Free Jesse's Girl (Hundred Oaks #6) by Miranda Kenneally Page B

want me so bad, I won’t have to pine at all.
    I’ve known Nate since elementary school, but I developed feelings for him after we started The Fringe last year. I’d look for him in the halls between every class, and at night, I’d clutch my phone and wait for his texts. I knew it wasn’t healthy to obsess like I did, but I wanted him. Just being in the same room with him made life seem sharper, more intense, like adding a splash of whiskey to a Coke.
    During spring break earlier this year when we were firmly in the just friends zone, we road-tripped to Myrtle Beach with Hannah and her ex-boyfriend. Her ex was older—like, twenty-one—and she’d sworn us to secrecy so her parents wouldn’t find out who she was dating. Anyhow, Nate and I spent a lot of time on the beach while Hannah and her boyfriend mostly stayed in their hotel room, and at night, Nate and I shared a bed.
    Lying next to him in the dark, knowing Hannah was next door having sex, drove me wild: I wanted to hook up with Nate. My body felt as if it had been zapped by electricity. I finally got some guts, rolled over, and rested my head on his chest. He sucked in a breath and lay still, and my fingers roamed all over his chest, and when I straddled his waist and pressed my mouth to his, he didn’t stop me. He gripped my hips and flipped me over onto my back, his weight heavy between my legs. Excitement rushed through me. Thanks to my courage, we were finally going to make out.
    We did, and the next day, I asked him if we were officially dating.
    It must’ve been the beer he’d been drinking on the beach, or maybe it was just Hannah and her animal noises, because he laid it all out for me: “I liked hooking up last night, but we can’t have a relationship because of the band.”
    The rejection hurt like nothing I’d ever felt. But over the next few months, we kept fooling around anyway. But I really thought we would become more one day. He said the reason we couldn’t be together was the band; I figured he would eventually want to take the risk. Because I was worth it. I should’ve known better. If he had really wanted me, he wouldn’t have let being in a band together stop him. I hate that I went down on him—slept with him—when he never had any intention of making things serious.
    I examine a pair of blue boots. “How about you? Do you have a girlfriend?”
    “I don’t date,” Jesse replies. “My last girlfriend? Turned out she was selling secrets about me to the tabloids.”
    “I remember hearing about that last year.”
    Rumor had it Jesse was dating Stacey Oliver, the daughter of his drummer, and she told a reporter that Jesse was obsessed with doing freaky things in bed. The story was on the cover of every magazine down at the Quick Pick.
    When Jesse found out Stacey had betrayed him, he fired his drummer. Walked right into his studio and told him to get the hell out. And then Stacey showed up outside Omni, crying for Jesse to give her dad his job back, and security made her leave. An article detailing the drama filled the front page of the Tennessean .
    “She sounds like an idiot too,” I say. “Did you get in trouble with Mr. Logan or your record company for all those rumors?”
    “Some major stores threatened to drop my records because they didn’t like what Stacey said about me. The stores said I need a clean image, considering my audience is mostly teen girls.”
    “Oh, I thought your audience was the old lady convention from lunch.”
    Jesse gives me a look. “Mark said any publicity is good publicity, but my parents weren’t happy. The story embarrassed them in front of their church friends…and my dad’s boss at his accounting firm wasn’t happy. They’re all about ‘family values.’” Jesse makes finger quotes. “And honestly, I was pretty embarrassed myself. I’m glad my pa wasn’t around for it…”
    “But it wasn’t true, was it?”
    “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he flirts, and I playfully slap