"Not helping," I growled before I started to move past him. He had wasted enough of my time.
"Okay, hey, hey. Stop. Please." He backtracked in front of me with his hands held in the air. I started another way, but he blocked me. "Please, Sam. I'm embarrassed about this and I don't know who else to talk to. You and me are different."
"I know. There is no 'you and me.'"
He scratched at his head. "No, I mean you're different than all the other girls. I know you and me weren't a good thing—"
My eyebrow arched.
He amended, "—and by that I mean to say that I wasn't good in a relationship. I'm still not good in a relationship."
"Wait." Wariness came over me now. "Are you still dating Jessica?"
His hand fell to his side with a thump. "Are you kidding? She's dating some wrestler from community college."
And from how he looked away, I knew there was more to it. I guessed, "And she's cheating on him with you?"
He looked down at the floor.
"Do you not learn, Jeff? My god." I wanted to wring his neck, but I needed to make myself clear. "Whatever you're going to ask of me, there will be no Jessica or Lydia attached at your hip. I mean it. You go back and forth with Jessica. I have no idea why, but I won't have her in my life again. I am done with both of them."
"I'm done with them too. I mean it. And that isn't what this is about. I promise."
I heard the insistency in his tone. I wanted to walk away from him, the guy deserved it after what he had done to me, but my feet didn't move. Then I realized what I heard, there was also desperation in him. And something that sounded close to…agony? When I looked again, I was seeing a different Jeff. He'd been a sarcastic badboy, but there was something new now. Vulnerability.
"What do you want?" I folded, but I was cursing at myself in my head.
A grin flared before he nodded, somber again. "Okay. So, we both know our history. I cheat on every girl I date. But I've met someone new."
I already knew where he was going with this. "And you don't want to do that to her?"
He nodded.
"You don't want to cheat on her?"
He nodded again, more eager.
"And you want to be the good guy she thinks you are?"
"Yeah! See you're perfect for this. It's like you know me."
I smacked him in the back of his head. "Because I do and you're not that guy. You cheat, that's what you do. Stop cheating and your problem is solved. Stop wasting my time. I have a mission."
"What mission?"
"I need friends. I have to make friends."
"I'm your friend."
"No, you're not. You're my ex boyfriend. We're not friends."
I started to leave again, but he darted in front. "Hear me out, please."
I growled at him.
"I will help you with your mission."
"You will?" Suspicion slammed against my chest. "How?"
"I know a lot of these girls. I cheated on you, a lot."
I growled at him again.
"You help me learn how to be a good boyfriend and I'll rally some girls to look out for you at your new school."
The suspicion lessened a little. "You heard about that, huh?"
"Everybody did. It's big news when Kade's girl won't be going to our school anymore. The Elite are crestfallen. They can't use you to get to them."
I frowned. "I thought they gave up on that long ago."
He shrugged. "I heard they were regrouping. Miranda's the leader again. She's preaching against any girl who sleeps with Logan Kade again."
I shook my head. "Will she never learn?"
"Who cares. Their funerals if they want to mess with the Kades again. Being burned by being a hypocritical bitch didn't teach her a lesson. Who's to stop her from getting burned again?" He winked at me with a devilish smirk.
"I didn't know you weren't such a fan of Miranda Stewart's?"
He glanced away as his shoulders tensed. "A lot's been going on you don't know about."
"Like what?"
"Look, will you help me learn how to not cheat? I'll get those girls to help you, promise. I'm good for that. I mean it."
"There will be no 'us' anymore. We're clear on that?"
Horror flared in his eyes before he shook his head, grimacing. "You think I want to get killed? No way in hell do I want to mess with either of those Kades." Then his face transformed. The same devilish look came back and he turned into the smooth Casanova I knew he could become. "I wouldn't mind meeting Logan Kade, though. I like to think of myself as an apprentice of his. We're cut from the same cloth."
"The same cloth?"
"Yeah." At my disbelief, he nodded again. "With the ladies. They love us."
"Logan had a serious girlfriend one time."
"He did?"
"You want to know how he handled that and his 'ladies'?"
He leaned forward. "I'm eager to learn. Yeah, how'd he handle having a relationship?"
"He didn't cheat on her." I grabbed his shirt and yanked him out of the way. Then I smacked him on the back of his head again. "Problem solved. Now go away."
As I pushed through the crowd, he called after me, "That doesn't help me, but fine. I'll hold up my side of the bargain, Sam. You'll see and then you'll help me! I know you will."