Crap.

I walked into biology. Brody glanced up quickly before returning to his notes. His head shot back up, and he looked at me a second time. His eyes stayed on me, watching as I made my way from the door across the room to our table.

A slight smile touched his lips. “Hey.”

“Hi,” I said. “How are you?”

“Good. You?”

“Fine. Better than the poor earthworms are gonna be. It’s a deadly day for—”

A hand roughly grabbed my arm. I winced as I was swung around. A second hand wrapped around the back of my neck before a mouth descended on mine in a hard, demanding kiss.

I turned my face away, pushing against the person with both hands. “Jaden,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Damn, baby, you look hot. I’m gonna have to follow you around all day to make sure guys keep their eyes and hands to themselves.” His hand traveled down my arm to cup my rear. I stepped away.

“Jaden, not in class.”

“Later, then.” He winked at me before he left.

“Just how short a leash does he have you on, anyway?” Brody asked, watching Jaden leave the room.

“That isn’t something you need to worry your little brain over, Ace. It’s overworked as it is. Just concentrate on biology and leave the rest alone,” I snapped.

“Where’s your collar to go with your leash?”

“Mind your own business,” I bit out.

Brody chuckled. “Whatever. Such a waste.”

“What is?” I asked with an exasperated sigh.

He shrugged a shoulder. “Nothin’. Let’s start carving up this earthworm. You’re not gonna get all girlie on me, are you?”

I rolled my eyes and slipped on a pair of gloves, making the first cut on the worm. The outside was covered in sticky slime. I pinched my gloved fingers together, opening them slowly, watching the slime stretch between them. I looked at Brody and smiled.

He tilted his head and watched me. “What?”

I darted my hand out and wiped it across the blue button-down he wore open over a soft, gray T-shirt. “How’s that for girlie?”

“Okay, so you’re not squeamish.” He laughed and shrugged out of his shirt. I nearly groaned when I saw his taut biceps flex, especially when I got a glimpse of a tattoo encircling one perfectly toned muscle.

Oh, he’s got ink. Can he get any hotter?

For the rest of the class period, we worked on the earthworm dissection. When we finished early, we turned in our work and sat silently at our table, working on other classwork. The silence was awkward and uncomfortable. I spent the majority of the time pretending to read over my notes, trying not to think about him sitting next to me, inhale in his direction and smell him, or, for the love of all of that was holy, look at him, while I counted the seconds until the bell rang and released me from biology Hell.

I was sitting in my usual spot in the library during independent study on Friday when Brody came over and drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “Can I sit with you?” He stood next to my shoulder where I worked on my calculus homework.

I looked up at him and nodded once. “You need more help with the chain rule?”

He didn’t look at me when he answered. “Ah, no, actually, I think I have that under control.”

“I figured as much. I saw your quiz score. I don’t think you had as much trouble as you led me to believe.”

“Guilty.”

I let the top of my pencil drop onto my paper and looked at him. “The question is why?”

He shrugged. “I wanted to sit with you.”

“It’s a free country. If you wanted to sit at this table, you didn’t need my permission or an excuse.”

Brody shook his head. “No, you’re not listening. I wanted to sit with you. The table is inconsequential.”

“Is there a particular reason you are insistent on sharing a table with me, Ace? We don’t particularly like each other.”

Brody smiled and leaned forward on his forearms. “Who says I don’t like you?”

“Okay. I don’t like you, then.” I drummed my pencil on my paper. “Besides, I’m dating someone. So if that’s what you looking for, I’m not interested.” I shrugged a shoulder.

“You want me,” he said with a grin. “Admit it. You want to go out with me.”

I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I took my time to write my name on my homework. Silence stretched between us. Finally, I looked at him. “You’re absolutely right. I’ve just been pining away for some guy with a reputation for doing ’em and dropping ’em to come along and sweep me off my feet.”

“Nah, you don’t care about reputations. You’ll go out with me.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Ace.”

The last bell of the day rang, and Brody smiled at me. He started to shove his things in his backpack. When I didn’t move, he stopped and looked at me. “Staying?” I nodded. “Why? Is there something going on I don’t know about?”

“Well, if you don’t know about it, then you probably aren’t invited.” I gave him a tight smile.

He chuckled, just a soft rumble in his chest. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you Monday, Willow. Have a nice weekend.”

Oh, crap. I should keep my mouth shut.

“I have a competition this afternoon and then the football game. It’s easier to stay than go home and come back.”

He stopped and looked at me over his shoulder. “What kind of competition?”

I felt my cheeks turn pink, and I looked down at my paper.

Why did I bring it up, and why do I care what he thinks about it, anyway?

“A chess tournament. Usually they aren’t on Fridays, but this one had to be rescheduled and today was the only available date.”

He turned and looked at me. “Chess?”

I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin. “Yeah, so?”

“Nothing. It’s, um, I think it’s great. It’s just not what I expected.”

“For a bimbo, you mean,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Am I ever gonna live that down?”

I bit my lip to keep from smiling. “Probably not.”

“Ah, I see.” He smiled. “You’re not as pissed as you want me to think you are.”

“Oh, no, I am. It’s just funny… a chess-playing, honor-society member, bimbo.” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

Brody rolled his eyes. “I did apologize for that comment. So you play chess and are a member of the honor society?” Walking back to the table, he stood next to me. “And you date the captain of the football team.” He drummed his thumb on the tabletop.

“Yes. Do you have a point?”

“You just seem more like you’d be his tutor than his girlfriend.” Brody shrugged a shoulder.

I tried not to laugh, but did anyway. “That’s how we met.”

Brody chuckled and nodded. “So, does he watch your tournaments?”

I snorted. “No.”

He drummed his thumb against the table again, looking to the side. He glanced at me quickly before looking down. “Ah,” he cleared his throat, “would you mind if I stayed and watched?”

“Oh, um, why?”

Brody shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t have anything better to do.”

What’s his angle? I can’t figure him out. Do I want him to stay?

“I can’t stop you from staying,” I said slowly.

“That’s not exactly what I asked.” He looked at me, his gaze locked on mine.

“I guess I don’t mind if you stay.”

What? Why did I just say that? He gave me an out. I just had to say no! Stupid, very stupid.

“Maybe we can grab a burger after?” he asked.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea—”

“Just as friends. Nothing more,” he said quickly.

“Maybe. I’m not sure…”

“How about this—if you win, we get a burger and celebrate. If you lose, well, you go do whatever it is you do after a tournament and I’ll leave you to it.”

“So you’re encouraging me to lose, then?” I asked, looking at him through my lashes.

He laughed. “I was hoping you’d see it as encouragement to win, so you’d get to eat dinner with me and enjoy my sparkling personality and wit.”