Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 104766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Drake laughs, stealing a piece of chicken from my plate that I’d painstakingly carved from the bones and putting it in his mouth before I can steal it back from him.
“Sorry. Those are the only things I could think of off the top of my head.”
My mouth is set into a serious line. “I slept with someone while I was back home.”
Drake blinks at me.
He sets down the water bottle he was taking a drag off and blinks again.
“You got laid?”
I nod, although I wouldn’t call it getting laid—sounds too…too…casual. And like I slept with someone I don’t give a shit about or someone I don’t care to remember.
“With who? Did you even get her name?”
“Yeah.” I’m a little insulted he thinks I’d sleep with someone without knowing her name but whatever. “Tess Donahue.”
Drake begins coughing, almost choking on air, face turning red as he slaps at the table with his palm.
“What?”
I hand him his bottle of water, and he takes a sip from it. “Tess Donahu—”
“I heard you.” He wipes his mouth. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Then why did yo—”
“Goddammit, Drew,” he interrupts. “You’re not supposed to shit where you eat!”
Shit where I eat?
Talk about being melodramatic.
“Having sex with Tess is not shitting where I eat.” I pick at my food. “And since when do you care whether or not someone is related to our friends or not. It doesn’t matter.”
Before he was in a relationship, Drake was a bit of a manwhore, sleeping with the girl next door and any good-looking girl who caught his eye. Swore off being tied down in favor of playing matchmaker for me, which he found way more interesting—until he fell in love with his girlfriend.
Bastard.
My twin brother laughs sardonically. “Okay. You be the one to tell that to Grady Donahue once he finds out you boned his sister and then left town.”
“It wasn’t like that at all.” I pause, choosing my next words. “She’s the one who seduced me.”
Drake’s eyes go wide. “That’s…that’s literally going to get you punched in your pretty face. You don’t say shit like that.”
“Grady is not going to find out.” At least, I’m not going to be the one to tell him.
My brother snorts. “He’ll find out. Trust me.”
He’ll find out? From who.
I highly doubt Tess is going to tell her brother. She’ll tell Miranda, no doubt about that. Don’t girls tell each other everything?
But her brother?
Nah.
Don’t think so.
Still, the idea plagues me all night. And as I’m climbing into bed it’s on my mind. Even when I open my book to read, it’s on my mind. I try to stay distracted, trying not to grab my phone and immediately message Tess.
We’ve been talking quite a bit the past few days, which is idiotic considering we’re hundreds of miles away, and when do long-distance relationships ever work out?
Especially with a guy like me, who’s busy all the time and has real-world commitments on top of going to class and maintaining the house we live in, basically busting my ass and not having fun.
Well, this weekend was fun.
I had more fun tagging along with Tess and spending time with her than I did with my best friend, whom I rarely saw, which turned out for the best. Grady got the credit for dragging me home, and I had a blast hanging with his little sister, plus I got laid.
But the only problem I’m having now?
I can’t stop thinking about her.
If we continue talking, wouldn’t it make sense that we develop feelings for each other?
I thumb through my phone—at the dating apps my brother Drake installed for me—poking open the one where I have the most matches and scroll through the faces of my matches, none of whom I’ve met in person since Drake announced he’d been pretending to be me online.
Just haven’t had the energy, though I’ve always had the intention.
Chatting isn’t hard. What’s stopping you?
Tess Donahue is stopping you…
But she’s halfway across the United States, and these girls are here, some of them less than one-hundred feet away.
Closer.
But Tess is from your hometown. She’ll be there when you finish with school.
You don’t know what you’re doing once you graduate, asshole—you might end up in New York. Or Washington.
Or Seattle.
Why is that thought so depressing?
Because your heart isn’t in it anymore. Now that Dad is gone, there’s no one pushing you to stay in the game.
But what the hell else are you qualified to do?
I shrug off the thought, blankly staring at the open pages of my book.
Tess: Quick, tell me one thing you just got done thinking about.
Drew: Shit. Um. What I’m doing after I graduate.
If I graduate and don’t enter the draft instead.
Tess: Dang, Colter, why so serious?
Drew: Just where my mind wandered—no reason.
Except that I’d been thinking of her and dating and that’s why my mind wandered to what I would be doing with my life post-college.