Jock Reign (Jock Hard 5)

“How would I know he was coming?” I shoot back, agitated. Since when did I become her authority on all things Jack Dryden-Jones? Big deal, I’ve spent more alone time with him than her—that doesn’t make me an expert.

Thank goodness she doesn’t know about the movie…or about him walking me home in the rain…or about our phone mix-up.

She would flip.

“What is he doing?” she wants to know, going up on her tiptoes to get a better view of him.

“It looks as if he is just holding court.”

“Holding court? What does that mean?”

“You know, greeting people—everyone wants to talk to him so he’s just trying to get through the door and into the room.”

“He’s like a celebrity,” she says with stars in her eyes.

He truly is the king of campus.

I’m not surprised they wanted him on the rugby team, and I’m not surprised people are clamoring for an audience with him; Jack is charismatic and funny and handsome. Who wouldn’t want to be around a guy like that?

My stomach gives a little flip when he raises his head and our eyes meet.

He smiles. Shoots me a tiny little wave, much like one the Queen would give.

“Oh my gosh, did you see that,” Kaylee says beside me. “He just smiled and waved at me.”

Um, no, I’m pretty sure he was smiling and waving at me. But I don’t say those words out loud—I don’t want to hurt her feelings or make things weird, and quite honestly, perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe he is in fact smiling and waving at her.

“Listen, I’m going to use the bathroom. Do you want to come with?” I ask her, our other roommate having completely ditched us as soon as we walked in the door even though the intention was to spend time together tonight.

Kyle must be here.

They’re probably off making out in some back bedroom.

“No, I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” I don’t necessarily want her standing here all on her own, though I’m sure it won’t be long before someone recognizes her and comes over to chat.

“Really, Mom, I’m fine.” Her eyes are roaming the room now, so I slide away in an attempt to find the toilet.

I don’t actually have to pee.

I just need the time to gather my wits and figure out how I’m going to act when Jack finally makes his way over—and he will. There’s no doubt he came tonight because I told him I was going to be here.

Correction: told him we were going to be here.

My roommates and me.

The bathroom is located next to a set of stairs leading to a second level, and I am the third person in line, which is crazy considering this house party is nowhere near capacity. There are barely any people here yet, maybe thirty?

Seems all the girls have the same idea—

“Hey.”

A deep voice is at my back, and I turn to see Jack standing behind me in line.

“Don’t tell me you actually have to use the toilet.” My eyes roll.

“How did you guess?”

“You know, I actually came over here so I could avoid talking to you,” I tell him bluntly. “I’m not ready to explain to my roommate why you and I are suddenly so chummy.”

“Why would you avoid talking to me? I thought we were mates.”

I turn to face forward so to anyone watching, we’re not having a conversation. “Jack, you have enough mates. You don’t need me on that long list of admirers.”

“You don’t admire me?”

I smile despite myself. “I didn’t say that.”

Lying is not one of my talents, and it feels rude doing so now.

“Ah, so you do—you’re just not willing to admit it.”

“It’s complicated.”

There is only one other person in front of me in line for the bathroom now, and if I didn’t know any better, I would think she was listening to my conversation with Jack. She’s doing a great job pretending she’s not, though.

“And by the way, I read that dating profile. Salty, Jack? Really?” I whisper-hiss through clenched teeth.

“I thought that was a nice touch, bit of irony because you’re so even-keeled.”

Is he being sarcastic? It’s hard to tell with that accent.

“I’ve never wanted to strangle anyone, but I wanted to strangle you when I read that.”

“Are you saying you don’t like Jessie or…” He scratches his chin. “What was the other bloke’s name? It’s escaping me.”

“Mason.”

“Ah yes—Mason.” He takes a swig of beer. “Are you telling me neither of them catches your fancy?”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is the point? Don’t you want your profile to be catchy? What you had before was blah.” I look back in time to catch him looking down at me. “No offense.”

“Oh—none taken.” Sarcasm drips off my tongue.

The door to the bathroom opens and the girl in front of me steps inside, raising her brows once she looks me in the eye as she closes the door behind her. Yup, she was definitely eavesdropping on my conversation with Jack, dammit.