Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Wasn’t even talking to you,” Tucker said, pointing a wrench at him. “You know his relationship with his mom is extra special for reasons.”
Yeah, these guys definitely knew all my business, so it was only a matter of time until shit I was trying to keep private came up.
Brett’s shoulders dropped. “Yeah, I know. Was only trying to look on the bright side.”
“Right. At least he can now invite women to sleep over,” Tad said, and I grew motionless, trying to control my breaths because that exact same scenario just happened. Except with a guy. No fucking way was I going there with these idiots.
“So what else?” Tucker asked.
“Huh?”
“You said helping your mom was one of the things you did.” Damn, he didn’t miss a thing, did he? “I tried texting you Saturday night, but you never responded.”
Holy shit. It was while I was driving to the bar, so I ignored it, then totally forgot about it.
“Sorry about that.” My pulse was thrashing in my throat. “I, uh, went to see my friend perform at a bar. He plays piano at this speakeasy type of place. It’s in the basement of this other club.”
“The Underground?” Mia asked as she brought out a box of supplies we’d ordered last week. Of course she knew about the club. I nodded, unable to speak at that moment. “Which friend?”
Finally, my mouth got unstuck. “Seth. Remember the guy who was here for new tires and—”
“Of course I remember!” Her whole face lit up. Guess Seth had that effect on everyone. “He plays piano there? That’s amazing! Why didn’t you invite me?”
I smiled. “Maybe I will next time.”
“Next time, huh?” She grinned at me, and I had to look away. I could feel Tucker’s gaze searing into me. We had always been close and shared whatever was going on in our lives, but this was one thing I couldn’t make the leap with yet, and he was likely feeling burned. But I didn’t know how to broach this topic, not yet. I was only just getting used to the idea myself.
“What kind of bar is it?” Brett asked, cranking the jack to lift the Chevy he was working on.
“The kind that wouldn’t accept your ass in there because you’re homophobic,” Mia replied over her shoulder, heading back inside to a waiting customer.
Brett looked shell-shocked, his mouth turned down in a frown.
“What the hell are you pouting about?” Tad said. “She’s not wrong.”
“I’ll have you know, my cousin is gay and I’m totally cool with LGBT rights and gay marriage and all that shit,” he said in a rush, his face blotching pink. “Live and let live.”
“Well, then stop saying such tone-deaf shit all the time,” Tucker piped in, flinging the wrench in the toolbox harder than he’d probably intended.
“I don’t—” Brett began but then stopped himself. “Yeah, okay, I could work on a few things.”
“Attaboy,” Tad said, tongue-in-cheek, and Brett pushed him a bit too roughly. Before we knew it, they’d be in a fist fight. But if Tad was saying all that for Mia’s benefit, she had missed it.
“Should we all join hands and sing Kumbaya?” I asked, amused by their scowling at each other. “Okay, back to work.”
I sighed, grabbed some brake pads from the box Mia had brought out, and turned up my earbuds again.
17
Seth
Hey, you. Just seeing how you’ve been.
I’d been staring at the text from Jake off and on for hours. It was a simple message, obviously. It wasn’t like the guy pledged his unending devotion to me or anything, but it made me feel warm and gooey inside, like a cinnamon roll just pulled out of the oven. Maybe that didn’t make much sense, but to me, that text had a whole lot of meaning. He didn’t have to check on me. He wasn’t technically my friend—or, I guess he was but only because I’d become friends with his mom first. I could have given a hundred reasons for him holding me the other night, or at least like five. I mean, he was a caretaker, so it was in his nature. He was a nice guy, so of course he would want to help. He knew I was close to his mom, so maybe he wanted to support her friend. But he could have easily walked away now. I’d given him space to do exactly that. I didn’t want Jake to feel obligated to me or to feel weird, because as far as I knew, he was straight, and I’d cuddled up on him all night.
But he hadn’t walked away. He’d texted to see how I’d been.
Good. Been a busy few days. You?
His reply came a whole lot quicker than mine to him had. Yeah, same. Listen…I don’t want things to be weird between us. I like hanging out with you. I know I was kinda… Actually, I don’t want to do this by text. Do you have plans tonight?