“What’s going on?” I tried to keep my voice down.

The girls brought their hands down and folded their lips between their teeth to stifle smiles. Christa sighed sympathetically. “I’m just not sure why we’re being tutored by someone that got arrested.”

Son of a …

I narrowed my eyes and sat up straight. How the hell did everyone know? My mother definitely didn’t tell anyone. And Principal Masters most certainly didn’t tell anyone. What the hell?

“Everything okay here?” Penley stopped at our table as she circulated.

My chest fell with a hard sigh. “You might want to say ‘For eight hundred and forty-two million people in the world,’ ” I continued to Jake, “ ‘the solution to hunger proves more difficult.’ Using words like ‘is,’ ‘was,’ and ‘am’ is weak, so we try to use other verbs to make it sound better. Do you understand?”

Penley moved on to the next table, and I glared across the table to see that all the girls were concentrated on something out the window.

Jake shrugged. “I guess. So I have to go back and rewrite the whole thing?”

I shook my head, smiling. “Not today.”

“Oh, my God!” Christa bounced off her chair and leaned across the counter underneath the window, peering out. “He’s got his shirt off!” she whisper-yelled to her friends.

They scrambled out of their seats, Ana nearly falling in the process as they raced over to the window, giggling.

I shook my head, slightly amused, to be honest. I kind of missed being boy-crazy.

Sydney turned to her friends. “My sister says he’s even better without his pants on.”

One of them bounced up and down, while the other whimpered.

I wondered who they were talking about, and then I remembered Principal Masters saying something about the lacrosse team practicing every day.

Walking to the windows, I stood next to the girls and looked outside.

My shoulders sank, and I groaned. Fuuuuuuck. My heart suddenly felt as if it were too big for my rib cage as I watched a half-naked Jaxon Trent running around and rolling on the field as everyone horsed around with the water bottles.

“Damn, he’s hot,” Ana whispered, smoothing her hair as if Jax could actually see her. I felt like yanking her by her collar and sitting her ass down. He wasn’t a piece of meat.

But I swallowed that urge. Gazing out the window, I watched Jax and the rest of the team grab their Gatorades and collapse on the grassy field, the sweat on their chests shiny from the sun’s angry glare. His hair was wet, and he worked those long black shorts like a pro. I clamped my mouth shut before I whimpered.

He sat there, smiling and talking to a teammate, and I loved how even from here I could see his heart-stopping blue eyes.

He seemed oblivious that three teenage girls were gawking at him before he fell backward onto his back, resting.

“Girls,” I choked out, my mouth as dry as jerky. “We’ve got work to do. You’re here for a reason. And I’m here to help.” I held out my arm, gesturing for them to come back to the table.

But Sydney didn’t budge. “No, you’re here because you’re a fuckup, too,” she shot back. “We’re going to the bathroom.”

And I watched as all three of them grabbed their purses and left. Scowling up at the clock, I gritted my teeth, noticing that I still had three whole hours left.

Luckily session two passed more smoothly. After Jake and the girls left, I got a group of three male students, and I relaxed right away, noticing that boys were a hell of a lot easier. Men simply wanted to do whatever you wanted them to do so you’d shut up. There was no arguing, no cattiness, and no chitchat. Other than some minor flirting, the only problem was disinterest.

It was going to be a long-ass summer.

At noon, all the students filtered out of the room to enjoy the rest of their summer day, and I finally reached into my bag to check my phone.

Four texts. No, five.

Tate: Jax not happy! You blew out his speakers? LOL!

Great. I’d given her hell about cutting Jared’s electricity to shut down one of his parties. I was never going to hear the end of this.

Another from Tate. Heads up. Jared will be calling when he gets time. He needs to ask you something.

Hmm … okay.

Nik: Bored. Sooooo bored. Where are you?

I giggled quietly, missing my friend. I was about to dial her but decided to check my other messages first.

Mom: We need to meet for lunch this week. Call this evening.

Lunch? I grabbed the bag, swinging it over my shoulder as I walked out of the room, staring at my phone. Why did my mother want to have lunch?

When I got in trouble, she did nothing to help me. She had spoken to me only as much as she had to to let me know that I was not staying at home while I completed my community service. I’d felt alone and abandoned.

Now dread sat in my stomach like a ton of bricks, and the last thing I wanted to do was call her.

Checking the last message, I halted in the middle of the hallway.

Liam: Jax jumped me last night. Keep your new boyfriend away from me, or I go to the cops!!

Huh?

I dropped my arm and just stood in the empty hallway, probably looking as confused as I felt. Holding up the phone, I read the text again.

Jax jumped Liam?

Why? And why was Liam complaining to me about it?

Fisting the phone, I shook my head. Whatever. This was their problem. Not mine.

If Jax wanted to act like a child, that was on him. If Liam wanted to have the police laugh in his face, since they were obviously in the palm of Jax’s hand, then let him.

Dumping the phone in my purse, I grabbed Tate’s iPod, tuning it to Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer,” and stormed down the stairs and down the corridor to the rear of the school. Exiting through the back was a shortcut to Tate’s house, and since I was already annoyed, I figured I might as well book back to the house and get changed for the one o’clock kickboxing class.

Looking down the hall, though, I stopped, seeing bodies scurrying through a door. I yanked out my earbuds.

“Hurry, hurry!” one of them whispered, but it was so loud I could still hear it yards away.

And even with the blur of short shorts and tank tops, I still recognized the girls.

Christa, Sydney, and Ana.

“Hey, are you all all right?” I headed up to the closed door that Sydney had just disappeared through and saw the sign that read ATHLETICS.

Ana and Christa had spun around and were now staring at me wide-eyed, the blush of getting caught red all over their faces.

I smiled. “I’m not a teacher. Relax.”

And they pinched their lips together, trying to hold back smiles while they snuck glances at each other.

“Where’s Sydney?” I ventured, knowing damn well she’d gone through the door.

The sign didn’t say that any specific gender was prohibited, but I did know that tutoring was over. The girls weren’t supposed to be roaming the school.

“She’s—,” Christa started, but Ana nudged her with her elbow.

“She’s …?” I pressed.

When neither of them came clean, I turned to leave. “I think Ms. Penley is still here….”

“She’s in the weight room,” Ana blurted out.

I turned around, narrowing my eyes. “Doing what?”

Both of the girls smirked, avoiding eye contact.

“Jaxon Trent,” Christa deadpanned.

I froze. The softness from my face hardened into steel. “Go to the parking lot,” I ordered. “I’ll send her out.” When they didn’t move, I lost my cool. “Now,” I ordered.

They covered smiles with their hands and veered around my immobile body, heading back down the corridor.

Heading through the ATHLETICS door, I walked down the dim, carpeted hallway with offices to my left and right. Coach Burns, the football coach and a history teacher. Coach McNally, the girls’ tennis and soccer coach who also taught driver’s ed. There were a few more offices, but I kept my eyes focused straight ahead on the big, heavy-looking wooden door that read WEIGHT ROOM.

I shook my head, trying to ignore the pounding of my heart in my chest. Jax wasn’t really having sex with a seventeen-year-old girl in here. No, he was smarter than that, right?

And then I remembered the two girls I’d seen him with a couple of years ago. And I thought of Liam, who definitely wasn’t as smart as I’d thought.

With my stomach clenching, I pushed lightly through the door and spotted both of them right away.

Separate and clothed. Thank God.

I let out a small breath and relaxed my shoulders. I didn’t know why the hell I cared, but … I swallowed.

Just not her. He couldn’t go for her.

The room was empty except for Jax and Sydney, and “Again” by Alice in Chains was playing on the CD player in the corner of the fully equipped room. I only knew the song because Tate listened to nothing but Alice in Chains when we’d first met. Two big fans were spinning from each side of the room, trying to keep it cool. The school had AC, but it was still stifling this time of year.

Jax was lying back on a black weight bench, a dumbbell in each hand as he spread his arms wide and then brought them back in and straight up over his body, flexing every muscle in his glowing, tanned arms, abs, shoulders, and pecs.