The V- in 403C - Jess Bryant Page 0,3
just because she’d gotten him medical treatment but because she’d told Jonah that being different was fine, but being different and also so much smarter than everyone around him meant that he had to be careful, because people like that boy and his friends would only see a threat in someone like him. He’d been very careful to keep his head down ever since.
Until tonight.
“Hey!” A husky voice all but yelled next to his ear and Jonah glanced up, nearly dropping his glass when he saw that it was the man from the dance floor standing right in front of him. He stopped breathing again as he met a pair of the most piercing blue eyes he’d ever seen, instantly worried he was about to have his face smashed in. But the man only smiled that heart-stopping smirk and motioned to the empty glass Jonah was holding, “Can I buy you a drink?”
Chapter Two
The club was hot and loud. The music thrummed so hard it vibrated deep into his bones and his heart sped to keep pace with the rhythm. It was too loud to think, too loud to hear the voices that constantly crept up in the back of his head. It was too loud to do anything but get lost in the music, which was exactly why he’d come here tonight.
Reed Matheson closed his eyes and let his body move to the music. He didn’t have to think, not right now. Just for tonight he could be here, be free, and be himself.
He’d have to buckle down and focus on his studies again tomorrow. He’d have to give serious consideration to his father’s ultimatum that Reed choose a major or else, and just what that or else would be if he didn’t. He’d have to think about the way his step-mother always averted her eyes, refusing to even look at him when his father sneered about him sleeping his way through every sorority house on campus, and the way they both cringed when Reed sneered back that he was working on the fraternity houses now too. Tomorrow he’d have to face that his rebellious teenage years were over and it was time to grow up and decide what kind of man he wanted to be.
But for tonight, he could simply dance and blow off steam after his first day of classes and not think about anything but how good it felt to have the beautiful girl beside him grinding her body against his.
God, he loved dancing. He swayed his hips to the beat of the music. Maybe that could be his major. He grinned at the very thought of walking back into his father’s house and telling his parents that he had finally settled on a major, letting them breathe a sigh of relief, and then dropping the bombshell that his new goal in life would be to become a professional dancer. His father might have an actual coronary on the spot but as much as he enjoyed antagonizing the old bastard, he didn’t want to kill him. Besides, if he tried to make dancing into a profession, he was certain he wouldn’t love it anymore and that would be a damn shame.
“Reed!” The girl beside him leaned up, yelling near his ear so he could hear her.
“Yeah?” He yelled back, sliding an arm around her and moving them to the beat.
Star Hernandez was a great dancer. He loved going to the club with her. She was also beautiful, fierce, and funny. They’d met at a mixer on campus as freshmen and instantly connected. Over the last two years they’d gone from friends to lovers and back again, been through break-ups and drunken hook-ups and played wingman for each other, somehow managing to remain friends through it all.
No matter what dumb shit Reed pulled, Star always forgave him and she never walked away from him. She was probably the best, most loyal friend he’d ever had, and he was certain that whenever he got his shit together and decided he was ready to be the settling down kind of guy that she was the woman he wanted to do it with. Of course, he’d never run that plan by her and even if he did wake up tomorrow and decide he was ready for commitment there was the teensy, tiny, little issue of Star’s current boyfriend to think about. Not that Reed liked to think about that guy. Instead, he figured that if it came down to the