Schooling the Jock (Nerds Vs Jocks #1) - - Eli Easton Page 0,35

“No problem.” I didn’t add, You can freaking say that again.

Chapter Ten

Dobbs

I woke up to the sound of screaming and sat up in bed, panicked. It took me a second to remember where I was—on the daybed in Jesse Knox’s room. On a farm in Iowa.

The screaming was coming from somewhere in the house. My brain clicked into gear, and I recognized it as a child’s angry cries and not, you know, the chorale of death and dismemberment. My body relaxed.

Across the room, Jesse was out of bed and pulling on PJ bottoms. He slept only in his underwear—and I couldn’t help wondering if even that was for my sake. Did he sleep au naturel when he was alone? The body he was hastily covering up made me want to put my knuckle in my mouth and bite it. Thighs thick with muscle, plump bulge in his briefs, washboard abs, juicy muscled pecs and biceps, chest mostly hairless. And…there went the thermal shirt covering up all that deliciousness. Arg.

He gave me a worried glance. “Micah’s home. Sorry. Go back to sleep.” He headed out the door, closing it firmly behind him.

I flopped down on the bed and pulled the cover over my head, attempting to obey orders, mainly because, if I stayed awake, I’d be tempted to do something about the stiffness and swelling that had resulted from watching Jesse get dressed. And getting caught jerking off in the Knox family daybed was a humiliation I didn’t think I could bear. It was early still, or so it seemed from the light. I was too lazy to check my phone.

But the yelling was persistent and sleep illusive. There were low voices too. Jesse’s mom, Eli, Jesse. They must have discharged Micah from the hospital really early. Eli would be happy. Jesse’s dad was probably outside doing chores, and Jesse was helping his mom with the twins.

Was it weird that I had such a strong sense of how the household worked when I’d only been there two days?

Yes. It was weird. I was too aware of Jesse Knox. It was as if, somewhere inside me, there was a Jesse Knox-shaped sponge that wanted to soak up any information about him. That sponge was inconvenient at times—like the way it had soaked up Jesse’s status as hometown hero yesterday, and all the girls that mooned over him. Like that pretty ex-girlfriend, Carol. As if I needed confirmation Mr. Golden Boy was not for me.

Not that I wanted him to be mine. I did not.

Even if he wasn’t the cranky bastard I’d thought he was.

And even though there were moments of…electricity between us. Like out at the fence when we’d crowned Bella, or at the diner when I’d mentioned meat and Jesse had gotten so flushed—and not in a that’s gross kind of way. That electricity was like when you rubbed that ball in science class and your hair stood on end? Only it wasn’t my hair that rose. And it didn’t feel one-sided. It really didn’t. If I wasn’t certain Jesse Knox was straight, I’d totally think he was into me. But I had to be imagining it.

Also, it was hard not to have feels for this family. I was an only child. The concept of caring about a sibling was new to me. Not that I didn’t understand it, in theory. But it was real to me this weekend in a way it had never been before. Eli and Micah were Jesse’s blood, born from the same parents. That was bizarre when you really thought about it. Like, take your own genes, put them in a blender, and then you got another human being entirely. Or two other human beings. They were part of you but different.

I liked Eli. Obviously, he had quirks and wasn’t an easy kid. But I kind of liked complexity? He was interesting. And he was super smart.

And I was neeeever going back to sleep, was I?

I sat up. The screams in the distance had stopped. The house was quiet. I was suddenly curious to meet Micah. And maybe go for a run? Yeah. I needed it. It had been a week since I’d done that, and my body ached—that sickly feeling of shriveling muscles. I put on thermals and sweatpants with a fleece jacket over them and quietly went downstairs.

Two boys were entrenched in the window seat in the kitchen with Mack lying on the floor below them. Eli was absorbed in his iPad, as usual,

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