Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 95340 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95340 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Obviously.
“Smaller dude. Dorky. Thought I would kick his ass when I found out.”
We’re used to fighting. It’s no wonder the kid would think Sully would want to fight him.
“Did you?”
He shakes his head. “No dude, what the hell do you think I am? He was skinny—real nerdy—one punch and he would have been flat on his sorry ass.”
Lord help me, I’m hanging on Sully’s every word. Who knew he was such a great goddamn storyteller?
Not me.
“I need more details.”
I can hear his sigh from here. “Basically, Nora had told one of her friends about ‘catching feelings’ for Carter.”
“She told one of her best friends, who started seeing one of the guys on the hockey team. Not a good friend of mine but loyal, you know? He found out and felt like he had to say something because the whole thing was making me look like an idiot.”
“I don’t see how you’re the idiot when she was the one cheating.” I feel like I’m making a valid statement at the same time as pep talking him? Weird, I know.
“If you know, you know. So unless you’ve been there, it’s hard to explain.”
“I guess…”
“So Boz tells me he heard Nora was spending a lot of time with Carter, and I blew it off at first because—it was Carter. Right, like picture it—he was one hundred ten pounds maybe, soaking wet. And he was our water boy—basically the team manager in charge of making sure our laundry got clean.” He sniffs indignantly.
“Physical attraction isn’t always based on the physical—haven’t you ever seen Love is Blind?”
He gapes at me. “Of course I’ve seen Love is Blind. I didn’t know you watched it too?”
I snort. “Obviously.”
“Is that what you’re doing in your bedroom? Watching reality dating TV shows?”
“Duh.”
“You little rat.”
“Keep telling me about Nora and Carter…” I want to hear the juicy details, suddenly thirsty for tea. I never have any drama of my own—until lately, it seems—so hearing someone else’s relationship horror story somehow makes me feel better.
Is that wrong?
“So Boz tells me, and I start actually paying attention. Not to her of course, but to the two of them. How close they’d stand, all the chatting they would do. Like why was the fucking towel guy outside the locker room after our games when he should have been working? I was finally paying attention, and suddenly it hit me, and I felt…”
Sully waves a hand around the air. “I felt stupid. And I can’t remember if I was pissed? I just know I was embarrassed—so what does that say about me? I was more embarrassed and cared more what people thought than upset that the girl I was dating was emotionally cheating on me.”
That makes sense. “You were young.”
“Not that much younger than I am now. So I don’t know, maybe that’s what fucked me up?”
Perhaps. Perhaps not. “I know it's hard to see right now, but it's not a reflection on you. Some people just aren't capable of being faithful."
I shrug my shoulders, sitting up straighter to cool my body off, the water so warm I feel like it’s beginning to cook me from the inside out.
“It's scary opening yourself up to someone after getting hurt.”
Not me being sensitive…surely not.
“Yeah, exactly. But maybe it's time to take a chance again? Who knows.” He sits up straighter, too. Swipes a hand across his forehead, moving his wet bangs out of his eyes.
“The right person might be just around the corner.”
“Or on the porch next door.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t make me want to fucking vomit.”
“Just be glad some gorgeous chick is into you, man, and stop fighting it.”
Here he goes again…
And all this is easy for him to say. He’s not the one with a secret virginity problem he’s terrified to get rid of.
“So what are you going to do?” he asks.
“No idea.”
“Well. What do you want to do—I guess that’s the better question. Cut her loose now before she gets too wrapped up in it, or see where it goes?”
I…
Don’t know.
“Honestly. She shows up on the porch and…” That was it. “How do I know she’s hanging around for me—I could have been any one of you on the porch. It was stupid luck that I happened to be outside.”
He stares at me. “Are you being serious right now? I went out with her, and she wasn’t interested, and she probably thinks Charlie is a dick ’cause of the thing with her roommate.”
“What thing with her roommate? Did something else happen besides them sleeping together?”
He nods, wiping his brow again. “From what I hear, she was over a few times—they were having a blast. But then, on her birthday weekend, she invited him out, and he said he didn’t want to be seen with her at a bar—he didn’t want any other chicks to think he was in a relationship.”