Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 114492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“What the hell, Josh?” I say. “You sound like a caveman. Don’t worry about it. I’m asking for a new guy. Problem solved.” I’m suddenly pissed. He has no claim on me. I can do what I want. “I’d better get back into the room,” I say stiffly. “I came out into the hallway to take your call.”
He exhales. “Listen, Kat. I don’t want you being alone ’til we figure this shit out. Not for a minute. Okay? Jonas obviously had a sixth sense here—he was totally right. We’ve got to take this seriously.”
“Yeah. Okay. Got it. Thanks. But like I said, Rodney’s out in the waiting room, and I’ll get a new guy tomorrow.”
“You promise?”
I exhale with exasperation. I’m not sure I like this caveman crap from a guy I’m not even dating. “I’m getting a new guy because it’s what I wanna do, not because you told me to do it.”
“Jeez. Touchy. I’m just looking out for you.”
Tears flood my eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m a wreck right now. Ignore me. I didn’t mean to be bitchy. It’s been a really hard day, Josh.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I know,” he coos. “Of course, it has.”
I sniffle into the phone. “I’m sorry.”
“No worries.”
We’re silent for a long moment.
“Okay, well, I gotta go,” I say. “I came into the hallway to take your call. If Sarah wakes up, I wanna be there.”
Josh exhales. “Kat, listen . . .” But he doesn’t finish the thought. “Yeah, I gotta go, too. Don’t forget to tell my brother I’m stuck down in LA, but I’ll get there as soon as I can. Please tell him, okay? I’m really worried about him.” His voice breaks. “He’s been through a lot, Kat—something like this was the last thing he needed.”
“It’s okay, Josh,” I say softly. “Hang in there, okay?”
I hear him breathing, but he doesn’t reply.
“I’m sure this is rough on you—being down there when your brother’s wigging out up here.”
He doesn’t reply for a long beat. “Kat, you have no idea.”
“Hang in there.”
There’s another long beat.
Josh clears his throat. “It sounds like Sarah’s gonna be good as new, so crisis averted. Jonas will take her to his house tomorrow and nurse her back to health and he’ll be happy as a clam. I’m sure the minute I walk through his door tomorrow, he’ll kick me the fuck out again, just like he did last night.”
I chuckle. “He kicked you out last night?”
“Yeah. I guess he wanted some privacy, if you know what I mean.”
I can hear him rolling his eyes across the phone line.
“Well, from what I heard before you got to Jonas’ house the other day, consider yourself lucky you didn’t hear them. Yeesh.”
“Really?”
“Oh my God. They sounded like they were dying in there.”
He laughs. “Don’t tell me any more. I make it a point not to think about my brother having sex.”
I laugh, wiping the tears out of my eyes as I do.
“I’ve never seen Jonas like this about a girl. Ever,” he says. “I actually think this might be the real thing for him.”
“Really? Wow. Sarah said the same thing.”
“Awesome. I’d hate for Jonas to get his heart broken. He doesn’t put it out there very often. Looks like he’s fallen hard for this girl.”
I never thought for a minute about Jonas getting his heart broken—I’ve been too concerned about Sarah getting hers smashed to smithereens.
“Trust me, if anyone’s heart’s gonna get broken here, it won’t be Jonas’,” I say. “Sarah’s all in.”
“Well, good. I hope it works out for them. They’re awesome together.”
“Yeah, they are.”
“Okay, well . . .” he says. “Hopefully, I’ll get my ass back up there tomorrow on the first flight out, just in time for him to kick me out of his house again.” He chuckles. “So when I’m up there with nothing to do, maybe we’ll have a chance to hang out—maybe grab some dinner or drinks?”
“Maybe,” I say casually, but my heart’s racing. I’m sure he can hear me smiling over the phone line.
“Mmm hmm,” he says. “Okay, Party Girl with a Hyphen. I forgot we’re playing it cool. That’s fine. We both know how this ends—but, sure, we can play it that way.”
“I have no idea how this ends,” I say, my crotch tingling at the flirtatious tone of his voice.
“Oh, well, then, far be it for me to spoil the ending for you.” He pauses. “Well, I better go. Hang in there, Party Girl. I’ll be there soon and you can cry on my shoulder all you like.”
“Thanks. Maybe I’ll see you soon, Playboy.”
“Oh, you can count on it.”
Five
Josh
“Dude, pull your head out of your ass. Please,” I say. “She’s not gonna stay at her mom’s house forever.”
“I’m going fucking crazy,” Jonas mutters, gripping his steering wheel like a madman. “I’m about to fucking blow.”