Page 8 of The Bad Boy Rule

“Shut up. Shut up. Shutup,” she nearly screams, her eyes widening. “Saint Devereaux?”

The space between my brows furrows in confusion. “I guess? He is absolutely not any sai?—”

“Wait,” she cuts me off. When she sits up abruptly, I’m even more confused by the expression on her face. “Six foot four, dark brown hair, broody eyes, bad attitude, right?”

I nod, and she continues. “Oh my God. You’re telling me that you’ve never heard of Saint Devereaux?”

“Nope.” Thepin my response pops as I shake my head. “Can you tell me why you’re freaking out right now?”

“He is literally a legend at OU, Len. I mean, he’s a dick, but still,” Maisie says, eyes widened.

Hmm. Now I’m intrigued. The only thing I learned about this guy was that he’s an ass with a capitalA.

If we’re basing anything off a first impression, I’m good with never having a second.

“This is the most exciting thing to happen to me all year,” she squeaks. “Of courseyou’d end up face-to-face with the biggest playboy on campus, who’s notorious for leaving a trail of broken hearts. There’s literally a rumor that he’s slept with the entire cheerleading team. Like… every single one of them. Multiple… at once.”

I do the math on that in my head and scrunch my nose. If that’s true, he’s got to be exhausted. I don’t even get a word in because Maisie continues rattling off. “Ugh, he’s ungodly hot. You’d have to be blind not to notice that, Len, come on.”

Sure, he’s… attractive.

But… he’s also way more of a jerk than he is hot, so it completely cancels out.

Trust me when I say I’ve had enough experience with one egotistical, womanizing asshole to last a lifetime.

Gross.

“Yes, well, honestly, I was trying not to knock him out with his own hockey stick, so I was a little preoccupied.” I snort.

“That’s fair. But you’re the minority. Girls throw every ounce of self-control out the window and toss themselves at him on, like, a daily basis.”

My brows are knitted tightly together as I peer over at Maisie. My best friend is the furthest thing from the rumor mill to everexist, so I’m starting to wonder how she even knows about this guy. “How is he such a player if he’s that much of a dick? I can’t imagine anyone wanting… that.”

“Dunno. But a girl from my creative writing class was talking about him the other day, that he slept with a girl and then just said thanks and then walked out. He didn’t even put his shirt on before he left. He walked all the way down sorority row shirtless, with everyone looking at him. I mean, obviously, no one cares if he’s broody if he has good di?—”

I reach out, slapping my hand over her mouth to cut her off, my eyes wide. “Okay, can we not objectify the jerk that I met earlier today? Seriously, I do not want to think about him any more than I have to.”

The sound of Maisie’s giggles floats past my hand, and I pull it away with a laugh as she says, “Fine. Skating with him should be lots of fun…”

Uh, yeah, right.

“Mais, he was a total prick. Trust me when I say there is absolutely not a ‘fun’ bone in that asshole’s body. Honestly, I never want to have to see him again, and if I do, it’ll be far too soon. Today wasmorethan enough. I’m going to call Summer first thing tomorrow morning, and I know that she’ll get this all straightened out. Then I can pretend this entire thing never even happened.”

For a beat, she stares at me, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth as she bites back a knowing grin.

Seriously, she can think whatever she wants, but there’s not going to be a repeat of today. It was a one and done, and I plan on never having to subject myself to that torture.

Ever. Again.

FOUR

SAINT

Unlike a lot of the guys on the team, I’m a morning person. It’s always been that way.

Comes with the territory of pretty much working a full-time job since I was in high school in order to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. If I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t eat. Providing for his wife and kid is something that my dad should’ve been doing, but he was too fucked-up to do anything other than try to drink himself to death.

And even though most of us have been doing this for years now, my teammates still waste their time bitching and complaining about having to be up at 5:00 a.m. for a practice skate.

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