Page 14 of Her Devil

“Oh yes. You’ll remember Jackson from the country club,” he says, pointing him out. I nod, rolling my eyes. As if I could forget the sleazy ass that spent way too much time staring at my tits over lunch.

“Oh, yeah. I remember him,” I reply dryly, more than ready to get rid of him. “Well, nice to see you again. How about we repeat this like… never?” I offer, attempting to get away.

“Don’t be like that,” he says, the whiny sound of his voice nothing but irritating. He probably wants to continue the conversation, but deep laughter rings out, drawing all our attention to the group of guys that walk in, Jacob front and centre.

“That’s got to be them,” Charlotte says breathily, her attention rapt, and it’s easy to see why.

Dark hair, tanned skin, ink peeks over a collar on one and down the sleeve of another, charcoal shirts and black dress pants that fit perfectly, expensive watches and wafts of cologne as they walk past.

They’re like the rest of the guys here, but so much more, and they’re heading straight for us.

“Hey, girl.” Taylor smiles, his perfect white teeth sparkling in the dim light, his jawline cut sharp enough to pierce. I was way too distracted by Jacob and the feeling from the elevator to notice how good-looking the other guys around him are.

“Hey.” I smile as they near. “Oh, Taylor, do you have a minute? Would it be okay for the girls to come on Friday night? These are our roommates.” More than one perfect smile goes his way as the girls move as one, pushing Spencer out of the way to get closer to the true prize.

“Of course.” He smiles, his hand landing on my arm lightly. “Come and find us in a bit, when you’re finished talking with whoever this guy is.” He looks Spencer over for the longest three seconds of my life before dismissing him with nothing more than a chin lift and turning his intense blue gaze back to me.

Taylor winks, squeezing my arm before walking away. Penelope’s head pops over my shoulder with a sigh as she watches his fine ass strut across the room. Spencer is nothing more than ancient history as the questions tumble from them one after another.

“Nice to see you again.” Tamsin smirks as we walk away, Spencer and his history already forgotten.

We don’t go far, just a few steps, but it’s enough to let Spencer know he’s no longer needed or wanted, not that he ever was. The girls huddle around us, attempting to seek out where Taylor and the rest of his group went as an awareness prickles over the back of my neck.

The feeling that someone’s watching me is very real, and yet, as I turn, there’s no one there. I try to ignore it, but the niggling persists. I flick my gaze over my shoulder again, completely missing whatever question is asked of me, and my gaze locks with Jacob, a look that I can’t unpick on his face.

I smile his way, hoping he’ll return it as he heads our way. The edge of his lip turns up in a smile as he slides into the middle of the group, an easy, “Good evening, ladies,” falling from him, whatever irritation he had disappearing in nothing more than a turn of his head.Maybe I imagined it?

“Jacob, I wondered where you’d gone.” I smile. “We just saw Taylor, and I assume the rest of the guys you live with, I thought you’d passed, but I must have been wrong.”

His smile drops, for just a second, and I can’t work out the emotion that flickers there before he plasters that fake smile back on. It was a retreat, for sure, but from what, I’m not sure.

“Yeah? Did he invite you all on Friday night?” he asks, attempting to inject something like excitement into his tone. “Because we need the most gorgeous girls there, and you are all absolutely stunning.” He makes a show of complimenting everyone, making sure they’re feeling good about themselves, yet missing me out.Weird.

He stands close, but not too close, his proximity a confusing addition. I’m sure we saw him walk past just a few minutes ago, and yet here he stands. Taylor somehow managed to get rid of Spencer with nothing more than a dismissive look, and Jacob is now charming the pants off our entire house.

I have no claim over him, and he was more than happy chatting up Tamsin this morning, but there’s something about the fake excitement he’s wearing that rubs me the wrong way, and I can’t place it.

“Well, it was lovely to meet you all, and I’m more than excited to see you at our place on Friday night—don’t forget your swimwear! But I’m going to see if I can find a non-alcoholic drink in this place, it’s not so much fun being the designated driver.” He feigns irritation, but I can tell it doesn’t really bother him. “It was nice to see you again, Ivy.”

His hand rests against my shoulder briefly, that awareness from earlier on turning electric as his skin caresses mine. It’s nothing, barely a second, and the tense smile on his face is as fake as I’ve ever seen in my life. He doesn’t even flinch, and yet I feel like my entire body just jolted to life.

“Yeah, you too,” I reply automatically, still reeling from the confusing encounter and the joke this night has turned into.

Not just because Spencer is here and I cowered away like a terrified little girl; not the grown adult I am.I guess old habits die hard. But more so because of the weird encounter, and seeming blowoff from Jacob.What the hell is that all about?

I know we weren’t exactly falling over each other earlier on, but at least he was friendly. Tonight, he’s like a completely different person.

SIX

LEO

Grabbing an apple from the island in the kitchen, I follow the voices, sauntering through to the den and falling onto one of the empty sofas.

“I don’t think you realise how long that driveway is,” Emmerson comments before clicking his fingers, an idea sprouting. “We should have a couple of designated drivers, that way everyone else can have a drink.”

“What’s this?” I ask, conscious I’ve come in part way through a conversation.

“For the mixer tonight,” Jacob says, his gaze flicking to mine. “I said we should just walk there and back, then we can all enjoy ourselves, but someone’s too worried about getting his hair wet.”

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