Chapter One

PAIGE

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I was cursed. There was no other explanation I could think of. I had to be cursed.

Today was the first day of classes after winter break and I was a mess. Me, Paige Davis, the girl known for color-coding everything in my life, from my class notes to my closet. The girl who prided herself on never being late, who hardly ever misplaced anything.

I’d spent my entire life organizing everything around me, making sure I was always prepared and never caught off guard. It was my security blanket and my trademark, but today I felt like a hot mess who could barely hold it together.

I’d forgotten to plug my phone in when I went to bed last night. Naturally the battery had been low so it had died. For some reason I’d also forgotten to set my alarm clock as a back-up and I’d slept in.

My roommate had knocked on my door at eight in the morning, and my first class was supposed to start at eight-thirty. I’d jumped up, pulled on the first clothes I could find, grabbed my bag, keys, a granola bar and rushed to school.

I’d made it to my class with about ten seconds to spare, and that’s when I’d realized I’d forgotten my purse, and with it my wallet, ID and phone. I’d also left my laptop on my desk. Thankfully I’d had a notebook in my bag, but my class schedule was on my phone and in my computer so I’d had no idea where I was supposed to go after my first class. I’d raced home, gathered everything I’d forgotten and rushed back. This time I’d been two minutes late and had barely managed to slip into my class unnoticed.

I’d managed to squirt mustard on my shirt as I’d been eating my lunch, and had spilled my almost full coffee in one of the student lounges as I’d settled in for a bit of a break between classes. Then I had slipped on the stairs and twisted my ankle after failing to notice the caution sign right in front of me.

I was frazzled, limping, mustard-stained, and lacking in caffeine, and I still had one more class to go to.

This was the class I’d been looking forward to today. Last year I’d taken Intro to Psychology and loved it. As I’d been setting my second year schedule I’d checked to see what other psych classes I could take. Last semester I’d taken abnormal psychology and this semester I was taking human development.

That was the class I was headed to and I was dreading it. I just wanted to go back to my apartment, take a shower, change my clothes and crawl into bed while pretending today had never happened. But that wasn’t an option, so I was going to class.

I managed to get there a few minutes early and settled into an empty seat next to the aisle. I watched as the class began to fill up, and wasn’t surprised when no one sat next to me. I must have been quite a sight, I wouldn’t have sat next to me either.

I was just looking in my purse for an elastic to pull my hair back when a guy walked into the room.

He was probably the thirtieth person to come into the class since I sat down, but my eyes were immediately drawn to him and I couldn’t have looked away if I’d tried.

He was gorgeous, and different. His black hair was long enough it brushed his collar. His complexion was olive, but he seemed to be tanned on top of his natural dark coloring, and his eyes were the deepest shade of brown I’d ever seen.

He was wearing a black jacket and black pants, but for some reason he didn’t look monochrome or emo. He smoldered.

As I was blatantly staring at him, my hand in my purse and my mouth slightly open, his eyes locked on mine. I tried to look away, was about to tear my eyes from him in embarrassment when a lazy grin curved his generous lips and he started walking toward me.

My eyes followed him as he made his way across the front of the class and up the stairs until he was standing right next to me. Then he gave me a real grin and slid in front of me so he could sit in the seat beside me.

The moment his arm brushed against mine I was snapped out of my daze and my cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

Of course the most gorgeous guy I’d ever seen would sit next to me while I was covered in mustard.

The guy pulled out his computer and gave me a secret grin as our professor, Dr. Kristoff, introduced herself and started outlining the course and what we could expect.

Instead of opening the syllabus to follow along, the guy opened a Word doc and started typing something in bold letters. I tried not to look, but when he glanced at me and then motioned to his screen I couldn’t stop myself.

My name is Jay.

Blushing furiously I opened a Word doc and quickly started typing.

I’m Paige.

He grinned and looked back at his screen.

It’s nice to meet you, Paige. Something tells me this is going to be a very interesting class.

I blushed even deeper and glanced up at the front of the room. The prof was still talking and I really should pay attention, but I didn’t want to stop communicating with the mysterious Jay.

It should be. It sounds fascinating.

It does, but I’m not talking about the course material.

I drew in a breath as my fingers stalled on my keyboard. Was he talking about me? I was just trying to figure out what I could possibly say to that when he winked at me and exited out of Word.

I did the same and tried to focus on the syllabus and what the prof was saying as my cheeks flamed and my mind raced. I had no idea how I was going to sit through a ninety minute class when I could feel his body heat coming off his arm and seeping into mine. He was distracting, and I usually stayed far away from distractions.

* * * * *

When Dr. Kristoff dismissed us twenty minutes early I was beyond relieved. I’d had a hell of a time following along and felt even more flustered and out of it then I had when I first sat down, and it was all because of the guy sitting next to me.

“I think I’m going to like this class.” Jay grinned as he turned toward me while we were packing our stuff up.

“Um, yeah. Me too.” I tried not to blush as I looked over at him. My god the man could smolder, and was just as hot as he’d been ten minutes ago when I’d caught myself staring at him as he typed up his notes.

“You have any other classes today?”

“No, this was my last one. Do you have another one?”

“This is my last one.” He looked me up and down. “And I think it’s my new favorite.”

I swallowed, trying to think of something witty and not stupid to say when he stood up and gave me another one of those sexy winks. “I’ll see ya.”

“Bye,” I managed as he slid past me and headed down the stairs toward the door.

I shook my head and stuffed my book in my bag as quickly as I could. I needed to forget all about gorgeous Jay and focus on getting home without accidentally killing myself.

* * * * *

“Wow. You look like shit,” my roommate Jules said the moment I opened the door.

“I had a rough day.” I slammed the front door closed and trudged into the apartment.

“I can see that.” She grinned. “Come, sit and tell Dr. Jules all your problems.”

I dropped my bag and purse and flopped beside her on the couch.

“You lose a fight with a sandwich?” She nodded to my shirt.

“You could say that. I was trying to add more mustard and the packet exploded.”

“You slept in today, that’s not like you. What’s up?”

“Nothing.” I sighed and leaned against her.

“You’ve been out of it since you came back. Did you have some trouble at home?” she asked as she shifted so I could lay my head on her shoulder. That was one of the nice things about being five-foot-two, I tended to fit against people.

Jules was five-nine and had the body of a model. Her long dark hair fell down her back and her eyes were a piercing green. She was beautiful, but she was also the sweetest and most caring person I’d ever met and we’d been best friends since we’d met during orientation week last year.

“Not trouble, exactly. I’m just tired of my mom and dad trying to schedule my life. I went home and it was the same as it always is. All they could talk about was my future. What law school I’d go to, where I’d settle, what kind of law I’d practice, how long it’ll take me to make partner.” I sighed. “They spent my entire break hovering. Why wasn’t I studying, trying to get ahead in my classes. Why did I want to go out, who was I with and what would I be doing. It’s claustrophobic in that house sometimes.”

“What about Alex? How’s he doing? He got out of the hospital soon after you got home, right?”

“He’s doing better.” I sighed and leaned a bit heavier on her. “That last infection was a bad one. He had to be intubated for almost a week while they drained his lungs.”

“I’m sorry, Paige.”

“I just feel so guilty sometimes.”

“For being so far away?”

“No, for not being sick too.”

“What?”

“Mom and dad are both carriers for cystic fibrosis and we both had a fifty percent chance of inheriting it. Why was Alex born with it and not me?”

“Paige, sweetie, you can’t think like that. I’m sure Alex doesn’t blame you and wish you were sick.”

“I know. It’s just hard to watch him get worse.” I shook my head and sighed. “Like I said, I’ve had a rough day.”

“How about we do girls night?” Jules suggested as she looped her arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “We’ll order pizza, build a big nest out of blankets, watch The Notebook and have ice cream for dessert.”

“You’re the best, Jules.”

She grinned and nodded to my shirt. “How about you get cleaned up and I’ll order the pizza and start the nest.”

“Deal.” I grinned and stood up.

I don’t know why, but for some reason I didn’t tell her about Jay. In all honesty there wasn’t much to tell, but this was the kind of thing I normally would have told her as soon as I walked through the door.

It didn’t matter anyway. I was done with guys and needed to stay focused. A guy like Jay would only be a distraction, and I was done being distracted.

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JAY

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“Yo,” Jax greeted as I came into the apartment, not bothering to look up from the TV.

“Hey.” I dropped my bag on the floor next to the couch and sat beside him. “Where’s the other controller?”

“Not happening. I’m doing solo missions.”

“Like fuck you are. You’ve been home for two hours. It’s my turn to own your ass, bitch.”

Jax ignored me and kept on playing. I waited until he was trying to pull off a pretty impressive assault move before I bumped his arm hard enough he almost dropped the controller.

“Dammit.” He glared at me as his character went down in a blaze of glory. “Asshole.”

I just grinned and grabbed the second controller off the couch. “Two person.”

Jax wanted to argue with me, I could see it in his eyes, but he just grunted and set the game for two players.

Looking at Jax was kind of like looking in a mirror. It was true we were identical twins so theoretically we should look as similar as our names—Jason and Jaxon, but that wasn’t the case anymore.

After spending the first sixteen years of our lives being mistaken for each other we developed our own styles and looks. Jax was all about the clean cut and preppy, pretty-boy style. He kept his hair short and neat, his skin was tattoo and piercing free and he loved to dress in whatever the fuck was fashionable. He could turn on the charm and have every lady in a thirty foot radius thinking he was some sort of playboy rich kid instead of an adopted orphan like we were.

I wanted nothing to do with that look or that life. I’d gotten my first tat the day we’d turned sixteen, and now had half sleeves, a few chest pieces and part of a back piece inked on my body, with plans for more. I also had three piercings. I wore my hair longer than most people approved of and I hated wearing bright colors.

I wasn’t emo or anything. I didn’t do it because I wanted to seem dark and brooding. I did it because I looked good in darker tones and felt more comfortable being the opposite of my brother.

Despite the fact that we tried to look as different as possible, Jax and I were scarily similar. It was great in the fact that I had a built-in best friend since birth, but it also made life more complicated in that we factored into each other’s decisions more than normal brothers did.

Going to the same college had never been a question. We both wanted to study engineering so we applied to the same schools. We’d managed to snag some pretty nice scholarships and we’d stayed close to home, like our older brothers Matt and Logan.

We’d shared a room our entire lives so getting a place together had been natural. Our parents had given the four of us two beater cars to share so we could go home and visit. Matt and Logan had one and Jax and I had the other. We’d always been in the same clubs, classes and had the same friends.

In our first year Jax and I had taken different electives and declared different engineering majors, and for the first time we’d taken separate classes. We’d made a few different friends and we’d been on different schedules. This year was the same, and it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“You hear about the party at Kappa house?” Jax asked as we stared at the TV screen, our hands moving over the controllers as we played.

“That’s Friday, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I heard about it.”

“You going?”

“I was thinking about it—fuck,” I exclaimed as my character met an early demise. “Dammit.”

“Logan and Matt are going. Avery too.”

“We can meet up with them.” I smirked. “Who would have thought Matt would be the first to settle down.”

“Seriously,” Jax laughed. “He’s so lovesick it’s kinda sickening.”

“Yeah, but at least he’s happy. And Avery is cool shit.”

“True. Fuck off.”

I laughed as he guided his character right off a cliff, effectively killing him.

“So you think Logan’s next?”

“Yeah, right.” I snorted. “He’s even more allergic to commitment than you are.”

“And you.”

“And me.” I nodded.

“Whatever. He can have fun in his relationship.”

I had to chuckle at the way he said ‘relationship’, like it was a curse word he was trying to emphasise for shock value.

“He seems to be.”

“You ever think of that?”

“Of what?”

“Being in a relationship?”

“After Jessie? Not a fucking chance. You?”

“No.” He sighed as we leveled up and had to wait for the next stage to load. “Not after all the bullshit I’ve been through.”

“Yeah.” I turned my eyes to the screen and tried not to think of the mysterious and beautiful girl I’d sat next to in my new favorite class.

There was something about Paige that had grabbed my attention right away, and it wasn’t the mustard stain on her shirt.

She looked...sweet. I know that’s a weird way to describe someone, but my first thought when my eyes had locked on hers was she was a sweet girl. Her hair was such a light blonde I had to wonder if it was natural or dyed. Her eyes were a crystal blue and her cheeks were a little full, giving her an almost cherubic look. As I’d walked toward her I’d gotten a better look at the upper part of her body. Even sitting down I could tell she was petite. I was six-one when I stood up straight and the top of her head had barely come up to my chin when I’d sat down. I’d been able to see the swell of a small but very nice rack, but the desk had kept the rest of her body a secret from me.

She was beautiful, and she’d seemed taken with me.

I didn’t know what it was, but when she’d been staring at me I’d felt a flutter that had nothing to do with my dick or being attracted to her. I’d instantly seen she was hot, but I’d felt almost a tug toward her, like I needed to sit next to her and get to know her.

She might have seemed shy and a little flustered, and I’m sure there had to be a really good story about the stain on her shirt, but the way her gaze had followed me, the slight blush in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes had drawn me in.

When I saw a hot girl I was attracted to I usually thought the same thing. I wondered what she would look like naked. It was crude and very classless of me, but I usually went to the sexual. When I’d sat next to Paige my first thought had been that she was cute and I wanted to know more about her. I’m not saying my mind had stayed innocent the entire class, not at all. When her arm had brushed up against mine a slight jolt had travelled through me and I’d ended up with a semi, just from her clothed arm touching mine. The reaction had been so fast and strong I’d been shocked. I normally had better control than that.

As cute as she was and as much as I wanted to know her better, I’d been telling Jax the truth. I wasn’t looking for anything and I was sure she wasn’t looking for a guy like me. Teasing her was going to be a blast if she kept blushing in that cute way, but that’s as far as it would go.

I had no idea why the fuck I was even thinking about what I was or wasn’t going to do with a good girl like her. She was obviously better than me. I was just the ‘bad boy’ who’d sat next to her in class.