Schooling the Jock (Nerds Vs Jocks #1) - - Eli Easton Page 0,51
the administration—or the student body—Jesse Knox was humping Jeffrey Dobson in the library. Fuck. Sell tickets. Cold fear slicked through me. I shook my head and pulled away. “Sorry. Can’t.” I couldn’t even specify what I couldn’t do.
“Don’t freak out. It’s okay.” Dobbs looked at me with concern in his eyes.
“Yeah. No.” I stepped back farther.
“Come on, Jesse. It was just a kiss. And I’m not going to tell anyone.” But he looked disappointed. Right. Disappointed that I was such a chicken shit. He smiled tightly. “I’ll behave like a total gentleman. We’ve got to be on the same page for Quiz Bowl. Don’t run out on me.”
I swallowed hard. “I won’t. But I’ve gotta go.”
“All right.” His frown deepened.
One more step back, and then I rushed to the table, grabbed my backpack, and ran out of the library like something was chasing me.
And something was. The truth.
Chapter Fourteen
Dobbs
I was such an idiot. I’d wanted to answer the conundrum, once and for all, of whether or not Jesse Knox was gay. And I had. Woo-hoo. Only, in the process, I’d ruined any possible friendship between me and Jesse. And for that, I was really, deeply sorry.
I’d manipulated him. And I’d gotten what I’d deserved. Turns out I wasn’t such a clever monkey after all.
AITA? Yes. Yes, Dobbs, you are the asshole.
Which was super unfortunate since those few moments of clandestine kissing in the library had been the hottest experience of my entire life. Damn, he was so fine. I’d never dared dream of making out with Jesse. The memory of the way he’d tasted, of the desperate press of his cock along mine through our jeans, the way the muscles of his arms had felt under my hands… It was enough to make all the blood rush to my crotch. Only said erection had never been as much of a fool’s errand as now. He’d probably never let me get within ten feet of him again.
And maybe, you know, he could have used a friend. He was obviously closeted. I should have offered him a sounding board, not tried to trick him into exposing himself. Publicly too.
In the library, Dobbs. Really? You idiot.
Only, in trying to seduce him enough to get a reaction and prove my point, I’d seduced myself. I hadn’t been able to keep my damn hands off him. Or any other part of me either.
For the next entire week, he wouldn’t give me a chance to apologize. He didn’t respond to my texts about meeting up to run in the mornings. He’d come to the Quiz Bowl group practice on Wednesday night and an impromptu one Sunday morning. But even at those events, he’d avoided looking at me. I’d been iced out, and ouch, it stung. I didn’t try to push it. I had a couple of tests and a paper due, and hell, I deserved to be ghosted.
February thirteenth, the Milwaukee meet was on a Saturday morning, so we planned to drive to Milwaukee on Friday night. We’d traveled all over the Midwest for Quiz Bowl, sometimes as long as ten hours, so it shouldn’t have been a big deal. Only this was Jesse’s first meet, and he wasn’t talking to me, so I was totally stressed about it.
Since only four or five of us went for division one meets, we usually took Jax’s SUV, a Chevy Blazer his parents had bought him. Ginormous and comfortable, it had a Bluetooth audio player and all-wheel drive in case of snow—everything a guy could possibly need in Wisconsin.
We didn’t leave until 8 o’clock. I’d hoped to have a moment to talk to Jesse before we got in the car, so when I spotted him out on the front lawn waiting, I hurried to get out there first.
“Hey,” I said, jogging down the icy porch steps with my backpack. “Are you ready for this?”
“The magic eight ball says ‘probably not,’” he answered with a tight smile, but he wouldn’t look me in the eye.
I glanced around. We were alone. “Look, I want to apologize.”
“Don’t,” he said sharply.
“No, I really, really need to,” I insisted. “I should never have, uh, come on to you like that. I selfishly wanted to find out if you played for my team. And that was such an uncool way to go about it. I should have just talked to you.”
Jesse said nothing, but his gaze met mine for the first time in a freaking week, and it felt like a long drink of water.