Page 10 of Jig's Last Dance

He’s all reasonable and I side-eye him mutely. This is the dude who wandered around school pantsing freshmen because he could. Now he’s going to be all rational?

“Sunshine,” he says, his eyes soft, and it’s this that breaks me.

Nodding silently, I climb back into the vehicle, hoping I haven’t made a mistake I can’t come back from.

∞∞∞

Jig takes me back to his house. Now that I’m not in a rush to get home and face the music, I stare at the stone monstrosity with a slack jaw. The home looks like it should be in a fancy magazine with its brick facade, shiny black shutters, and bright red door.

Beyond is a rolling landscape of grass, old, majestic trees, and perfectly formed shrubbery. It’s a far cry from my two-story house with dead weeds in the yard and siding that needed a refresh twenty years ago.

Jig leads me to his room, and I glance around warily, noting the fancy rugs covering freshly waxed wood floors and sconces lit in a soft glow on the walls. Sconces!

“Here,” he says, handing me a stack of clothes from his dresser.

With a small smile, I take them and close myself in the bathroom. Another luxurious space that doesn’t match the persona of the guy beyond the door.

For the first time this morning, I relax and step into the shower, turning on the dual heads with a sigh. The spray feels good on my stinky, dehydrated body, and closing my eyes, I let the last hour flow away down the drain.

Yes, it looked bad, but Ben never gave me the chance to explain, an attitude that’s become increasingly frustrating. Case in point, yesterday when he told me to study. I informed him when school started that I had one class to complete to graduate, but I don’t think he heard me, and I don’t know how to penetrate his thick skull.

Now he’s going to kick me out? He can’t. He’s my legal guardian. Leaning my head against the wall, I huff out a laugh.

Ben’s all over me about sleeping with the enemy, but he refuses to accept that our parents are gone because they were in with the same.

I only know to stay away from guys like Jig because of their poor example. Sure, it’s stupid to be anywhere near the dick, but I’m not betraying my fucking parents. If he wants to be mad, then do it because I’m supposedly following in their footsteps.

When I emerge, I feel better, and after brushing my teeth with my finger, I smooth my hair down my back. But my wretched expression mocks me in the mirror, and I look away, pulling up the shorts Jig gave me before giving up altogether and dropping them to the floor.

I didn’t ask for this any more than Ben did, but there are times I think he hates me for having to step in. Maybe I did ruin his life, but it wasn’t me who was playing with the sharks.

I’m tired of his bad attitude. And how dare he treat me so cruelly?

With a good dose of rage, I don Jig’s shirt, which billows over my nonexistent tits, and march out to find my phone.

Jig’s lounging on the bed, scrolling through his, and I ignore his questioning stare until he grabs my phone out of my hand.

“Hey,” I growl, swiping for it as he stands from the bed.

“Nope. You’re not talking to him now,” he says, pulling the phone away with a smirk.

Clenching my hand into a fist, I slam him in the chest, and he steps back, raising a brow. “Damn, sunshine, you pack a lot of heat in that little hand.”

“Jig, give me my fucking phone.”

His eyes turn serious, his mouth dropping into a thin line. “No can do, sunshine.”

“Stop calling me that,” I shriek, rushing him.

He drops his arm with an oof, and I reach for it, but he wraps me up and turns me to the wall. I pause, taking in the change, and with his body flush against mine, everything but the feel of his hard, toned flesh disappears.

He raises a brow, his mouth curving in a wicked smile. Leaning in and nuzzling my neck, he says, “Mm. You smell like me.”

“Seriously,” I huff. “Could you be any more self-absorbed?”

“There’s always room for more me,” he says, licking up the tendon of my neck where droplets of water have collected from my wet hair.

I clench my legs around his waist reflexively, and suck in a breath when he bites down, liquid fire dancing along my nerve endings.

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