Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 148704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 744(@200wpm)___ 595(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 744(@200wpm)___ 595(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
“Make it nine, my man. Davis brought these little donut rings, a bunch of giant waffles, and those little peanut butter cup things. We’re set.”
Crew looks my way, a playful groan pushing past his throat. “You brought treats and didn’t tell me?”
“You would have eaten them by now.”
“Fuck yeah, I would.” He grins, and it’s a little loose. Adorably so.
Tonight was the first night I’ve seen Crew have a drink. It was no more than half a cup of chilled whiskey, just enough to relax him and not a drop more.
I hadn’t thought to ask him if he still drank, when he asked me about the subject, but I imagine working at a bar is the ultimate example of strength for him. It’s good to know he trusts himself enough to do as he pleases. I always wanted that for him, him to find confidence and faith in himself to help him believe he can be whatever kind of man he wishes to.
“By the way, if you have sex, do it in my truck, if you don’t want us to listen… ’cause we will!” Willie shouts over his shoulder, and Layla laughs at his side. “And Davis, honey, don’t make him wrap it up, all right? My poor kid ain’t gonna have no friends if you do.”
Before I might have blushed or rambled about how I want him to slide in, but he’s refusing a trip down the brand-new Slip ’N Slide. That’s not what happens, though.
I don’t grow bashful at all; in fact, I laugh, and when I roll my neck along the blanket, I catch Crew laughing too.
Seconds later, it’s just us.
“He’s an ass but that means he likes you.” Crew smirks, tossing an ice cube in his mouth. “And that means Layla likes you.”
“I hope so, considering she’s the one who invited me.”
“She’d never invite you if she didn’t know for sure I’d want you here.”
“Is that right?”
Nodding, he folds an arm behind his head.
“And how would she know that?”
“She asked and I told her.”
A chuckle pushes past my pursed lips. “Just like that, huh?”
“Asking what you want to know is always the cleanest route.”
Twisting my body, so it faces his, I fold my hands beneath my face and lean on them. “So, the dirty route is trickled with muddy assumptions?”
“Exactly.” Small creases form along his temple, as he says the word, and I know something’s on his mind.
“So, why not take a power washer to the one floating around in your mind tonight, clear that baby up?”
He watches me closely, and I know I’m right, he does have something he’s been sitting on. “It’s not all that simple.”
“Why not?”
“I already know the answer to the question.” He speaks surlily. “But it leads to one I can’t fucking figure out.”
“Oh, this sounds juicy. Do tell, Mr. Taylor.”
He studies me, and then he lays it out. “You’re not attracted to Jess. Not physically. Not like you are to me. He’s attracted to you, but you’re thinking, right now, that that’s not true. It is. No damn doubt.”
Talk about a veer left, when you expect a right.
Oddly, or maybe not so odd, considering Crew’s always been able to read me as if he had a crystal ball on his side. He’s not wrong, but like he said, he knew that already.
I’m not attracted to Jess, not sexually or emotionally or any other “jump my bones, neighbor” kind of way and I most definitely don’t believe he’s attracted to me. But…
“And this little palm-reading session leads to what unanswered question?”
“Why?” He asks it so simply, as if it truly makes no sense to him.
Why? I mean, it is a good question, I guess, but the answer I would think was an obvious one. Clearly not, though, if the scowl etching its way across Crew’s features indicates anything.
“I don’t want him and I don’t know that there’s a reason why. He’s my friend. Never once have I looked at him and thought of anything other than that. He’s just Jess, my neighbor down the hall. My study buddy, or former study buddy now. That’s all.”
“That’s what I mean. You’ve never thought of him differently. I know because, if you had, there’s no doubt in my mind he’d have jumped on your first hint of interest. Now, though, you’re starting to see what you didn’t before. Your eyes are opening, Sweets, and pretty soon, you’ll look at men a whole lot different than you do now.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I know so.”
And I know I’ll always seek you out, even in a room of hundreds. Just you.
“Maybe you’re right,” I admit, and a deep line dents the space between his dark brows. “Maybe I will or do notice the look in a man’s eye in ways I didn’t before, but when they look back into mine, they won’t see the same thing,” I promise.