Series: Peach State Stepbros Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I quickly shut it down. “No, no, no, no. And if I find out anyone is conspiring to do some kind of weird-ass boyfriendposal for us, I’m gonna lose my shit.”
Last year, Alpha Theta Mu had a whole event for Ash and Colin becoming boyfriends, including a party in the living room. Brenner and I were invited, and fun as it was, fuck if I’d ever want all that attention on us, even if we were getting together.
Ash laughs. “Don’t worry. We’ll wait until you’re actually boyfriends before we throw you a boyfriendposal.”
“Yeah,” Lance says, “that’s like Boyfriendposal 101 shit.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m adding that to the list of reasons why I’m glad I never joined a frat.”
“You’re a little late,” Lance says. “You and Brenner are basically Alpha Theta Mus by association.”
“Yeah,” Ash says. “We adopted you like Frat Cat.”
“I’m just giving you hell, man,” Lance assures me with a laugh. “I’ll reword it to get less shit: how is whatever-the-hell-you’re-doing-with-Brenner?”
“That’s great,” I say. “Not much to report. We’re the same guys we were before. We just do other stuff now.”
Wake up in each other’s arms most days.
Share gentle kisses before heading off to work or school.
Get more excited than ever before to see each other again.
The more I think about it…lots of boyfriend shit.
“I really miss a relationship,” Lance says as he starts connecting USB plugs into his laptop. “It’s nice having someone to wake up next to. Someone to watch a movie with at night. Someone to go on dates with. And I mean, morning BJs are always nice.”
“Yes, they are,” Ash and I say nearly at the same time before glancing at each other and smiling.
“No need to boast, assholes,” Marty says.
“If I’m being honest, Lance,” I say, “when you were originally coming with us on that cruise and were gonna stay in the same room as Brenner, I was a little worried you guys might be doing stuff like that. Kind of jealous, actually, since I know he thinks you’re hot.”
“Brenner was into me?” Lance asks.
“Oh my God,” Ash says. “How could anyone miss that?”
Lance shrugs. “Went over my head.”
“Straight guys,” Ash says, shaking his head.
Lance stares off, like he’s considering what that might mean, which seems strange for a straight guy. Makes me wonder if there might’ve been more of a chance of that happening than I’d considered.
And though I know there’s no threat there, that jealousy I felt before resurfaces. “Okay, Lance, no need to think about it now.”
“Oooh,” Marty says, “someone’s real defensive about their non-boyfriend.”
And something about putting non before boyfriend really grates on my nerves.
Feels like I’m broken.
I push through it, finish setting up the DJ stand with the guys before parents and kids start arriving. Lance starts up the music, and the rest of us help out with touching up the decorations.
Once we finish up, Atlas encourages us to engage in the party, get the ball rolling. Brenner was basically born to be a hype man for something like this, and he, Troy, and Atlas take the lead. Doesn’t take long for things to get going, and we’re able to let loose and have some fun too, alongside clusters of parents and kids dancing and enjoying the music together.
We’re maybe half an hour into the event when Atlas asks me if I can grab some extra utensils from his car. En route back to the gymnasium, I’m about to head inside when I hear—
“Come on, Sadie. Just give it a try.”
“No, Mom. I want to go home.”
I pass the door and step around the corner of the gym, where I find the arguing duo—a blonde girl about fourteen or fifteen in a tee with a graphic that looks like Charli XCX riding a unicorn, and next to the girl, a woman I assume is her mother. The girl is holding an iPad.
A part of me thinks I should stay out of this, that it’s none of my business. But another part encourages me to approach. “Hey, how’s it going?”
Sadie turns to me and points to her ear, suggesting she can’t hear me. But I just heard her talking to her mom.
She must see the confusion in my expression because she says, “I can’t hear you. I’m deaf. I use this…” She turns her iPad toward me. The words I just said are on the screen. Must be a speech-to-text app. “And I read lips, which isn’t easy, so enunciate and don’t talk too fast.”
“Oh, okay. That’s cool.”
“But we’re actually about to go.”
“Sorry,” her mom says. “She’s in a mood right now.” Her mom gets her attention, signing as she says, “Sadie, you came here to meet people.” Her mom turns to me, still signing. “We just moved here a few months ago, and she had to leave all her friends behind in New York. It’s been an adjustment. She’s been kind of lonely…”