Helping Hand Read Online Jay Northcote (Housemates #1)

Categories Genre: College, Erotic, Gay, GLBT, M-M Romance, New Adult, Romance, Young Adult Tags Authors: Series: Housemates Series by Jay Northcote
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Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 43759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
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their little exchange.

“Which pub are we going to later?” Jez wanted to get the

conversation away from dangerous ground.

Luckily Shawn took the bait, and the m om ent passed. Josh gave Jez a

quick wink before turning away to talk to Dani again.

When Jez dared look back at Mac a little later, he seem ed to have

relaxed and was deep in conversation with a blonde girl Jez hadn’t seen

before. She was pretty, and she kept giggling at things Mac said and

twirling her hair. Jez ignored the unpleasant lurch of discom fort in his gut.

Mac could flirt with any one he wanted; it wasn’t Jez’s business.

In the pub, the girl—Gem m a, Jez found out when Mac introduced

them —was still hanging around Mac. It didn’t m ake Jez feel any better

when it turned out that Gem m a was not only pretty but also funny and

intelligent. She was study ing Politics and Philosophy and had opinions on

every thing. In other circum stances Jez would probably have been

attracted to her and tried to get her attention for him self, but tonight he

was uneasy and unsettled, and he was struggling to follow the

conversation because his own thoughts were too distracting.

He excused him self to go to the bar. It was busy, but it didn’t take too

long to get served as they had lots of people working. As the barm an was

pouring Jez’s pint, a girl squeezed in beside Jez, digging him in the ribs

with an elbow.

“Oops, sorry,” she said. “But when y ou’re m y height, y ou have to

be pushy.” She couldn’t have been m uch over five feet tall and looked like

a little pixie with spiky hair in an unnatural shade of red, big dark ey es,

and an upturned nose.

“I can only im agine.” Jez was six foot now and had had his growth

spurt at thirteen. He couldn’t rem em ber being that sm all.

She grinned. “Yeah, it’s okay for y ou.”

She spoke with a slight accent. Jez tried to place it—Italian, m ay be?

The barm an returned with Jez’s pint. “Any thing else?” he asked.

“Oh, could y ou get m e a pint of Dry Blackthorn if y ou’re already

being served?” the girl asked. “Here’s the m oney.” She put a pile of coins

down on the bar. Jez would have offered to pay for hers, but she pushed

them towards him insistently.

The barm an went off to pour her drink.

“I’m Gabi, by the way. You’re here for Shawn’s birthday too, y es?”

“Yes.” Jez nodded. “I’m Jez.”

“Cool.”

When they both had their drinks, Gabi j oined Jez’s group, squeezing

in beside him on the bench seat. He introduced her to Mac, and she

already knew Gem m a. Mac caught Jez’s ey e and gave a slight grin and

ey ebrow raise, m ay be in encouragem ent.

As the evening progressed, the girls stuck with them . Jez was

enj oy ing Gabi’s com pany. She was fun to talk to and cute to look at. She

wasn’t hiding her interest, and norm ally Jez would have gone for it and

flirted right back, but tonight he was distracted by what was going on with

Mac and Gem m a. He found him self listening in to their conversation

instead of pay ing attention to Gabi. A rising unease tightened his chest and

m ade his gut clench. Jez was reluctant to adm it he was j ealous, but deep

down he recognised the unfam iliar em otion even though he tried to

ignore it. Instead he tried to drown his feelings in beer. If he drank

enough, he m ight m anage to stop m oping around after his m ate and get

with the program . Gabi was into him , and she was cool. It had been way

too long since he’d hooked up with a girl. May be he needed to get back in

the saddle.

By the tim e they got to the club, Jez was well on the way to being

drunk but not quite at the sloppy stage. He was buzzed and feeling m ore

chilled, the alcohol tem porarily clouding his anxieties. Gabi took his hand

and pulled him towards the packed dance floor, and he followed. Once

they were lost in the throng, she turned to face him . Pressed close by the

crowd, it was easier to dance with his hands on her hips. She put her arm s

around his neck, tilted her head back, and sm iled.

Jez let his gaze roam over the rest of the dancers. Lots of the others

from their group had j oined them . He caught sight of Shawn with a

curly -haired girl, and Josh and Dani dancing together—blatantly dirty

dancing in a com pletely over-the-top way —and then he found who he

was looking for. Mac’s dark head stood out because he was a couple of

inches taller than m ost other blokes, and sure enough, he was dancing

with Gem m a. Jez watched as she tossed her hair and looked at Mac


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