Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
His brows drew together. “That’s a harsh way to describe it.”
I shrugged. “It’s an accurate one though.”
He studied me for a moment. “No, it’s not.” He looked sheepish then. “I’ll admit, at first, I did see it that way. With things here—Mom, you know—I didn’t like that Calvin was asking us to do this. But now that you’re here”—his lips quirked—“I find that I like you being around. You’re entertaining.”
“Seeing as how I placed my bet on you,” Gathe said, standing up and stretching, “I’m gonna leave you to it and go on up to bed.”
A dark scowl came over Forge’s face as he looked at Gathe. However, Gathe wasn’t at all intimidated by it. Instead, he blew Forge a kiss and left the room.
When Forge swung his gaze back to me, it quickly changed. The threatening glare was gone. “I kept you up late. We should all call it a night.”
I was in no rush to go to bed. I knew with sleep came the nightmares. But I nodded. He was probably exhausted.
He walked over to me and took the iPad. “I’ve got to finish this up before I sleep anyway. I’d better get started.”
I was curious about what Gathe had meant by placing his bet on Forge, but I didn’t ask.
Forge waved a hand for me to go first, so I picked up my bottle of water and headed to follow the path Gathe had just taken.
“More games tomorrow night, but Oz will be here. I won’t have to work as hard. But you’re welcome to join. Your knowledge of basketball was impressive.”
“Calvin always made me watch it with him, growing up. He’d talk through the entire game as if he were an announcer. I learned a lot. It was the betting lingo I wasn’t sure about, but I learned a good bit tonight,” I said, glancing back at him briefly.
“Yeah, you did. Oz may replace me once he sees how good you are at it.”
I laughed. I doubted that, but I didn’t mind helping. For the first time since I had gotten here, I felt useful. As if I could do something for them in return for what they were doing for me.
“I heard Calvin wrote you another letter,” he said.
“Yeah,” I replied. I’d read it earlier several times, but I hadn’t responded yet. I could do that when I got to my room.
“So, you two were never friends with benefits then?” he asked.
I almost tripped, going up the stairs. His hand shot out and grabbed my arm to steady me.
“Easy,” he said very close to my ear, and I shivered.
Dammit.
Clearing my throat to hopefully cover that reaction up, I continued climbing and paid more attention to my feet. “No. Never. Calvin has never seen me as more than his friend.” And once, that had broken my heart on a daily basis.
“But you saw him as more.”
I paused mid-step, then continued on. I opened my mouth to lie, but why? I wasn’t a kid anymore. There was no silly crush that I thought was love. I had never admitted it to Calvin though.
“Yeah, I did. When we were younger. I hit puberty and thought I was in love with my best friend; it went on for a while, but in the end, I knew we’d never be more than friends.”
“Probably for the best, although I’m still leaning toward Calvin being gay. Dude just hasn’t come out of the closet.”
A laugh bubbled out of me. “He is not gay. Trust me. I was there every time he fell in love. I got to listen to it all.” I’d been bitter about it once too.
“I need to see a picture of these girls,” Forge said as we reached the top of the stairs.
“Why?” I asked, glancing back at him.
“Because you’re out of Calvin’s league. I need to know what kind of ass he was scoring that he thought was fucking love. Guys don’t love in their teens. They want to fuck. A lot. But it ain’t love. If you’d been my best friend, we’d have been fucking the moment I knew you were interested.”
The tingle became a sizzle that spread through my entire body as goose bumps broke out on my arms. What was wrong with me? Why was I reacting like this to him? I never reacted to anyone like this. Not even Calvin.
Forge couldn’t know this. That would be humiliating. Whew.
Talk to him like you would Calvin, I told myself. Be a buddy. Make a joke. You know how to do this.
“I can assure you, that would have never happened,” I quipped.
“And why is that?”
I turned to look at him then, and this time, I smirked. “Because the moment I saw the size of your penis, I would have run away, for fear of being ripped open.”
For a moment, he said nothing, and I thought maybe that could possibly be a sore subject for him. Regret started to sink in, and then Forge threw his head back and roared with laughter. Even his neck was sexy. Jeez.