Jia Li barely caught his muttered words, but they registered clearly in her mind. She really couldn’t understand what his deal was with his real name. Sure it tied him to his past, and his past was painful, but it’s not like he’d changed his name altogether. His nickname was just a shortened version of his middle name to better tie into his alcoholic, bad-boy persona. She couldn’t understand why he was so afraid to face his past. It hadn’t been his fault his family had died, after all. He hadn’t even been there.
“Just because you don’t physically hurt people doesn’t mean you don’t verbally assault them. I’m not really the partying sort, anyway, so whatever legends you may have accumulated on campus aren’t any that I’ve heard. Besides, the only person to whom I’ve ever spoken who has had anything nice to say about you is Kay.” Then he asked if she was the one he’d bullied, and she was about to confirm it, but then he likened her to a nerd and said she failed at that. Her gaze moved to her clothing, brows knitting. Had that been a compliment to her fashion choice or an insult that she wasn’t doing something right? Despite her naturally affinity toward pessimism, she decided to take it as a compliment. She wasn’t trying to look like a dork, after all.
Then she outwitted him for maybe the first time since she’d met him, and she heard his muttered curse. Her grin beamed at him, unashamed of the glee she felt at having finally bested him. However, that smirk of delight was quickly wiped from her face when his lips pressed down against hers. In fact, all self-satisfaction flew out the window along with coherent thoughts when he touched her.
Jia could feel his hips pressing tightly against hers, and the heat coiling in her core had hers pressing right back. When he broke the kiss to look into her eyes, she suddenly braced herself for his laughter, but there wasn’t a sound other than her slightly labored breathing, and the look in his dark eyes when he met her green ones definitely wasn’t gloating. The shudder that ran through his body, resonating against hers, told her that he wasn’t toying with her any more. He actually wanted her.
Then he told her they should stop – they were still in a very public library, after all – and she could only bring herself to nod in agreement, speech momentarily stolen from her. Then he asked if they wanted to go to his dorm, and her lips parted to say… to say what? To say yes? To decline? She really didn’t know, but before any sound could leave her lips, he was already taking it back, and he was calling her Suzy again though the nickname didn’t seem to have the usual spite packed into it.
Jia’s gaze moved over his face wonderingly, and her fingertips brushed over his cheek which had become a little redder. This was different of him even from the way he’d acted in her room. He actually seemed… shy and uncertain, and she suddenly thought she could see the way he must have been before he’d suffered through the loss of his family.
She had the urge to kiss him again until a thought crossed her mind. Kay had said he could be really adorable when he was tripping all over himself. While Jia was very inclined to agree, she remembered that Kay knew about it because she’d slept with him, and she felt her stomach tighten at the thought. This was wrong on so many levels. She couldn’t just be friends-with-benefits with someone, especially when that someone was already sleeping with her friend.
Jia Li suddenly realized she was still pressed tightly against Jack, and she peeled herself away from him, feeling notably colder without his body heat mingling with hers. The dryad looked away, clearing her throat and rubbing the back of her neck. “Um… Yeah… I guess…” She really didn’t feel like she’d won anything so much as she felt like she’d failed to keep a clear head and she’d failed to stick to her guns. She was silently grateful that they were in the library and not back in her dorm or in his dorm where things could have quickly escalated.
She bit her swollen, lower lip for a moment before her eyes darted to his face. “I, uh… I have to go…” The truth was that she didn’t really want to go, but she was afraid if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to resist him if he decided to kiss her again.