A Shattered Moment (Fractured Lives 1)

I contemplated her words. She was smoking hot, and judging from the way she was eyeing me, she liked what she saw. I glanced over toward Mac. Her head was down like it had been all afternoon since our exchange earlier. Her hair cascaded over her face, hiding it from view. By the way she was feverishly typing on her iPad, it was obvious I was the farthest thing from her mind. Her indifference should have turned me off. I might not be a chiseled Greek god, but I’d never had much trouble in the girl department. As evidenced by Red standing in front of me, asking me out. I didn’t need to chase after someone who clearly wasn’t interested, but that was the problem. I swear I’d caught a hint of interest from Mac before I commented on her smile. I’m not sure why, but after that she clammed up. I guess I came on too strong. Some girls don’t like that. Regardless, I may have struck out, but I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.

“Can’t. I have a bitch of a test coming up in anatomy,” I answered, dragging my eyes away from Mac and back to the redhead. She seemed put out that she didn’t have my full attention.

“Come on, everyone deserves a break, right?” She placed a manicured hand on my bicep, sliding her fingers up to my shoulder and back down.

“Believe me, I wish I could, but I need to hit this hard tonight.” I held up my book for evidence.

“You sure that’s what you want to hit tonight? You have no idea what you’re missing,” she purred, still softly running her hand along my arm, leaving no doubt as to what she wanted. Her words had the opposite effect of what she had hoped, like a bucket of cold water being dumped on my head. I knew her type. Hell, freshman and sophomore year I’d seen more ass than a proctologist. My roommates and I had been in hog heaven after realizing many college girls were much more prone to jump into bed than t

hey were in high school. It was as if they’d left their inhibitions back home and were now embracing their inner bad girl.

Eventually, it hit me that my friends and I couldn’t be the only guys on campus getting lucky with some of these girls. One night at a party, I walked in on Lisa, a girl I was starting to fall for, while she was going down on some douche. Needless to say, I slowed down in the chick department after that. My roommates like to tease me now and call me a monk, but I’m not dumb enough to get burned twice.

“No thanks,” I replied, gently extracting her fingers from my arm.

Apparently, rejection was new to her, because she looked baffled. “You sure?” Her lips pouted as a last-ditch attempt to be cute.

My eyes zeroed in on her puckered lips. Despite myself, I had to admit, I was turned on. What could I say? I’m still a guy. “Yeah. My test won’t pass itself.” I exhaled. My words had far less conviction than I was displaying on the outside.

“Maybe some other time?” she asked.

“Uh, sure. Maybe I’ll run into you again sometime.” The final cardinal sin I committed was not asking for her phone number. My roommates would definitely kick my ass and call me a pussy if they heard about this one.

She continued to look perplexed as she shrugged her shoulders and walked off without another word.

My eyes followed one of the finest rear ends I had ever seen, and for a moment, I felt like maybe my ass did need to be kicked.

The guy sitting in the chair to my right looked at me like I had turned down a million-dollar lottery ticket. “Dude, I can’t believe you just said no to that.” He was voicing my own sentiments, practically drooling as she pushed through the exit door. “Did you see how fucking long her legs were? Legs like that were made to wrap around your waist while you see if you can bottom out. You know what I mean?” he said, thrusting his hips in and out. “You gotta be crazy, dude. Or high.”

“Crazy” pretty much fit. Feeling a bit like a chump, I shoved my book and papers into my backpack. Studying at the library had proven to be too much of a challenge. I needed space to spread out and access to food and drinks to fuel my brain. Not to mention, the library was too quiet. Apparently, I needed Michael’s tunes blasting from his room and the sound of my best friend, Chad, playing Halo at full blast to get any studying done.

Shouldering my backpack, I nodded at the guy who thought I was a total dick for not taking up Red on her offer and headed for the door. I was tempted to stop and talk to Mac one last time, but I decided to play it cool and give her a little space. I’d be seeing her again. I would make sure of that.

The sun had already set, but the air was still thick with humidity when I pushed the library door open to leave. I barely noticed, setting off purposefully toward my apartment on the edge of campus. I was used to heat, having been born in south Florida. Cold weather was a completely different story. My parents took me skiing in Aspen when I turned eighteen, and I was a total pansy. I thought my balls would never recover from the frigid temperatures. Give me heat and humidity any day.

It looked like every light was on in the apartment I shared with Chad, my high school best friend, and Michael, a guy I had met from work. I could hear the sound of Master Chief’s voice from Halo through the front door as I twisted the knob.

“Where you been all day?” Chad greeted me without looking away from the game on our fifty-inch TV.

“Studying. Weren’t you playing when I left this morning?” I sank down on the couch, reaching for a slice of pizza from the box on the coffee table.

“Mom, is that you?” he asked, shooting an alien. “No, not you, Slick. I was talking to B. He just walked in,” Chad said into the microphone of the headset he was wearing, speaking to one of his online teammates.

“Like I’d claim a douche like you as my kid. And tell Slick I said what’s up.” Chad responded by throwing pizza crust at my head. I snatched it from the air before it could hit the ground, and shoved it into my mouth.

“Want to play?” He tossed one of the spare controllers my direction.

“Nah, I can only beat your guys’ asses so many times.” I placed the controller on the table and ducked when he threw an empty beer can at my head.

“You wish, bitch. I’m a Halo god.”

“Riiight,” I teased. “I need to shower anyway.”

“I thought I smelled something foul.”

“Shit, that’s your upper lip, bro.” I pulled off my T-shirt as I stood up and headed toward the bathroom.

“You’ll have to get Sherman out of the shower,” he called after me.