Chapter Twelve
Jo
I’m putting my phone in the back pocket of my skirt when Jagger sidles up beside me. My heart skips a beat unwillingly even before I glance over and see that he’s wearing khakis and a short sleeve button-down. I swear the man makes everything look good.
“I hate this party. I always skip it,” I say, leaving out the part where I always skip it because I always go to Duke’s mixer that lands on the same day.
“It’s all right. Free food, cold beer. I mean, what more can you want?”
“You’re such a guy.” I snort, shaking my head.
“Can’t argue there.” He shrugs a shoulder. “So. You haven’t told your parents.”
“About our living arrangement?” I face him quickly, eyes wide. “No, did you?”
“Of course not.” He scowls. “I just don’t understand why you haven’t told them.”
“You know why.”
“No, I really don’t.” He says the words slowly, as if to give me an opportunity to mull it over.
I roll my eyes instead. Does he know nothing about my parents? They’ve always given my sister and me enough freedom to make our own mistakes, but living with a guy before we’re married or at least engaged? That would be a huge no-no. They’re very traditional in that regard and in a way, so are we. Lawrence asked me to move in with him and I gave him a definitive no. I know living with a Cruz brother would probably set my mother’s mind at ease in a sense, because she seems to like them more than she likes Misty and me most days, but still. She was the one who laid down the gauntlet without giving me a chance to explain or redeem myself in regard to the car accident. It was my mother who came up with the idea of me footing the bill for the crashed luxury car and I am not going to give her any news that may be good news. Not if I can help it.
“They’d make it a huge deal,” I say finally. “Also, me rooming with a guy? My mom would have a heart attack.”
“I don’t think you’re giving your mom enough credit. We’re not living together in a romantic way. We’re roommates.”
“Yes, I know.” I look away from him and out to the party. When I spot his brothers, who are looking at us along with the two guys they’re talking to, I smile and wave at them before turning back to the least nice Cruz brother. “We also share a bathroom.”
“I’m well aware. We’ve been living together for two days and you already clogged up the shower with your hair.”
“I did not.” My face pulls. “I pick up my hair after I wash it.”
“Yet it was clogging the drain.” He raises an eyebrow. “Don’t worry, I took care of it.”
I cross my arms. Jagger loves to get the last word in and I’m going to let him. The last couple of years of dating a popular football player, I’ve learned to pick my battles. Some people are just too competitive for their own good.
“The point is, I’m not going to tell them about our living arrangement.”
“That’s fine.” He shrugs a shoulder. “It’s not like I’m going around announcing it to the world.”
“Good.”
“Sure.” I shrug a shoulder back, keeping my arms crossed.
“Are you sticking around?”
“Probably not. Misty texted that she’s not coming and I’m over athletes.”
“You’re over athletes?” He chuckles. “Aren’t you an athlete?”
“Was.”
“What happened with that?” He turns to face me fully, genuine interest in his eyes. “UNC is a D1 school. You had to be great to be on the team.”
“I guess.” I turn away slightly.
The last thing I want is to get into this conversation, but if I know one thing about Jagger it’s that he won’t drop it. He’ll either run me down today or tomorrow or the next day but he will get to the bottom of it one way or another.
“So, what happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I know I’m not the only one asking you this.”
“What happened to your shoulder?” I meet his gaze. “Are you getting back on the field this season?”
“Fair.” His lips purse and he turns away.
I’m about to open my mouth to apologize because I didn’t mean it to sound that . . . mean . . . but I decide not to. He would have kept picking at my sore had I not fired that question at him, so I shouldn’t need to be any different. After a few moments, I decide to leave. I don’t want to stand there with Jagger and I definitely don’t want to speak to anyone at the party, especially now. If people are going to start asking me why I’m not playing volleyball, I may end up losing my shit and crying the rest of the afternoon and I’m not up for it. As it is, I’m emotionally spent from it all. I don’t need more reminders about how royally I fucked up my life.