Page 71 of Palm South University: Season 2
“ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT?” Jess calls out again, this time tossing the same pillows she just rummaged through on one side of the room to the other. “It’s Vera Bradley, Can–”
“Canyon print, small backpack, with your name embroidered in yellow I know, Lei, and no, for the one-hundredth time, I haven’t seen it,” I cut her off. “Jesus, just chill. You can get another Vera bag.”
She huffs, standing with her hands hooked on her hips, her hair in a crazy bun as she sweeps the corners of the room with her eyes. “It’s not the bag I’m worried about.”
“Was your wallet in it?”
“No.”
“Your phone?”
“No, it was just something important,” she says, frustrated, digging through Skyler’s bag now. I roll my eyes, still thumbing through social media on my phone.
“God, if I didn’t know you better I’d say it was stashed with drug money.” I laugh, shaking my head.
“Could you at least fucking pretend to help me find it?” she snaps, her eyes wild. “You’re just sitting there being a giant bitch, which usually I don’t mind, but for once in your life can you help me without making me feel like shit in the process?”
“Excuse me?” I scoff, uncrossing my feet on the bed and sitting up straighter. “I am always there for you. If anything, you’re the one who always holds me at ten-foot-distance. So don’t take your period out on me because you can’t find a fucking backpack.”
“Whatever, Jess.”
“Yeah. Whatever,” I repeat, snatching my drink off the nightstand and walking my happy ass downstairs. “Let me know when you’re ready.”
Everyone else is already on Duval Street, but I agreed to stay back with Ashlei so she could look for her bag without everyone being there. Now, I’m wishing I would have let her do it on her own. She’s already being dishonest about whatever is happening with Bo, and now I get the feeling she’s hiding something else. At this point, I’m tired of trying to step around the fact that she’s being secretive. She knows it, I know it, and I’m sure she can feel that I’m getting tired of it.
Just as my foot hits the bottom step, my phone screen lights up with Jarrett’s number.
“Come get me,” I answer and he chuckles.
“Over it, are you?”
“Beyond. What are you doing?”
“I just got out of the shower, have to work at the bar tonight. But I was… thinking of you.”
The way he says the words flips my stomach. “Were you now?”
“Let’s just say I’m more than a little worked up at the moment,” he replies, his voice husky. “Are you alone?”
Ashlei curses from upstairs and a loud clatter breaks out. Clearly we’re going to be here a while, might as well get my kicks.
“Not right now, but I could be.”
“Find a room. I’ll call you back.” Jarrett ends the call before I have the chance to ask why he needed to end it. Confused, I keep my phone in my hand and duck inside the small half-bathroom downstairs, flicking on the light and checking my appearance in the mirror. If I’m going to be sending him pictures, I definitely want to make them drool-worthy. Luckily, there are about a million makeup bags lined up on the counter, so I reapply my red lipstick and darken my lashes. As soon as I pop the lid back on Skyler’s mascara, my phone buzzes.
This time, with a video chat request.
Oh.
“Hi,” I say as Jarrett’s blurry face slowly comes into view. I almost forgot how incredibly sexy he is. The only view I have is of the top of his shoulders, covered with tats, and his heart-stopping, demanding dark eyes. He’s still in his bathroom, the mirror fogged up behind him and small beads of water from his shower gathered on his neck.
“Goddamn, I miss you,” he breathes, his eyes searching mine. “Take your clothes off.”
I almost laugh, but he’s not joking, there’s no playful tone to his voice — he meant what he said. His eyes hooded, he bites his lip as I set up my phone on the counter, my hands pulling my hair down from the loose hair tie I had it in.
I shimmy out of my jean shorts first, letting them drop to the floor and eying him through my lashes as I hook my thumbs in the band of my panties and pull them down next. My blouse is light, and I peel it off with ease, unhooking my bra and shaking it off each arm quickly. Jarrett’s eyes never leave me, his breaths coming harder.
He moves from the bathroom to his bedroom, propping himself up against his headboard. The camera blanks for just a moment before the view switches and I see him sprawled out in his sheets, his hard body still damp from the shower. Slowly, he unwraps his towel and lets it fall to the side, and I moan when I see how hard he is. He grips himself, stroking slowly as he grows even harder, and suddenly I can’t breathe.