Page 80 of Enticing the Enforcer

“So I was a conquest?”

“No. Fuck no, Angel–”

“Don’t call me that. Jesus.” Her laugh is brittle, humorless. “People say I have a silver tongue, but you got me with yours. Hook, line, and manipulative sinker.”

“That’s not how it is.” My mind is spinning, trying to sort out what she’s asking. Why is she asking?I haven’t looked at that list in months. “Yes, there’s a list–”

“Thank you. That’s all I need to know.”

The line goes dead before I can form another word.

I drop onto the porch step, my phone heavy in my hand, fury burning through me. At myself. At life. At the goddamn timing of everything.

The door creaks behind me, and Shelby’s voice floats out. “Jefferson? You okay?”

I don’t look at her, fists tensing. “No.”

I knew better than to think she’d go back inside. Shelby is the little sister none of us asked for, but got anyway. “She’s mad. Somehow she knew about the list I made.”

“Oh no.” Shelby curses under her breath, coming down the steps. Reid follows, crossing his arms. Great.

“Your sex list?” he asks.

“Yeah, apparently she found out about it, and now she thinks I think of her as a conquest.”

Shelby hesitates, shifting back and forth on her feet. “It might’ve been us,” she blurts.

I look up at her, that sweet little innocent face, and ask slowly. “What does that mean?”

“The girls and I,” she confesses. “We brought it up during the Frozen Four after-party. We thought it was funny, harmless. Iswear we didn’t think it mattered–it was the first night you two met. We had no clue it would turn serious.”

“You brought it up to Ingrid?” Reid asks, already shaking his head. “Babe.”

“Not Ingrid,” she promises, looking between us. “Madison.”

“Fuck,” I mutter, running my hands over my face. “Well, that explains that.”

“Explains what?” Reid asks.

“Why Madison spent the last month telling Ingrid that she thinks dating me is a bad idea.”

“She does?” Shelby asks. “Why the hell would she think that?”

“I overheard them talking before she left last weekend. Madison even accused me of being the one to post about our location at the arena. She thinks I’m looking for attention.”

“That’s bullshit.” Shelby slams her hand down on the porch railing, the sharp crack making Reid and me both look at her. “It is. First of all, you don’t need to look for attention. It comes for you.”

“True,” Reid adds, smirking. “I think it’s the pretty boy looks.”

“Shut up.” I lean back with a groan. “I would never do something like that, but none of that changes the fact that there is a list, and she found out about it. There’s no way out of this: I look like I used her.”

“Okay, I have to ask,” Reid says carefully. “Did you pursue her just to say you banged Ingrid Flockton?”

My jaw locks, ready to punch Reid for even asking, but it’s a fair question considering my past. I don’t want to talk about it. Not about Ingrid, about us. About how the time we spent together was the best damn thing in my life. But I push the words out anyway. “No. I don’t expect you to believe me, butthere’s more to this than you know.” I swallow. “That first night I was looking for a hook up–a way to cross her off my list.”

“At the Frozen Four.”

I shake my head. “No, when she was in town for the concert. The night before we left for Chicago, I taped the letter to my locker. She DMed me. We met up–”