Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
We cleaned up, got dressed, and I drove Melinda to her apartment, which was only about fifteen minutes from my place.
When we got there, I let my truck idle out front. “I hope I didn’t disrespect you in any way tonight,” I said. It had been weighing on my mind. “Yes, I wanted him, but I wanted you too. You know I always love our time together.” She was one of the few women I slept with. I was mostly with men, but I thought that was more because I spent most of my time with gay or bi men.
Melinda chuckled. “You’re sweet, Camden Burke. I like having sex with you. That’s all tonight was. I don’t have my feelings hurt, and you didn’t disrespect me. We’re good.”
She leaned over and kissed my cheek before hopping out of the truck. I watched her get inside safely, then pulled out my phone and shot a text to Jude. Are we okay?
Shit, I shouldn’t have taken Mel to Fever, but again, why shouldn’t I? I couldn’t wait around for Jude forever.
I felt…needy. Like I was holding my breath while waiting for him to reply, which was weird as shit. His answer came back quickly: Yes.
And with that one-word reply, I knew we weren’t good. That I had fucked up, and things were going to be awkward between us. Jude always said more to me than that. I dropped my head back against the seat and sighed.
“Hi, Camden. Hi, Sawyer. Hi, Carter. Hi, Rush. Hi, Lincoln,” Kenny continued saying each of our names and making me smile. He was Beau’s brother and basically the best guy around. We all loved Kenny, but no one loved him more than Beau and Ashton.
“Hey, Kenny. How’s it going, man?” As soon as I put my hand in the air, he gave me a high five.
“I’m great! I can’t believe Beau and Ash are getting married in three weeks! Beau’s a hero!”
“Yes, he is,” I replied.
“Ashton is great too. He’ll officially be my brother, but he already feels like my brother.”
“He is your brother,” Sawyer told him. He had his hand twined with Carter’s. It felt so damn good seeing my brother happy. No one deserved it more than he did, and there was no one in the world more important to me than Sawyer, but it felt a little strange sometimes too. Like Sawyer was at this place I would never be, like there was a wall between us now, which I knew was a dumb thing to feel.
“Lincoln and I are Beau’s best men. Ash says I’ll walk with Wyatt,” Kenny added.
We were all at Ash and Beau’s, finalizing wedding plans. But I couldn’t stop myself from wondering where Jude was…if he was coming. It had been a week since he’d gone home with me and Melinda, and we’d hardly talked and hadn’t hung out once since then—not from my lack of trying either.
“Yep. We’ll practice some today,” Rush told Kenny. “I think that’s what this is all about. But if you need help, you can come to me.”
“Yeah, I don’t wanna forget. Beau and Ash say I won’t forget because I’m super smart, but if I do forget what I’m supposed to do, it’s okay because everyone forgets.”
“Yeah, just ask Rush. He forgets stuff all the time,” Linc teased, and Rush playfully stuck his tongue out at him.
“Oh! Someone else just got here. I have to go say hi.” Kenny ran off. He was so fucking great.
I turned to look at the door to see if it was Jude who had come in. It wasn’t, so I let my gaze wander around the room, and nope, he wasn’t there.
“Where’s your BFF?” I asked Rush.
“He has some kind of stomach bug or something. He won’t be here today.”
Stomach bug, my ass. He was avoiding me. I glanced at Sawyer and saw his brows pull together. He was likely the only one who caught my expression, but it didn’t surprise me that he did.
Dax and Jace approached us just as Lincoln and Rush made their way to Beau and Ash. Then Carter started discussing work stuff with Dax, and a second later, Sawyer was by my side.
“Trouble in paradise?” he joked.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Please don’t tell me you had sex with Jude.”
Falling in love with Carter had loosened my brother up in a lot of ways, but not all of them. “I didn’t have sex with Jude, and if I did, it would be none of your business, and it would have been a decision we both made as adults.”
Sawyer sighed. “Yeah, but you care about him. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Well, shit. That was different. “Um…did we just trade places? I’m fine. Having sex with someone has never hurt me, and if I had sex with him, it wouldn’t either. I’ve been told it’s actually a life-changing experience.”