24. Jayden
24
JAYDEN
Tori was in full-on teacher mode as she worked with Kyle at the study group on Tuesday night. Normally, we didn’t talk much except for when someone called for a study break. This was a place to focus and get some work done. But Tori was straddling the line perfectly. She was helping Kyle enough to get him started, but not enough to make him feel talked down to. And she was keeping their conversation short enough that it wasn’t bothering any of the rest of us.
Except I couldn’t accomplish much because I kept watching her.
I hadn’t seen it last year—the teacher side of her. Yes, she was kind and caring, like teachers should be, but I’d never seen her take charge, instruct, and assign work. She was a natural, though. If she could make Kyle fall in line, she could whip any high school student into shape.
She had her hair up in that no-nonsense ponytail, and I couldn’t draw my eyes away from the way it moved and bounced as she turned her head or bent over a laptop. All she needed was to peer over half-glasses set low on her nose, and she’d be the perfect fantasy of a strict schoolteacher—or a naughty librarian.
Kyle knew I was watching her and seemed amused. But for the most part, he worked, which was a minor miracle. Tori talked him through the next section and then left him to do it. She was that good.
Roger didn’t seem bothered by her and Kyle’s low voices. And Lucas, of course, was oblivious to any subtext going on around us. When he was in deep concentration mode, the rest of us could've had an orgy right here on the table, and he wouldn’t have noticed.
And shit, now that image was yet another thing keeping from working on my assignment, which was to create a risk assessment report for a fictitious company handling sensitive customer data. Which normally would interest me—but not as much as Tori interested me.
God, even Kyle was getting more done than me, which was pretty pathetic. Except then he paused, checking something on his phone and scowling before setting it back down. Then he got back to work—unlike me. I just couldn’t help watching Tori. Or thinking about her while staring blankly at my laptop.
Then Roger said he had to meet up with his roommate. He gathered up his stuff, wished us all a goodnight, and left.
And the energy around the table changed completely.
Tori looked around at each of us in turn, her eyes wide. A minute ago, there had been four men and one woman all studying here in perfect harmony.
Now there were three men and one woman, and it felt entirely different.
Tori knew it, judging by those dark, flashing eyes. Kyle knew it, judging by the hint of a grin on his face. And I knew it. Only Lucas, still absorbed in his homework, remained oblivious.
I caught Tori’s eye, and she raised her eyebrows. Did she look worried at the extra charge in the air? No. She actually looked excited. For about the thousandth time, I thought about that moment at the movie night when she realized that I was watching Kyle rub her thigh. And how her arousal had only increased when I stroked her other one. It really made me wonder what might have happened if Lucas had been as blind then as he was now.
Finally, Kyle broke the silence. “So, how do you call for a study break?”
Tori smiled at him. “I think you just did.”
“If you call for it, you have to decide what we do,” I informed him.
“Oh, really?” He tilted his head as if thinking, but I saw it—that wasn’t news to him. Not at all.
But Tori didn’t realize that. She sat back, stretching her shoulders as she turned to her student. “You could lead us through some stretches—like maybe some you learned on the team?”
Finally, Lucas looked up, possibly because the idea of being made to do calisthenics was an alarming one. But I would’ve bet a million bucks that wasn’t what Kyle had in mind.
And I was right. “How about a game?” he said to her.
Tori grinned. “You already had your last game over the weekend.”
Kyle reached out, casually slinging his arm over the back of her chair. “And you watched from the stands. So how about today, I pick a game we all can play?”
“Sounds good,” Tori said encouragingly. She has on a pink, long-sleeve t-shirt that was tight across her chest. Her thick hair curved over one shoulder. She looked good. But she also looked like a mouse that didn’t realize the cat sitting next to it was about to pounce. “What do you want to play?”
“Truth or Dare.”
Silent surprise followed that. Finally, Lucas spoke. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Dude, we’re not in middle school,” I added. “What’s next, spin the bottle?”
Kyle looked around the table. “Not unless we add a few more girls to the group.”
“We’re not playing Truth or Dare,” Lucas said.
His stepbrother was the picture of innocence. “I thought the person who called for the study break got to choose?”
Tori had been quiet until this point. “They do.”
“Then Truth or Dare it is.”
“Uh, I don’t think you and Lucas daring each other is going to end well,” I pointed out. In fact, it might end in murder charges.
“We’ll each ask Tori a question or a dare. Then she’ll ask each of us. One round for each of us.” Kyle had clearly planned ahead.
Lucas glared at Kyle. “Then she’s playing three times as much as the rest of us.”
“She can handle it.”
We all looked at her.
The tip of her nose turned pink, but she managed a nonchalant voice. “Yes, I can.”
“But do you want to?” I asked.
She gave me an impish smile. “I could use a study break.”
All right, if she was game, then I was. “Who starts?”
“We don’t.” Lucas wasn’t on board.
Tori gave him a soft smile. “It’s just a quick break. Then we’ll get back to work.” As if that had been his concern. “Who goes first?”
Kyle waved a hand in my direction. “Why don’t you, Jay.”
“All right. Tori, truth or dare?” God, that took me back. To being kids trying to get away with as much as possible while hanging out in someone’s basement.
“Truth,” she said with a grin. Big surprise there.
Hmm, what did I want to know? A lot of things. But some of them were better suited for when she was snuggled against me in the hammock. Okay, I had it.
“Have you ever had a dream about someone in this room?”
“Yes.” Her peach skin turned pink.
“Who?” From the look on Lucas’s face, I wasn’t the only one who wanted to know.
She grinned. “One question each. Truth or dare?” she asked me.
My middle school self would’ve said dare, but I didn’t want to put her on the spot to come up with one. “Truth.”
She tilted her head to the side as she thought it over, and as always, I couldn’t stop staring at the way it made her glossy hair swing back and forth. What the fuck was wrong with me? Thanks to her, I was never going to be able to date a woman with short hair again.
Finally, she smiled. “What makes the difference between an okay kiss and a really good one?”
“That’s easy. Who you’re sharing it with.”
Kyle rolled his eyes at my answer, but Tori seemed to like it.
“You go next,” Kyle said to Lucas. They’d known each other for over five years and still didn’t use each other’s names if they could help it. Yep, we were one big, happy family.
“Truth or dare?” Lucas asked Tori.
“Truth.”
He thought for a moment. “What’s something a guy does that makes you melt?”
“Ooh, interesting.” She smiled, like one of her future students had just raised his hand to ask a good question. “There are lots of things, but… well, sometimes if a man looks at me like I’m the only person in the world, even if we’re in a crowded place…” She trailed off, a slightly embarrassed smile on her face. “ Especially if we’re in a crowded place.”
“Good answer,” Lucas said. There wasn’t much doubt why he liked it—he basically always looked at Tori that way.
“Truth or dare?” she asked him.
“Dare,” he said, to my surprise. Maybe he was afraid that Tori would ask him something he wasn’t ready to admit to.
The gleam in her eyes showed she was ready for it. “Sometime this week, I dare to you to give me another foot rub.”
Kyle sat up straighter. “ Another one?”
“It’s a deal,” Lucas said, and he returned the smile Tori beamed at him.
We all turned to Kyle.
“Ladies first.”
Tori studied him, and I could almost hear her brain cycling through the possibilities. Twice she started to ask something but stopped each time. Finally, she said, “This is hard.”
Kyle smirked. “Maybe because you’ve been asking me questions non-stop since you’ve met me.”
“That’s what good tutors do.” Lucas bristled.
“Not the kind she’s been asking me.”
Tori smacked him on his arm, and that seemed to help her decide. “If you had to make out with one guy on your baseball team, who would it be?”
If she’d hoped to embarrass him, it didn’t work.
“Baxter,” he said. Then he shrugged. “He’s the second best-looking guy on the team. Do I need to tell you who the best-looking one is?”
She shook her head, a smile on her face. “Not unless that’s the question you’re going to ask me.”
“You haven’t told me if you want to choose truth or dare yet.”
“Truth.”
Smart woman.
Except Kyle looked pleased with her answer. That couldn’t be good. It suddenly dawned on me that it was no coincidence that he’d chosen to go last.
“If you had to pick one of us to be your boyfriend, who would you choose?”
Tori reeled back, as if slapped.
“Uncool, dude.” He had no right to put her on the spot like that.
Tori’s mouth hung open as if she’d forgotten how speaking worked.
“You don’t have to answer that,” Lucas growled. As if he wasn’t dying to know the answer. But as always, he put her needs over his.
“She’s a grown woman,” Kyle muttered. “She doesn’t need a guard dog.” He looked at Tori, his eyebrows raised. “Well?”
“Can I use my safeword?” she said at last.
“Nope. My question made you feel uncomfortable, not unsafe.”
“That’s not—” She trailed off, looking confused.
Kyle smirked. “You could always switch to dare.”
It was like seeing a car about to cross over the median into oncoming traffic and not being able to stop it.
But it was too late.
“Okay, I choose dare,” Tori said. Completely unaware that the entire game had been orchestrated by Kyle to reach this point. But I couldn’t blame her—I didn’t catch on until it was too late, either.
Shit.
This wasn’t good.
Lucas knew too, and he looked like he was about to murder Kyle, who hadn’t—yet—done anything wrong.
Yet.
Kyle leaned back in his chair, reaching a new level of smug arrogance. He drew out the moment, likely enjoying Lucas’s anger. Or just enjoying having Tori exactly where he wanted her.
I just hadn’t figured out where that was yet.
“This dare isn’t for now. It’s for Sunday night.”
She swallowed hard, and I realized that meant something to her.
“What’s on Sunday?” I asked.
Kyle smirked, leaving it up to Tori to answer.
“Our date,” she said quietly.
“Your what?” Lucas said sharply. For such a smart guy, he sure as hell played right into Kyle’s hands a lot. At least when it came to Tori.
“Yes.” She didn’t meet any of our eyes. “We, um, a long time ago, we agreed to go on a date.”
“And how did he get you to agree to that?” I asked.
She shrugged, her cheeks turning pink.
“I asked her,” Kyle said. They exchanged a quick glance.
Oh yeah, there was definitely more to the story than they were letting on.
But then Tori caught my eye, and while she didn’t look as excited as she had a few minutes ago, the look on her face clearly wasn’t “Jayden, save me from this brute.” So I let out the breath I’d been holding.
“Okay, what do I have to do on Sunday?” she asked Kyle, apparently okay with selling her soul to the devil.
He leaned toward her, his arm still around the back of her chair. It was like Lucas and I had ceased to exist. “For our date, I want you to wear something that makes you feel sexy.”
Her jaw dropped in the cutest little way. But Lucas reacted before she could.
“You can’t dare her to dress like a slut.”
The word hit hard, and Tori looked stung.
Kyle took it in stride. “I didn’t.”
I had to agree with him. “He just said she should wear what she feels sexy in. For all we know, that could be a nun’s habit.”
“It could be,” Kyle agreed. “But it’s not. You choose what to wear, Victoria, but it has to be clothes that make you feel good about yourself. Something that you think looks sexy on you. And I bet you I’ll agree.”
“This study break is over,” Lucas said angrily.
As always, when Lucas got heated, Kyle got cool. “Yeah, that was the end. We each got one turn.”
He stood up. “I mean, the entire study session is over. I’ll drive you home.” That last part was directed at Tori.
That seemed to trigger Kyle. “She’ll ride in my truck.”
Tori looked from one stepbrother to the other, clearly not wanting to choose between them. And, if I wasn’t mistaken, irritated that they were having a pissing contest about this in the first place.
Thank god Lucas and I had driven separately today. “Would you like to ride with me?”
“Yes, please.” She was out of her seat so fast it looked like she’d levitated. We both gathered our things rather quickly, anxious to get away from the glowering stepbrothers.
Once again, those two morons had driven her straight to me.
And I couldn’t claim that I minded very much.