Page 5 of Rule Number Five
I raked my fingers through my hair. “Tell me this isn’t another rule.”
Sidney propped her chin on my chest and sucked in her bottom lip, looking sexy as fuck. I tipped my head back to the ceiling and took in a deep breath. Please, fucking god. This couldn’t be happening. I had never chased a girl in my fucking life, and this girl had me hooked. “What if I gave you mine?”
She scrunched her nose. Fucking adorable. “Rule number three: no exchanging phone numbers.”
“How the fuck does that work?” I had to stop myself from tightening my grip. I was getting dangerously close to being an asshole, but come the fuck on. These rules were killing me.“What happens if you’re into a guy?” If only my boys could see me now. I’d never live it down.
She gave me an apologetic smile, and I already knew what was coming. “Breaks rule number five.”
“Tell me,” I deadpanned.
“Being into a guy leads to dating, dating leads to relationships, and relationships lead to feelings. Rule number five: no falling in love.”
A muscle ticked in my jaw. “How many rules do you have?”
“Five.”
“What’s the fourth rule?” Someone grabbed my shoulder, twisting me to face him and effectively cutting me off.
“Congrats, buddy. That goal was insane,” he screamed over the music, and his breath reeked of beer.
“Goal?” Sidney’s head tilted to the side, looking me up and down as if seeing me for the first time.
The big guy beside me wore my team’s teal hockey jersey. He turned around, showing her the back, where the last name Ryder was written across it in large white letters. He faced her and smiled. “Yeah, sweetheart. You going to pretend you don’t know you’re hooking up with the Huskies’ star forward?”
“Jax Ryder?” she asked with a little shake of her head like she was telling me to say no.
“Yeah.” I swallowed hard. For the first time, I got the impression my name was going to backfire on me.
Her shoulders slumped, and she looked so fucking disappointed before lifting onto her toes and leaning closer to me. Her eyes were wide as she searched my face, and I wished I could make out their color in the dim club light. I reveled in the heat of her body pressed tightly against my chest as she brought her mouth closer to mine, so close I could feel her breath fan across mine. My mouth watered, and it took everything in me not to close the distance.Come on, Trouble. Kiss me.
“That’s really too bad, Jax.” She closed the distance, kissing me just to the side of my lips, then broke away from my arms, brows pulled together. She took a step toward her friends, nearly tripping as she did. I so wanted to help her, but her words caught me up. “Rule number four: no hockey players.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nope.” She gave me a downcast smirk and wiggled her fingers goodbye before turning around.
My gaze tracked her ass the entire time, and a slow smile curved across my lips. I never could resist breaking the rules.
TWO
SIDNEY
“Well,Mom. I got the email last week. One more recommendation, and it’s a done deal.” A gust of wind raised goose bumps over my neck, and I flipped the collar of my blue wool jacket to protect my ears.
“Don’t worry, though. I’ve never failed to win a professor over before. I don’t plan on fucking it up this time.” My hand flew up to cover my mouth as soon as the words came out.
“Sorry, I guess I’m too old to wash my mouth out with soap, anyway.” I joked and brushed the dirt from around her gravestone, arranging the faux flowers in their plastic vase. The ground was frozen solid, so it was more habit than necessity, but I couldn’t stop myself from fussing each time I visited.
“I wish you were here.”
My fingers trembled as I traced the words engraved in the stone.
A loving mother
Gone too soon.
“I could really use one of your cheesy motivational speeches right now.” I sniffed, pausing a second to control my breath. “Sometimes, I try to guess what you’d say:You can do anything you set your mind to.Or your personal favorite:Your dreams are worth the sacrifices you make.”