Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Kenny smiled more than anyone I’d ever met. He was a fun kid, who obviously loved his brother like crazy. I envied them their relationship. I didn’t have siblings, and as much as I loved Mom and Dad, I’d always wished for a bigger family.
As we waited for Kenny to get a drink at the fountain, Beau looked down, toed at something in the grass I couldn’t see. “Thanks, man…for playing. He liked that. The other kids tease him sometimes, so he doesn’t really have anyone but me. They made fun of him because he couldn’t throw.”
“He can now. How could he not learn with the best teacher there is showing him?”
Beau rolled his eyes. “You’re so full of yourself.”
“I wasn’t talking about myself. I was talking about you.”
His eyes snapped up, his lips pulling into a smile. Dizziness swept over me, twisted me up. My feet itched to run away, and I suddenly couldn’t stand there a second longer. “Catch you later, Cranky Campbell,” I said, then turned and took off as fast as I could go.
I shook my head, trying to wake myself up from my nap and wondering why in the hell my dream had gone to that day in the park with Kenny and Beau. It had to be because I’d seen Kenny for the first time in what felt like a hundred years. It hit me how much his speech had improved, and I smiled, proud of him for what he’d accomplished.
It was impossible not to think of Beau and Kenny as a sort of package deal. There wasn’t anything Beau wouldn’t do for his brother. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t seen him in ten years; I knew that was still true.
And like it had when I was younger, that did something to me. I envied it…respected it…was enamored by it. My parents would have done anything for me. I’d grown up knowing that, but outside of them, I wasn’t sure I’d ever met someone who gave a shit about me on a real level, a deep level, and not because I was good-looking or popular or good at football. And I always wondered if I could do it, if I could have given up all the things Beau did for his family. I was pretty sure I was too selfish for that.
Those thoughts took me back to what Beau had admitted…when he’d asked about the kiss. I’d spent years in turmoil over it, not able to believe I’d done it, scared it would come back and bite me in the ass…wondering what Beau thought about it.
Nope. I wasn’t going there.
I dragged myself out of bed, and for the second time that day, I took a shower. I thought about jacking off, but wasn’t sure I had the energy, so I just stayed in until the water went cold, and then got out. Wearing only a towel, I went back into my room and tried to figure out what I was going to wear.
Realizing it didn’t matter what the fuck I wore to a thank-you dinner with my old high school friend, I grabbed a pair of khaki shorts and a black Henley. Before I knew it, I was walking into Fever Pitch a whole half hour early and wondering what I was doing.
I should call Wyatt. It could be a reunion dinner of sorts. The three of us could hang out, touch base again. Wyatt had said he still saw Beau sometimes, though they didn’t hang out like we did in high school. Thinking about that made me think about Beau’s friend Lincoln…and the other guys he mentioned. I didn’t recognize any of their names from friends of ours in school, so they were either new to town or had gone to a different high school.
And I was pretty sure they were all gay or bi.
Oh shit. Were all Beau’s friends gay? Did that mean it was weird for me to want to go out to dinner with him?
My pulse sped up and my eyes went a little blurry before I reminded myself I was a grown-ass man and could be friends with whoever I wanted. What the hell did anyone’s sexuality have to do with friendship? I was losing my damn mind.
Which brought me back to the point that maybe it would be cool to call Wyatt, and we could hang for old times’ sake. Still, I didn’t call him. It would be nice to get to know Beau again, just the two of us.
“Excuse me…sir?” a man asked, and I could tell by his frown and the way his brows were pulled together that he’d been talking to me for a while. “Just you?”
“Um…no…two. I’m, um…early, and I’m meeting my friend Beau here. We were high school buddies and haven’t seen each other in a long time. He should arrive soon.” Because obviously I had to give the host my whole life story.