Page 38 of Jace
“No thanks, I'm meeting up with the band for breakfast and practice,” he replies as he grabs his stuff and gives Kaylee a hug goodbye. “To answer your question, don't forget I'm from the Netherlands. Our legal drinking age is a bit lower than yours. I've got years of experience on you rookies.” He winks at me before slapping me on the shoulder and stealing another piece of bacon. “And it also helped that I had a very handsome caretaker last night.”
I scoff at that. “Yeah, don’t get used to it, dude. That was a one-time deal only.”
“Shame, I kind of liked it when you undressed me.”
Kaylee sputters beside me, choking on her cappuccino that she just made, and looks at me in shock. “You did what?” She wheezes, making me grind my molars together, trying my damn hardest to ignore that stupid flutter in my gut that keeps popping up.
Jace just laughs at my reaction and shakes his head. “Nothing, honey. He just helped me get in the shower because I could barely walk.” He leans closer to Kaylee and stage-whispers in her ear, “but he did take off my jeans very slowly, and got on his knees to take my shoes off.”
When Kaylee turns red as a lobster because of him–which seems to become a regular thing–I give him a half-hearted push again, chuckling weakly because I might also be trying to not let my cheeks heat up.
“Lay off my girl, dude. You have plenty to choose from.”
“And so I shall,” he announces with a wink, holding out his fist for me to bump. “Anyway, I have to go. Do I see you tomorrow morning for our run?”
I bump my fist against his and nod. “See ya then. Say hi to the girls and Asher for me. Tell Ava that she'll be receiving some texts with footage from your impromptu performance. She wanted to use it.”
He smiles at that. “Of course she does. Always busy, that one. Will tell her, bye!”
But when he turns to head out the back door, Tuck enters the kitchen in only his boxers, his dark-blonde hair a mess. He stops in the doorway and scrunches up his face when he notices Jace, apparently under the impression that he got ditched last night.
“Hey?” Tuck hesitantly greets, scratching the back of his neck. “I waited for you but couldn’t find you anymore.”
Jace being Jace, just puts on his famous sultry smile and heads over to him, grabbing him by his naked waist and pressing a swift kiss to his cheek. “I’m sorry, Tuck. I was pretty wasted and crashed into their bed.” He nods at me and Kaylee’s direction. “But I would love to finish what we started some other time?” He lets his eyes wander over the path that his hand takes, caressing his mediocre abs. It makes me frown.
Tuck clearly brightens up, his annoyance forgotten. He places his hand over Jace's on his flat stomach.
Please, his abs are in no way in the same league as mine. He might be on the active roster here, but he’s never going to play in the NFL. Maybe if he put more effort into his workouts, like some of us do, meaningme,he could get there.
They do look good together, though, when they murmur a bit more about future plans. I clear my throat and let them be, annoyed at myself for paying attention in the first place. I put my back to them as I finish scooping the last eggs for me and Kaylee on our plates, which I may have almost burned. But nobody noticed that, thankfully.
“He’s something else, huh?” Kaylee asks Tuck when Jace finally slams the door shut behind him, both of their gazes were stuck to his ass.
Christ.
“He sure is,” Tuck replies, almost dazed, before shaking his head. “Man, he does have an effect on you.”
I grunt something unintelligible, don’t know what the fuck he means, but Kaylee actually giggles at that. “When he sings, it’s even worse.”
I raise my eyebrows at my girlfriend and smile tightly. “First you apparently felt him up this morning, and now he has an effect on you? Do you need to tell me something?”
I’m not one to get jealous. I’m not like that. And Kaylee can flirt and do whatever the fuck she wants as long as she doesn’t cheat on me. And yeah, apparently I’ve started to figure out the ‘Jace-effect’, if my very confusing feelings about last night are any indication anyway. Which like I established earlier, was just a dick-glitch and needs to be ignored.
“Oh, please. I'm just messing with you. I'm yours, baby. You know I am,” she reassures me with a gentle pat on my stomach. She slides our plates over to the breakfast bar and pats the seat next to her, where I take my place. “But are you still coming with me to my parents' farm this afternoon? I told them you would drive me. You know how they don't like me driving that far. You're off from training later today, right? It's Sunday.”
While I’m not actually feeling up to it right now, my gaze flickering to the back door where Jace left, I still make myself nod. She's trying, and I know this is her making an effort to spend more time with me after my little outburst last month. I also know for a fact that she has no problem making the one-hour drive herself.
Tuck chimes in, finally coming out of his stupor. “We have to head in for a bit to watch and review the tape from yesterday's game, but after that, we're off from anything football-related.”
“What he said. I'll come with,” I mumble before diving into my breakfast, shoveling eggs and bacon into my mouth and trying to engage in the conversation in between bites. Kaylee talks about her sorority sisters, and I do my best to keep up.
“So, are you okay with me asking Jace out?” Tuck asks me suddenly, standing in front of us behind the kitchen island with a glass of water in his hand.
I’m momentarily confused. “I’m not his fucking keeper, so do whatever, man,” I reply, probably placing my empty coffee cup a bit more forcefully than intended on the bar.
Kaylee frowns at me, but remains silent otherwise. Which is probably a good thing, because I don’t know what that was.
Tuck, either ignoring my unusual reaction or being oblivious to it, smiles at me. “Cool. Because I kind of want to, and I know he's a good friend of yours and all. I don't want things to get weird, you know?”
