I was sure I wasn’t supposed to hear that. I made a decision and stepped around Jenny to cut Professor Hall off. I smiled with too many teeth and thrust his shit in his direction when I was close enough. He had no choice but to catch everything. “Since you’re done with your meeting, you can get your own heavy load, right?”

He grunted and shifted the pile in his arms. “I actually need to speak to my TA, Hudson. If you’ll excuse us…”

I pretended to wince. “Oof, sorry. That’s going to be a problem. Jenny isn’t feeling well. I’m going to take her home and make sure she cools off and gets some fluids in her. That box and everything was really too heavy for her.”

He tried to look behind me, but I stepped into his line of sight. With a frustrated sigh, he nodded his head. “Of course. Make sure she’s feeling better for class tomorrow.”

I walked back over to Jenny and winked at her. “Just pretend you’re a southern belle who just got flashed for the first time, honey.”

Her nose crinkled. “What?”

“You’re looking a little faint.” I watched as she understood me and the little temptress shocked the hell out of me when she immediately put her hand to her forehead and swayed. I, of course, did the chivalrous thing of scooping her into my arms. I had to fight a laugh when she went limp and let her limbs fall whatever way they went. “Too much. Bring it back, Scarlett O’Hara. We don’t want anyone calling for an ambulance.”

She giggled and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Is this better, coach?”

I carried her in the direction of my car and grinned. “Perfect. Oscar-worthy performance.”

Her eyes were full of laughter as she watched my face. “Thanks, Hudson. I was exhausted and just wanted to be done.”

I wanted to ask her more about it, but the feeling of her fingers playing with the back of my hair was distracting. That was something I did go against my family on. I kept my dark hair long. They hated it but feeling Jenny rubbing the strands between her fingers made all the arguments worth it.

“You can put me down now. He can’t see us anymore.”

I’d never been close enough for long enough to notice her freckles before. They were somehow both adorable and sexy on her. The thought that there were more of those freckles hiding under her clothes did wicked things to my brain.

“Hudson?” Jenny wiped at her face. “Is there something on my face? I shoved a donut into my mouth on the way out of the science building earlier.. Is it icing?”

I ignored the image my dick demanded of her shoving things into her mouth. I tried to, at least. “Nothing on your face but your glasses and your freckles.”

She smiled brighter suddenly. “Let me repay your kindness with a secret of mine.”

I held my breath as she pressed her face closer to mine. I thought she was going to kiss me in the middle of campus for a second and my heart sped up.

She pointed to the side of her face, closer to her ear. “There’s a couple of freckles right in this area that I swear look like a penis.”

I let out a shocked bark of laughter and had to put her down because I was laughing so hard. I had tears rolling down my face by the time I was calm again.

Jenny bit her lip and then smiled so big that something in my chest felt strange for a moment. “I like your laugh. But I wish I was kidding.”

I cupped her chin and gently tilted her head until I spotted it. There it was, a tiny little penis-shaped cluster of freckles. I never would’ve seen it without knowing to look for it. More laughter bubbled up from the depths of my chest. “That’s amazing. Does Jason know?”

She snorted. “Are you kidding? No way. He’d never leave me alone about it.”

I smirked.

“Don’t make me regret telling you.”

***Jenny***

Ididn’tknowwhat’dhappened to my life. One minute I was moving in with my steady boyfriend and the next, I was waking up to watch Axel come and then spending my afternoons with him, Hudson, and Jason while acting like I hadn’t done that wild thing earlier in the day. Tutoring the guy you’d watched stroke himself to orgasm was strange when you weren’t supposed to be doing it. The watching, not the tutoring. The tutoring was definitely Jason approved, especially after our studying had landed him a B on a practice test for an Econ class he was taking.

That week I avoided Landon except for our class times. Even then, I managed to keep away from him. I didn’t want to vomit when I saw him anymore, but it still felt awful. I hated him for hurting me and for somehow still being in my head enough to make me feel guilty for the physical feelings I was feeling for Axel. We were through, but he wouldn’t stop texting me and giving me these long looks when no one else could see. When I did read his messages, they were full of apologies and pleas for me to give him another chance. It sucked.

The guys were out of town Friday night for a Saturday morning game so I had the house to myself and it was nice to be alone for a change. I watched TV, listened to music at deafening volumes, and even ordered a pizza just for me. It was fun, but when I went to bed, I realized I’d gotten used to the sounds of the guys all moving around. It was too quiet without them. I had to turn on a podcast to fall asleep.

I lounged around on Saturday morning and then I forced myself to get dressed and go out in the afternoon. A lazy Saturday seemed necessary after everything. I walked around St. Ida and enjoyed the small-town charm. I got a sweet tea from Jackie’s and nearly got swept up in a crowd that came in celebrating. Apparently, the guys had won their football game.

All around me, people I didn’t know were talking about the guys I was living with. It was weird, to say the least.