Page 103 of Home in Nevada

“Jeff? Hello?” Lucy waves a hand in front of my face. “What do you mean Jamie tells me everything?”

I exhale slowly, a long, steady breath, forcing my expression to stay even.

I lift my cup to my lips, take a measured sip.

“I mean…” My voice is steady, but Ifeelthe strain. “I know for a fact that Jamie tells you things. You guys still talk, right? He’ll be a second connection for you.”

Another sip.

Lucy narrows her eyes at me, her hazel gaze sharp despite the smudged mascara. Then she smirks.

“I’ve heard a lot from Jamie, actually,” she says, drawing out the words. “He tells me some really interesting things.”

I glance at her warily, my interest rekindled. “Like what?”

Her smirk widens. “Like… I heard you give really, really good head.”

I nearly choke on my drink.

Lucy grins. “The best head he’severgotten—”

I sputter, coughing hard, my face on fire. I have never blushed this hard in my life.

Lucy just keeps laughing. “So much for not wanting the D, Jeffrey… You’re such a liar. You love it.”

She’s joking. She’s hammered. She’s talking about that first trip out here, when I was still lying to myself. I know all of this. And none of it stops the sheer, full-body panic that floods through me.

The alcohol. The humiliation. The fact that she’s saying this out loud.

It sends me straight into fight-or-flight mode.

I shoot to my feet so fast I almost trip, my plastic pool chair wobbling behind me. My heart slams against my ribs.

Then I’m gone.

I storm across the pool area, barely seeing the people I shove past. Someone does a flip into the pool. Someone’s waving at me. It all blurs together as I zero in on the drink table.

Jamie.

And Brandon.

I don’t even look at Brandon; I don’t acknowledge him at all. I just grab Jamie’s arm, ignoring whatever conversation they were having, and drag him toward the lobby of the apartment complex.

The music outside is still pounding as the glass door swings shut behind us. I shove it closed, sealing us inside, then turn to Jamie and grab him by the shoulders.

“Dude, what the fuck are you doing?”

Jamie knocks my arms away, eyes wide. “Jeff, what the hell is going on?”

“What are you doing with Brandon?”

His shoulders relax too quickly, too easily. He smiles like I just asked the dumbest question in the world. “Nothing... I was just saying hi.” His gaze flicks over my face. “Jeff, are you mad?”

That smirk is unbearable.

“Why is he here?Did you invite him?”

Jamie keeps watching me while my stomach twists into a thousand knots.

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