Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“’S’okay. You think you got a fever or anything? I…” His words trailed off, like he realized what he was doing, that he was trying to take care of me again in a way most other friends didn’t. “If you’re good, I might go out tonight. See what some of the other guys are up to.”
We did have other friends, people we hung out with sometimes, had a drink or played pool and darts with at the bar. We just weren’t with them the way we were with each other.
“I’m probably just going to go to bed, see if I can shake this off.”
“All right,” Jasper replied.
He disappeared into his room when we got home, and I did the same. I heard the shower come on and then heard the front door when he left. He didn’t say goodbye like he usually did. Did he feel it too? Did it scare him?
“Stop it,” I told myself. I had no business thinking that, wondering if maybe I could ever have him, letting myself admit silently that I wanted him.
That I was in love with him.
That I’d been in love with Jasper Finch my whole damn life and what that had to mean for me.
Was I bisexual? Because I liked women a whole lot too. Hell, I didn’t know what label it meant, and at the moment I didn’t care. I just loved him and needed to bury it deeper, find a way to stop feeling this way about him. Because if I didn’t, I was gonna ruin everything.
CHAPTER SIX
Jasper
The next morning, Sutton said he still wasn’t feeling great when I asked him if he wanted to go to Iris’s, one of the diners in Ryland, for breakfast. I almost stayed home myself, but that was ridiculous. Just because Sutton didn’t feel like going didn’t mean I couldn’t.
We were basically connected at the hip, always had been, and maybe that wasn’t such a good thing. Maybe we needed to figure out a way to get a little bit of space between us. Maybe Dad was right and we were too damn old to be so close. So I went next door and told Mama, “Grab your purse. I’m gonna take you out to breakfast.”
She grinned. “Well, isn’t this a surprise. Your daddy will be upset he missed it. He’s at church. Where’s Sutton?”
Discomfort slid down my spine. It wasn’t as if I never spent time with my family without Sutton. Was it so weird that I’d come over and asked my own mom to go to breakfast without him? “He’s at home. I just felt like hanging out with you this morning.”
She gave me a smile. “My sweet boy. I’m lucky to have you.”
I deepened my voice playfully. “Sweet man, you mean.”
“Well, you’re certainly not my man.”
She had a point. We laughed, she grabbed her things, and I drove us into town. There were a few places to eat in Ryland, of course, but Iris’s was the most popular. Molly was a waitress there and had been for as long as I could remember.
When we arrived, I opened the door for Mama, and she slipped inside. Iris’s was busy, like always, but the hostess seated us quickly, asking how we were doing and what was new before saying, “And where’s Sutton? We hardly see one of the Terrible Twosome without the other.” We didn’t hear that nickname much anymore, but it popped up from time to time.
“He’s not feelin’ so great,” I replied. That was weird, right? It had to be just a little off that people expected to always see us together.
“Well, I’ll let you get to it. Oh! Did you hear the news?” she asked, her voice softer.
“What news?” Mama asked.
“You know that man? City boy who moved here a while back. Keeps to himself and don’t talk to anyone?” He’d moved here a few years back. I didn’t know anything about him—no one did. I just knew he was a loner I’d seen around town a few times. “Emerson Fox, that’s his name, only turns out that’s not his name at all. He’s Bentley, some hotshot businessman from New York who killed his boyfriend.”
Automatically, I leaned away from her, twisting my hand on the bottom of my T-shirt, unable to keep still. “Boyfriend?” I asked, just as Mama gasped, “What? He killed a man?”
“Yes, ma’am. They found him not guilty, which is curious if you ask me. Probably paid them off. I’m sure he’s not above it. I even heard he laughed when the verdict came through, and that there’s a few people he admitted it to.”
“Good Lord! You just never know about someone.” Mama eyed me. “You stay away from him, Jasper Finch.”
“Why would I be around him? And he’s not gonna kill me. I’m not afraid of him.” But it was weird to think about the guy I’d seen at the farmers’ market sometimes as a murderer…and gay…and he’d apparently killed his boyfriend. “Maybe he really didn’t do it.”