Page 156 of Heartache Duet

“Sorry!”

I hiss, setting the mug on the floor, and then shake out my hand. I lick the liquid off my fingers and glance up at Ava. Her lust-filled eyes are fixed on my mouth, my hand, her breaths becoming shorter.

Busted.

I smirk. “Can I help you, you creep?”

Ava blinks and comes back to reality… a reality where I’d happily have her lick my entire body. She clears her throat. “Turn around.”

“What?”

“Turn. Around.”

I shake my head. “No.”

“What do you think I’m going to do?”

“I don’t know. Pour scalding hot liquid all over me.”

She rolls her eyes, then says, “Fine.”

Her back to me, she reaches into the blanket again, and I watch her pull out a balloon—this one blue. Her shoulders rise with her inhale, and then she blows into the balloon, making it expand. It takes her a few seconds to knot the end. When she’s done, she turns to me, holding the balloon between us. I take it from her and read the black marker.

Connor Ledger

#1 Boo Devil

“I love it,” I tell her honestly, my smile stupid. “It’s the greatest gift I’ve ever gotten.”

She giggles, takes a sip of her hot chocolate. “Better than that sweet truck sitting in your driveway?”

“So much better,” I laugh out, swapping the balloon for my own hot chocolate. I take a tiny sip.

Her front door opens, and Trevor comes out, looking down at his phone. When he lifts his gaze, he says, “Hey, bro. Congrats.”

“Thanks, man. Appreciate it.” We do the standard—weird—universal jock handshake.

He says, “Hey, did you know that according to—”

“Stop,” Ava warns.

His eyes narrow at her. “I’m talking to Connor.” He switches his focus to me. “Did you know that according to Huffington Post and The Daily Beast, Texas A&M is the happiest campus in the nation? The entire nation, Connor.”

I don’t know what his angle is, but my mind’s pretty set on Duke. “I did not know that,” I respond.

“Huh.” Trevor nods, then shrugs. “Just thought I’d mention it.”

He goes back into the house without another word, and I turn to Ava. “What was that about?”

She’s rolling her eyes, her head moving from side to side. “He’s trying to get me to go to Texas A&M.” She fist pumps the air. “Gig ‘em, Aggies!”

“Wait, did you get accepted?”

Nodding, she says, “I got early acceptance to a few places.”

“What?! You didn’t tell me that.”

“It happened, you know, when we weren’t really on speaking terms. It caused a lot of drama.”

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