Stupid Girl(9)

“Astronomy major? Damn woman, your brain must be the size of a basketball in there.” She pointed to my head and her nose squinched up. “I hate science.”

“Okay, let me get this straight.” I smiled. “You want to be a nurse, but you hate science and chores?”

Tessa stared, blinked, then barked out a squeaky giggle. “Yeah, but I love people, and I want to be a labor and delivery nurse. Not much intense science involved there, right? It’s all gravity, baby! Pretty much just a push and catch sort of deal!” She laughed, and so did I. Surprisingly, I felt at ease with Tessa. If someone had pointed her out and said we’d be friends, I’m not a hundred percent positive I would have agreed. We were just so very opposite. Yet, I liked her.

A tinkling sound came from Tessa’s cell, and she grabbed it off the bed, her fingers flying over the keys as she responded to a text. “Cole’s out front! Let’s go!”

We met Tessa’s brother outside, and for some reason my eyes slipped to the spot of lawn where Brax and I had fallen and met. Kissed. Brax had such arresting features, and Tessa was right about those eyes. Shocking. I mentally shook my head to push all dangerous thoughts of Braxton Jenkins out, and glanced at Cole. He and Tessa looked alike, for the exception that Cole didn’t have blonde streaks through his hair. His was buzzed cut, and you could tell he was an athlete; strong build, tall, broad shoulders. He was a cute guy, and I was pretty sure he knew it. Tessa introduced us.

“Hey,” he said quickly. He barely acknowledged me with a glance, and it had lasted all of a half-second. He turned to his sister. “Let’s get this stuff out of here, huh? I got somewhere to be.”

“Don’t be such a shithead, Cole,” Tessa snapped. She looked at me, rolled her eyes, and we started unloading Tessa’s belongings. When she suddenly and loudly cleared her throat, I looked up and she winked at me. “Cole, by the way … how ’bout Brax Jenkins was over here hitting on Olivia earlier?”

I laughed lightly, totally embarrassed, and passed a fast look at Cole over the top of my boxes. “He was definitely not hitting on me.”

Cole glanced at me, and quickly weighed me in from my boots to my hair. It was so plain on his face that he, too, was doubtful Brax Jenkins had any interest in me at all. Still, he put in his two cents. “I’m not gonna talk shit about my teammate, but just like I tell Tess. Stay away from him. He’ll hurt you.”

“Uh, thanks for the warning,” I said quietly. Not only wasn’t I sure Cole had even heard me, he didn’t seem to notice or care, which was okay by me. Staying well below the radar was my goal, and that seemed to coincide with steering clear of Winston’s bad boy. And his teammates. And anyone else who knew him.

I glanced at Tessa, who shrugged, and I didn’t say anything else as we walked back to the dorm. I hadn’t planned on being around Brax at all, making it pretty easy to stay away from him. Besides, all these warnings and talk about Brax Jenkins was sort of ridiculous. He’d knocked me over. He’d reacted on hot-blooded male instinct and given me the briefest of kisses. He’d helped me carry stuff in. That’s it. It wasn’t a big deal, not a date, and he certainly wasn’t interested in me. Not a proposal, as he’d pointed out. As Tessa had so delicately put it, I was not his type. Not at all.

So why did my lips still tingle?

At our room, Cole put down his load. “Later,” he called over his shoulder. He was really speaking to Tessa and not me. He disappeared out the door.

“Sorry about that,” Tessa apologized. “He’s a butthead, just usually not so damn rude. Probably in a bad mood or something. I swear his PMS is worse than mine. Man Periods. They’re a fucking beast.”

A grin pushed passed my lips. “I’ve got three brothers. And a surly old cowboy grandpa. I know exactly what you mean.”

Tessa’s gaze assessed me, and she stared at my lip. “Where did you get that scar?”

My fingertip grazed it, and it felt as huge as the lie I was about to tell. I shrugged. “It was just an accident. I was thrown from a horse I wasn’t supposed to be riding, and a barbed wired fence caught my face when I landed. Several stitches later, and, well, here it is.” The lie came easier and easier every time I told it—especially since I didn’t really remember how my lip got busted, only that it’d happened that night, with Kelsy. The taste in my mouth, like sucking on pennies, I remembered. Only later did I realize it’d been blood. The emergency room, and getting nine stitches in my lip? That memory will always be stuck in my head, no matter what. Forcing myself to shrug the awful recollection, I kept a casual gaze trained on Tessa.