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)
“Yeah, sure. Whatever. Was just an offer.”
I could feel myself pulling away from Jasper lately. Nothing had happened, but…we were twenty-six years old and inseparable. I looked at most people our age, and they were married, or had been dating forever like Sammy and Molly, or they were…hell, I didn’t know. They weren’t like me and Jasp.
As soon as we got home, Jasper forgot all about the awkwardness of a few minutes before. He parked in front of his log cabin and jumped out. In the distance, I saw his dad out by their horse stables on the other side of his folks’ house. “Fuck, I’m starving. Don’t know if I wanna cook or just head over and see what Mama’s makin’. You?”
“We got leftover spaghetti in the fridge. I’ll eat that.”
“I forgot about that.” Jasper opened the door, and we went in. He had the master bedroom with an en suite, so he headed in there.
I grabbed clothes, went to the hallway bathroom, and showered. When I got out, Jasper was already in the kitchen, wearing a pair of basketball shorts that hung low on his hips. The white band of his boxer briefs stuck out of the top, and he didn’t have a shirt on. He was piling two plates full of dinner he’d warmed up.
“Slow ass,” Jasper teased. “I cleaned up, rubbed one out, and got dinner ready before you even got out.”
My cock was at half-mast, a little achy and likely pissed at me because I hadn’t jerked off. Probably should have done that. “Not my fault you’re a quick trigger.”
“Oh, fuck you,” Jasp replied. “I got stamina for days. I just wanted to bust a nut and fill my belly.”
We laughed as he put our plates on the small table in the kitchen. I went to the fridge and grabbed us each a beer, then joined him.
“Caroline texted,” Jasper said. “She wants me to come over tonight.”
The two of them had broken up some months back, partly, I thought, because Jasper’s mama hated her so much. She wasn’t good enough for Ms. Sherry’s baby boy, but I was glad for it too. Caroline and Jasper weren’t right for each other. They didn’t fit, wanted different things. Caroline would never be satisfied with the simple life Jasp wanted. But he also liked getting his dick wet, and Caroline still liked fucking him, so they still had sex sometimes.
“You gonna go?” I shoveled a forkful of noodles and sauce into my mouth.
He shrugged. “Why not? Got nothin’ better to do. It’s a Friday night. Unless you wanna go out and get a drink. Go to the bar and play darts. Or we can fuck around and work on things here. You know I got projects. I always got projects for us.” He grinned, then sucked noodles into his mouth, flinging sauce everywhere.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I know, and nah, go see Caroline. I might see what trouble I can get up to as well.”
He frowned. “Who? Paula?”
I shrugged.
“Jesus fucking Christ, don’t tell me you’re hooking up with Layla again.”
Layla and Paula were both on-again-off-again hookups for me, but neither was anything serious. I’d never had anything serious. Jasper hated Layla, though. “Nope. I’ve actually been talkin’ to this woman on a dating app—Kendra. She’s fucking beautiful. Real nice too. We haven’t met up yet, but we’re talkin’ about tryin’ to set something up. She lives in Cloverhill.”
Jasper’s brows pinched together tightly. “You’re on a dating app?”
“Yeah. I know everyone in Ryland and ain’t interested in any of ’em. I figure if I’m ever gonna settle down, I should expand my dating pool.” Jasper stared at me like I’d sprouted another head. “What?”
“Just didn’t know you were lookin’ to settle down.”
“I mean, I should at some point, shouldn’t I? We ain’t gettin’ any younger. But I haven’t even met her yet. Why’s your face twistin’ up like you sucked on a lemon?” I laughed. “Poor Jasper thinks he’s gonna lose his free labor if I find a nice woman to start me a family with?” Actually, I wasn’t sure I wanted a family at all, but he didn’t need to know that.
“You’re an asshole. I just didn’t know you suddenly wanted all that. Good for you.” He shoveled more food into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and took a swig of his beer. “I think I’ll go to Caroline’s,” he said, but he’d already basically said the same thing earlier.
“Okay.”
“You should go and meet Kendra.”
“I’m thinkin’ on it.”
We finished eating. Jasper washed up the dishes real quick, then got dressed and headed out. I didn’t call Kendra, though, messaging Paula instead. Since we both wanted to get off, I went to her place and we did just that, twice through the night. When I got home the next morning, Jasper wasn’t there. I showered again, got dressed, went to get flowers, and made my way to the cemetery.