Best Served Cold (12 page)

“I’m late.” I blurted out and then cringed. I wanted to be smooth and scornful, but instead I sounded ridiculous.

“For what? Your next class?” Liam dropped my arm and stuck his hands into the pockets of his coat.

“No, for work. I need to be at Dr. Fleming’s house in twenty minutes. My last class ran long.” I sidestepped off the path. “So I’ll have to catch you later.”

“Wait a second, I’ll walk with you.” He fell into step with me, and I rolled my eyes. All I had wanted out of this day was the chance to get through it and focus on my upcoming date with Jesse. I didn’t plan to think about Liam all day. But here he was.

“What do you want, Liam?” This time I was able to affect disinterest and impatience, and I smiled a little in self-congratulation.

“I just wanted to talk to you. I know I don’t have any right--”

“No, you don’t. That’s one thing we’ll agree on.”

His jaw tightened, and I recognized the expression of discomfort.
Good.

“Julia, I’m worried about you. I haven’t seen you around for a while, and then--”

“Oh, geez, let me think, why haven’t you seen me around for a while? Seems like I used to see you quite a bit. Oh, that’s right. You were my boyfriend. And you broke up with me. And didn’t tell me. Until you had your arm down some slut’s shirt, groping her in front of all of our friends. Yeah, it’s coming back to me now.”

Giff and I hadn’t ever discussed how I was supposed to act if I came face-to-face with Liam, but it turned out that didn’t matter. I was handling this fine on my own, and it was exhilarating.

Liam grabbed my arm and stopped, pulling me off the walkway. “Can’t we get past this? I get it. I was a dick, you hate me.”

I jerked my arm back. “First, don’t use the past tense. From my point of view, you’re still a dick. And get past it? Wow, Liam, I must have missed all your messages of apology. All the times you came by my room to explain? I guess I wasn’t home.”

He looked at the ground. “Fine, let it all out. Tell me how much I suck.”

I stamped my foot in frustration. “God, Liam! You don’t get it, and you never have. You’re trying to make me sound unreasonable, but guess what, buddy? This one’s all you. And yeah, you suck, but not even because you’re a dick. It’s because you’re a coward. You weren’t man enough to come to me and say what you wanted.”

I turned and made it two steps before he caught my hand and pulled me back.

I looked up with narrowed eyes.

“Don’t touch me. Ever.” Anger boiled very near the surface.

Liam ignored me and snaked an arm around my back, over my bulky coat. “As I remember, that’s not what you used to say. As a matter of fact, you used to beg me to--”

I shoved my elbow deep into his side, and Liam bent over with an oomph of air. I leaned just close enough for him to hear me.

“You’re a pig, Liam, and I don’t know what I ever saw in you.”

I stalked up the rest of the path to the car, threw my bag into the passenger seat, climbed in and locked the doors, just in case Liam decided to follow me. I had to force myself to keep to the speed limit until I hit the open country roads. Then I let loose, rolling over hills and around curves.

My phone buzzed as I turned into the Flemings’ driveway. I checked it once I was parked.

Are we still on for 6:15? I have class until 6, will just come right to dorm.

I smiled. That was exactly what I needed: a reminder that not all guys were Liam Bailey. I texted back quickly before I went into the house.

Yes, sounds good. See you then. Just got to your house.

Don’t let the rugrat wear u out. Looking forward to tonight.

I hugged that little tidbit to me for the rest of the afternoon. He was looking forward to seeing me.

“Does the green look too much?”

I turned around from the mirror, holding a shirt in front of me. It was a deep green, with a low scoop neck and flowing sleeves. On the hanger it didn’t look like much, but when I put it over my head, it clung and draped just right.

“Too much what?” Ava tilted her head, looking the outfit.

“You know, too much...like, too dressy for the movies.”

“It’s a date, Jules. You want to look pretty. Go for it.”

I dropped the shirt over my head, pulled my hair out of the neck and studied my image again. Not bad. I’d made the effort to curl my usually-straight brown hair, and it looked good lying on the green of the shirt.

Next I debated between boots and my simple little black ballet flats and opted for the flats. There wasn’t any snow on the ground, and they just looked better.

“Okay, I’m ready.” I held out my arms and stood before Ava. “How do I look?”

“Breathtaking.” She grinned. “Seriously, you look awesome. Go have a good time. Is Jesse coming up here?”

“He’s coming to the dorm, but I think I’ll go down and meet him.”

She arched one eyebrow. “Really? What, are you ashamed of me?”

I laughed. “Of course not, silly. You can come down with me if you want. I just don’t want him to have to brave the Friday night freshmen.” The girls in our dorm tended toward craziness on weekends, and sometimes it just wasn’t pretty.

“I think I’ll pass. If I go out there, someone who’s having a crisis will find me and need nurturing. If I stay in here, there’s a better chance the crisis will pass before she can track me down.”

“Hope springs eternal.” I shrugged into my coat. “Well, wish me luck.”

“You don’t need luck. Just relax and enjoy yourself.” Ava gave me a quick hug. “And text me at some point, so I know he hasn’t taken you to the woods to be his love slave.”

“Please!” I rolled my eyes and opened the door, jumping back in surprise when I saw Liam standing on the other side.

“We need a peephole in this door so we don’t open it to just anyone,” I muttered to Ava. She looked back at me with wide eyes.

I attempted to step around Liam. “Excuse me, I need to leave.”

“Where are you going?” His voice was tinged with surprise, which just pissed me off even more.

“Out.”

“Where?”

“None of your business.”

“She has a date.” We both turned to stare at Ava. She stood in the middle of the room, arms folded over her chest.

“That’s right.” I smiled and shimmied past Liam. “And I don’t want to keep him waiting.”

“Which one of your new men are you seeing tonight? Do you know what everyone is saying about you? Or don’t you care?”

Without turning around, I bit my lip, counted to ten under my breath and took a deep breath before I spoke.

“I thought I made it pretty clear this afternoon, I’m not your business anymore, Liam. If I want to bang the whole football team, I will. So, good night, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”

“But I wanted to talk with you. This afternoon--”

“Should have told you everything you wanted to know. Leave me alone, Liam. Please.”

“How about this, Liam.” Ava had moved closer to the door, but the look of determination on her face hadn’t faded. “You tell me what you have to say to Jules, and I’ll decide if it’s worth her time. If it is, you can talk to her later, when she’s ready.” Over his shoulder, she caught my eye and mouthed
Go.

I practically sprinted down the hall and the steps, running smack into Jesse as he came through the double doors into the lobby.

He caught my arms to steady me, smiling down. “You really do know how to make an entrance.”

“Sorry. I was trying to save you from the throngs of freshman girls who hang out in the hallways on Friday nights here.”

The dimples popped out, and I sighed. It was an automatic response, one I hoped he didn’t notice.

“I appreciate that. As I remember, freshman girls can be a little intense.”

“You don’t know the half of it. My roommate Ava is a saint. She has so much patience with them.”

Jesse stepped back a little, looking at me. “I like your shirt. It makes your eyes look really green. Since you didn’t get mad at me for saying it the other day, I’ll chance it again. You’re very pretty.”

I laughed. “Any girl who gets mad at you for saying that is crazy. I promise I never will.” I bit my lip. That sounded a little too much. Like I expected him to say it often.

But Jesse didn’t seem bothered. He held out a hand to me. “Are you ready to go?”

I hesitated only a moment before nodding and slipping my hand into his. “Very.”

It was bitterly cold, and I shivered when the air hit me. Jesse dropped my hand and put his arm over my shoulders, drawing me closer to his body heat.

“C’mon, my truck is just up here.”

I had never noticed what Jesse drove since he usually parked in the garage at his dad’s house. I was a little surprised when he led me to an old white Ford pick-up and unlocked the passenger door manually.

“Sorry, my sweetheart is a no-frills gal.” He patted the side of the truck.

“I love it.” I climbed inside and scanned the vinyl seats, the basic dashboard and plastic floor mats. It was a stark contrast to Liam’s Beemer, which almost drove itself. I liked that Jesse opened my door for me; Liam had always just clicked the unlock button from his key fob and expected me to get in by myself.

I leaned over and pulled the lock up on the driver’s door. Jesse opened it and slid in next to me.

“Thanks.” He slammed the door and turned the key, fiddling with the heat buttons and directing the vents my way.

“It’ll warm up in a minute.” He rubbed his ungloved hands up and down his thighs over worn jeans. My eyes tracked the movement, and my mouth went dry.

“Hey, Julia.” Jesse reached across the bench seat, touched the side of my face. I smiled, and he let his fingers move down to my chin. The brilliant blue of his eyes fastened on my mouth before he met my gaze.

“I know this is going to sound corny, and like it’s a line or something. But it’s really not. Which also sounds like a line. When you get to know me better, you’re going to find out I’m not that smooth. But I’ve been thinking about tonight all week. And if I have to wait through the movie, and then dinner and then whatever else we might do, I’m not going to be able to relax and enjoy myself.”

“Wait to do what?” I whispered the words, mesmerized.

“Didn’t I say it? Hmm.” He moved over, his hand going under my hair to cradle my head.

“No, you didn’t say.” His face was so close to mine that I couldn’t focus on his eyes anymore. I closed mine in surrender.

“To kiss you.” His lips were a breath away from my own, and my heart stuttered. “Is it all right? May I kiss you?”

My tongue darted out instinctively, wetting my lips. Jesse drew in a sharp breath.

“Yes. Please.” I barely breathed the words before he moved the last fraction of an inch closer and covered my mouth.

He didn’t mess around with a tentative first kiss. His lips were open, and I was startled to realize the moan I heard came from my own throat. His tongue teased the inside of my mouth and then stroked against mine. At some point, my hands had moved of their own accord to wrap around his neck. My fingers itched to plunge into those brown curls, but I was still wearing my gloves.

Jesse broke away just enough to take a breath, leaning his forehead against mine. He dropped his hands to my back and then to my waist, all on top of my coat.

“Damn.” He pulled me closer, trailing kisses along my jaw to my ear. “I hate cold weather.”

I giggled, shivering again as his breath tickled my neck. “Why?”

“Too many layers.” He dropped one last kiss on the tip of my nose, holding my face between his two hands. “But probably a good thing now, or we would totally miss the movie.”

I smiled. “What movie?”

“Ah, see, you’re not a good influence!” He moved back over behind the steering wheel and reached for his seat belt. “If we didn’t have the movie, I would want to take you back to my house, and...well, I’m having trouble remembering why that wouldn’t be a good idea, but it wouldn’t.”

I buckled my own belt. “Let’s just say, we can’t let down Joss Whedon by not going to see the movie. Right?”

He cast me a sidelong look. “It’s a reason. Not a good one, but it’s a reason. So, now let’s do what normal people do on a date. Did you have a good week?”

I cast my mind back over the past few days and inwardly cringed. There wasn’t much I could tell Jesse without going into details I couldn’t share yet. Telling him, on our first date, that I was in the middle of trying to get revenge on my ex just didn’t seem like a good idea.

Although...there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t tell him about the blog. As long as he didn’t give the information to anyone else, it was just a class project.

“Yeah, it was busy but good. I’m working on something for my social media seminar, and getting it off the ground took a little while.” I gave him a general overview of what we were doing, focusing more on the research element than anything personal.

“Huh.” He shifted into a third gear as we turned off campus. “That’s...interesting. Are you worried people are going to get upset about their exes outing them on the Internet?”

“We don’t use any names, and we change crucial details.” I paused, thinking of Marcus. “To be honest, we planned to focus only on women scorned. But then I talked to someone, a guy, who’d had a bad experience with a girlfriend, so we’re equal opportunity now.”