“Party?”

I nod. “Yeah. Campus police will be here soon.”

“Fun time,” she says, laying her helmet by mine.

When I look back at her, she gives me a half-grin as she shrugs her shoulders. “Well, that was interesting.” She pauses, her eyes searching mine. “I love your mom, Lucy, Angie, Jace, and Jayden, but I have to admit, your dad is an asshole.”

I laugh as I nod. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“No biggie. He won’t keep me from visiting with your mom again; she was awesome.”

I wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her neck. “Thank you for going.”

She threads her fingers through my hair, and I close my eyes as she says, “Thanks for inviting me. I guess my family is next. I can guarantee you that it will be worse than that.”

I chuckle against her skin, nibbling up her jaw before saying, “As long as I’m with you, I’ll endure it.”

When I pull up to look into her eyes, she’s grinning, her eyes bright and inviting. Leaning into her, I kiss her lips softly, but soon our kisses turn demanding. I crave this. Need it. Sliding my hands down her back, I cup her ass and press her closer into me, loving the feeling of her body against mine. Parting, I kiss her top lip before whispering, “Three more days.”

“Till?”

I smile and then open my eyes to find her watching me. “Till I can take you to my room and devour you, woman!”

She laughs as she pushes me away playfully. “No way, not until you ask me to be your girlfriend in a totally cheesy romantic way that I can tell our grandchildren when we’re old and gray.”

I laugh as I nod. “I got you.”

“You better,” she says with a wink and then leans in for a quick kiss. “But I gotta go.”

“What? Stay. Let’s go to bed.”

“With a party going?” she says with a laugh. “No way in hell. I’m dead on my feet.”

“Yeah, I know,” I say, and then I see Rachael with some of the girls from the team. I nod my head toward them. “Rachael and them are here. Wanna come hang out?”

She laughs. “No way. I have to deal with her tomorrow.”

I smile as I kiss her again, and when her arms wrap around my neck, I deepen the kiss, holding her close. We kiss for a little longer until she pulls away. “I gotta go now, or I’ll never go.”

“I’m hoping for the latter,” I say with a wink, and she laughs before kissing my cheek.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

I shrug. “I’m a little embarrassed, a little pissed,” I admit.

“Don’t be. He didn’t scare me off. I love your family, and I’ve dealt with worse.”

I smile, kissing the side of her mouth. “You shouldn’t have to deal with anything like that.”

“Ah, it’s part of life. There are assholes everywhere. Thankfully, I found a good one.”

She flashes me a grin and kisses me on the cheek before heading to her car. I watch as she throws her bag in and then as she waves at me. “Don’t let it bother you.”

“I’ll try.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow?”

“All right, babe.”

“Thanks again for taking me. I really like your family, minus your dad,” she says with a grin.

I laugh as I nod. “I agree. Thanks for going, see you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” she says and then she’s gone.

Letting out a long breath, I take our helmets and head inside.

Once I shut the door, Matt grabs me and says, “Dude, I need a beer pong partner. Let’s go.”

I’m not tired so I agree, but when I see that we’re playing against Rachael and Mia, I wish I would have declined.

“No girlfriend tonight?” Rachael asks, and I have to admit that before I would have thought she was smoking in the barely-there skirt and shirt, but now I want nothing to do with her.

“Nope, she went home,” I answer as I fill the cups with beer.

“So that means you’re single tonight?”

Rolling my eyes, I let out a breath. “No, I’m not. I’m Claire’s.”

And after tonight, I know I’ll always be hers.

It hasn’t been the best day. I’m supertired since I didn’t get in till late, and I’m irritated because I failed my math pop quiz this morning. That’s what I get for not studying when I should have. Instead, I went to dinner with Jude’s family, but I don’t regret that. Even if his dad is a Grade A asshole, I’d fail a billion tests just to hang with his mom again. She was an amazingly cool woman, and I’m glad I got to meet her, even if I did have to endure Mark Sinclair.

I really don’t understand it. Mrs. Sinclair, Lucy, Angie, and Jace were amazing, good people and superfun, but Mr. Sinclair was rude and just angry from the moment I walked into the house. I spent all night trying to figure out if it was something I did, but I came up with nothing. I was polite, sweet, and all-around awesome, so really, I don’t get it. I don’t know what’s up that dude’s ass, nor do I know what’s going on between Jude’s parents, but it’s obvious it’s something major. They didn’t seem like a loving couple, not in the least.

With all that on my mind, and the fact I’m tired, dealing with the dance team is not what I want to do right now. What I’d love to do is go to Jude’s and take a nap. That’s what he’s doing since he’s hungover from playing beer pong last night. While I don’t condone drinking till you are passed out drunk, I understand why. His dad really gets to him, and Lord knows, I used to do the same thing. Drink myself numb so I didn’t feel all the pain and hatred in my heart, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to allow Jude to do that. He gets one time, and I plan on telling him that tonight when I see him. There are other ways to handle anger and hurt. I learned that in therapy.

I kinda wish I was in therapy right now. That’s how bad I want to leave this rehearsal. While I love teaching dance, teaching to a group of jerks is really trying my nerves. I figure that this is practice to get me ready for the bigger assholes of dance, but my goodness, how can a group of eight girls bitch so much? I mean, we are dancers! We had to be able to do certain stuff to join! So I really don’t understand why, when I add that stuff in the dance, people want to bitch. It’s insane and annoying. I don’t even want to be here, but I know I can’t leave. We perform Saturday, and I love this piece. I worked hard on it, and it’s going to be freaking fabulous as soon as these girls get it down. I don’t want us looking stupid in front of the Bullies team.