Page 49 of Bad Reputation

Maia bites her lip. “I might have kind of… told my parents that I’ve been in art school this entire time? Like, getting my master’s degree in fine arts?”

I look up from my phone, nothing short of shocked. “You what?”

She gives me a lopsided smile. “Your reaction is sure to be better than my parent’s reaction. Anyway, I definitely don’t want to talk about it. Definitely definitelydefinitely.”

I shake my head a little, hitting theorder nowbutton on my phone. Then I focus on Maia. “Okay. But how does that affect your citizenship? I assume that you’re here on a student visa…”

“Can we please not talk about this right now?” she begs.

Evie clears her throat. “How about we go back to man bashing? Cause men really really suck.”

My phone vibrates gently in my hand. I look down and see a notification of a text from Jameson.

Busy?

With that one word, I’m smiling. I text him back.

Yes. Later, though?

I stifle a grin at his reply.You know it.

“Who is she getting text messages from that makes her smile?” Maia asks Evie, frowning.

“No one!” I insist, putting my phone down. “And the pizza is on the way. Now where were we with the man hating stuff?”

Evie gives me an odd look, but lets it go. And I just sit there and listen to them complain about the men that have screwed them over… all while secretly glowing from the inside out. Because even though my parents enrage me and my brother does things that I just don’t understand…

Jameson is there for me. He is steadfast this time, in it for the long haul. I can feel it.

And that means that I can’t complain anymore. Not about him, at least.

18

Jameson

“Are you sure we really need to go?” I ask, plucking at the hem of Emma’s clingy black dress. I’m sprawled on her bed, dressed in an expensive suit. “We could just stay in this bed, you know.”

She looks down at me, grinning as she puts in a diamond earring. “It’s your fancy Bartender’s Guild thing that we’re going to! You definitely have to go. Besides, you promised that we could go together, to test out… you know, beingouttogether.”

I reach up and grab her, pulling her on top of me. I put my lips to her ear, shaping her hips through her dress. “I can think of ten things I would rather be doing.”

For a second, she allows it. She puts her hands on my chest as I nibble on her earlobe, making a few breathy sounds.

“Mmmm,” she says. “You are terrible.”

I skim my hand up beneath her dress, slipping a couple of fingers into the waist of her panties. “There are some things that I am excellent at, I would say.”

Her breath catches as my touch trails down to the crotch of her panties. I kiss her full mouth, trying to suppress the amusement I feel. I’m right, after all.

“Evil, is what you should be called.” Her words come out stilted.

I yank her dress up to the waist, tugging her panties down. “You know you love it.”

Emma looks at me, her eyes heavy lidded and full of lust. “This isn’t going to make me change my mind about going tonight.”

“We’ll see,” I say, kissing her lightly. Then I smack her ass. “I want you to ride my face until you cum.”

“Oh, Jameson—” she starts to protest. I just smack her ass again.

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