She whispers something to him, and he nods.

“Hurry back,” I tell her, then I kiss her goodbye.

“Okay,” I turn to Ford. “Tell me about Jesse.”

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