Hooped #3 (The Hooped Interracial Romance Series, Book #3) by Claire Adams Read Free Book Online Page A

things for my afternoon class. In spite of
the fact that Devon had introduced me to his friends and frat brothers already,
I didn’t quite feel comfortable with the idea of telling the girls about the
fact that I was seeing him; I thought that if Kelly had said anything about it,
one of them would have brought it up—and no one did. I didn’t want to tell
anyone about the situation until I absolutely had to.
    Instead, we took turns complaining about classes, talking about what we had going on
that afternoon. “I already know where we’ll find Jenn tonight,” Giselle said
with a grin.
    “Ogling the basketball players at the game?” Rebecca
suggested.
    “You should join the cheer team, get into the games
for free,” Giselle joked. “As it is the only reason you work is to pay for game
tickets, I swear.” I rolled my eyes. Devon had told me he had the box office
put a ticket aside for me at the
counter—I wouldn’t have to pay anything to get in.
    “For your information, I am working this evening,” I
said, putting on a self-righteous pose. “Cheryl called in, which means she
probably has the plague, complete with body parts falling off.”
    “You can’t be working all night,” Ashley pointed out.
“What are you going to do when you get off?” I shrugged.
    “Depends on when I get off.” I didn’t know if Devon
had any plans to spend the night with me—but I certainly hoped he did.
“Probably study and get a good night’s sleep.”
    “Like every other night. You’re not fooling me,
Jenn—if there’s even a quarter of the game left, you’ll rush over to watch it.”
    “Whatever,” I rolled my eyes again. “At least I have a
hobby.” Giselle pretend-scowled at me, crossing her arms over her chest and
pouting.
    “I have a hobby, thank you very much; my hobby is
partying. Like any sensible college student.” We all laughed.
    “I need to get going,” I said, glancing at the clock
in the dining area. “If I don’t get back to the dorms, I won’t have time to
print out my paper before class starts.” I took my tray to the line and said
goodbye to my friends, hoping against hope that Kelly was either in the Library
or in class so that I wouldn’t run into
her.
    Devon and I texted back and forth while we were both
in class for the afternoon, flirting and joking around. I couldn’t believe how
happy I was, how different everything was in my life in just a matter of days.
I might not be ready to tell everyone that I was dating Devon Sealy, but I was
definitely glad that he had sat down next to me at the party, that he had
started talking to me.
    I hurried to my dorm and changed into my work uniform;
Pizza Pronti , where I worked, had a
relaxed uniform policy, so all I did was change into a black tee shirt and a
pair of sneakers that I only ever wore to work, and I was out. I walked as
quickly as I could off campus and across the street to the restaurant, smiling
in spite of the fact that I was more than a little anxious about getting there
on time. Even if I wasn’t scheduled, I didn’t want to put Bob under stress that
I would be late.
    I jumped into work right away, walking to the back of
the house and pulling my hair into a neat bun while I clocked in and grabbed an
order pad. “Thank god you’re here,” Bob said. “You’re section three tonight.
Lisa said that she’d come in a few minutes early so you could take off.”
    “Remind me to get her some flowers,” I told him,
grinning. I scampered out into the dining room and found my section, taking a
deep breath. There was always a pretty steady “early bird” business, with retirees
and teenagers from the local high school alike coming in. My first table was a
group of middle-aged women, all of them wearing purple dresses. “Good evening,
ladies! My name is Jenn, and I’ll be taking your orders.” I rattled off the
specials for the night—they were always the same ones, based on the day of the
week, and easy to remember.
    “I