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)
My frown deepened. I’d never heard Sutton talk that way before, didn’t know he was hearing anything about anyone. Who would he even have heard that from? Why would he have been reading about it? “I didn’t mean no harm. I was just sayin’ he’s…that. Gay. Whatever. That’s not what was important. He might’ve killed his boyfriend.”
He still wasn’t turning around to look at me directly. “Yeah, man. That’s fuckin’ crazy.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yep,” Sutton answered, but he wasn’t.
“You didn’t invite me in.”
“Do I have to? I’m not sure I’ve ever had to invite you into my room—which really isn’t my room at all as it’s your house.”
“Okay, what the fuck, Sutton? This isn’t your house now? Your room? What’s goin’ on with you?” I didn’t wait or expect him to invite me in. I just went, marched right over and stood in front of him so he had no choice but to look at me.
“Nothin’.” He shook his head. “I guess the anniversary a few weeks back just hit me hard this year, and I’m not bein’ myself. Then gettin’ sick last night. It’s just got me kinda messed up, but I’m good. We’re good.”
I breathed out, deflating my lungs, and holy shit, had I been holding my breath? I had been. “Okay. You better now? Maybe we should get you to a doctor or somethin’.”
He smiled, and somehow it slowed the hyper beat of my pulse. “I don’t need to go to the doctor, Dad. Jesus, you’re like a mother hen sometimes.”
“Father hen, apparently. You just called me Dad. You feel good enough to go for a ride? We can take the horses out. The fresh air will be good for you.”
He seemed to hesitate, and for a moment I thought maybe he was going to say no. It sounded ridiculous, but it wasn’t often Sutton said no to me. I didn’t to him either. We simply did what the other wanted because it was usually what we wanted too. “Yeah, sure, Jasp. I’ll go for a ride with you.”
My insides lit up in a strange way, too bright and happy, like he’d just offered me the world. There was a quiet voice, a slight whisper deep in my head that told me it was too much, too big a reaction for something so small. I ignored it, though, like I usually did, and that tended to quiet it again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sutton
The next few days were busy as hell. Things fell easily into place with me and Jasper, the way they always did, like the wind or the ocean, natural in their flow. Unstoppable, no matter how hard you tried. I couldn’t stay mad. Was that the right word for it? I wasn’t mad at him. Maybe I was mad at me, but I couldn’t stay away from him, couldn’t change this friendship that was such an integral part of my being that I wasn’t Sutton without it. I didn’t even know who I was without it, like maybe I wouldn’t exist at all.
So I just kept those feelings buried the way I always did. Lied to myself that they weren’t there, told myself it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Jasp and I could just keep being us, and that other stuff would go away.
We’d had a long day at work. It was a Thursday, and we were both beat by the time we got home. Our job had taken longer than it should have because the man who owned the house kept coming out to talk to us about the alleged murderer in Ryland and how they needed to chase him out.
I didn’t know about all that. He’d been found innocent, and that was what mattered to me.
So yeah, we were tired, and after dinner, we both ended up going to bed early that night.
I shot up, heart in my throat when Jasper burst into my room in the middle of the night. “Sutt, we gotta go. Somethin’…aw, shit.”
“What’s wrong?”
He’d flipped the light on, and I was already climbing out of bed. It took me a minute to remember I was naked. My gaze shot to his, to Jasper in my doorway. His steel-gray eyes on me felt like a touch, like he could reach out and pleasure me with just one look. I trembled, wanted…fuck, why did I want him? Why did this keep happening?
“Shit.” He turned away.
“Sorry. I, um…sorry.” And now my dick was hard. Nice. I tugged on a pair of briefs. “Is it your mama? Bob?”
“Aunt Carrie. I don’t got all the details, but she was walkin’ or something and got hit by a car. They’re transferring her to Charlotte. We gotta go.”
We. It was always we. Technically, I didn’t have to do anything. I wasn’t their family, but I knew Jasper needed me, so there wasn’t anywhere else I’d be.