Beautiful Brute (Court University 3)

She knew a lot of stuff.

“What are you going to do then?” she asked, rubbing my hands, and like I told her, I didn’t know. I just knew what I wasn’t going to do.

And that was break up my family again.

Chapter Twelve

Cleo

About the only good thing to come from the situation with Jax was, now that Kit was in the know, we could hate him together. We loathed him as a united front, and over the course of the next few weeks, he made that easy. Jax wasn’t only an asshole. He was a guy and one who didn’t pick up after himself. We found his school books and random trash all over the dorm’s common area quite often. He also ate everything, like literally everything. If Kit and I left something in the fridge, it was apparently free rein for the human garbage disposal.

Then there’d been the girls.

He moved his way through them, our dorm basically a revolving door. And Jax didn’t discriminate. Women from all walks of life waltzed through our dormitory, then right into his bedroom. They never stayed, though. He always walked them out before it got too late.

A perfect gentlemen.

It was during one of these nightly exits he happened to come across Kit and myself. We’d been sitting on the floor, studying. We hadn’t made it completely known we weren’t at odds anymore, but we hadn’t tried to hide it either. We were just both extremely busy with the last year of our college education, and I assumed Jax was too. We actually didn’t see or hear him a lot.

Not that we wanted to.

The moans could be heard clear into our rooms, at least mine, and seeing Kit and me together that night, he smirked. He sauntered into the room in his normal fair, shirtless from his previous tryst. His ripped pecs and massive biceps were especially golden these days since he was out in the sun like the locals now that he was living here. It gave him a glow and streaked his chestnut-colored locks in a way that annoyed me that I actually noticed.

His board shorts hanging low, he worked a shirt over his tight abs, his eyes dancing on Kit and me. “So you two kiss and makeup then?”

We ignored him conjointly, and lifting his eyes, Jax decided to take it amongst himself to reach for the bag of popcorn between us. I might have let him, choosing to ignore his entire existence when I could, but Kit sure didn’t. Before he could reach, she picked up the bag.

Then threw it swiftly across the room.

She’d made sure to roll up the front first so it didn’t spill, but she did. The bag cut clear across Jaxen’s gorgeous face, nearly hitting him had he not dodged, and shocked, my lips parted.

Jaxen’s eyes blazed. Like literally transformed into green fire. “The fuck?”

“Go fetch,” Kit said, not even bothering to look up at him. He basically loomed over her, a simmering force, but not only had she pretended not to notice, she turned the page in her textbook. “That’s what dogs do, don’t they?”

I actually had to physically contain my laughter, my teeth biting down on my lip. If Jax’s gaze was heated before, a volcanic eruption encircled his irises now. I braced myself for retaliation, and he didn’t disappoint when he swiped Kit’s textbook from underneath her.

“Hey—”

He ripped it in half without another thought, like legit tore it in half like some kind of strong man. After, he tossed it with the popcorn. It hit the wall, landing on top of the popcorn bag.

He smirked. “You first,” he said, then winked at me. “But I’ll take you second, stepsis.”

Absolute chills as he crossed over me, tugging my hair before leaving the room. He left the dorm with a click of the door, and groaning, Kit tossed her head back.

“He’s literally the worst,” she said, shaking her head, but I admired her so much. She’d been able to stand up to him. I wanted to as well, but he honestly wasn’t worth it. That and I was reminded of the fact that he continued to have me blocked in a corner when it came to our parents. It seemed every call I got from either of them surrounded him. They wanted to know how he was doing, if he was good and we were getting along okay together.

“…if you know what’s good for you, you won’t make me wait long.”

Another reason I wasn’t trying to test my stepbrother. He really hadn’t been messing with me. I think because he was waiting.

Instead, I just endured, and this was made a lot easier by Kit. It was so nice to have her back, and I’d missed her like freaking crazy.

At first, of course, she’d pestered me about talking to my parents about Jax. More than once, especially since now he was driving her crazy with his lack of housekeeping and harem of women who came calling for him. Eventually, though, she accepted where I stood.

I didn’t want to create chaos in my life, for my family, and wouldn’t do anything I didn’t need to do. Anyway, Jax, at least to me, was basically furniture at this point. Besides that night in the shower, he hadn’t hassled me. He’d made good on his promise. He was waiting.

He’d be waiting well into his grave.