Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“He’s much more agreeable when you tell him,” I said.
“We’ll work on him.” Connie winked.
“This is just the cutest shit I’ve ever seen. Are you sure this isn’t real?” Garrett asked. I knew without looking that Houston flipped him off.
“Have you guys figured out how you’re handling the breakup? And with Houston getting the offer from LA, there will likely be rumors since he’ll be leaving,” Dale said, and I froze, my stupid heart stopped in my chest, which was dumb, because no shit they were going to send Houston an offer, and no shit he was going to accept it. Still, I hadn’t known they had and he did.
Connie swatted his thigh, making it clear they weren’t supposed to tell me, and yeah. He winced. That didn’t feel good, but Houston didn’t owe me anything. “For now, we’ll just say we plan to do the long-distance thing, and then I guess, when the time comes, say we changed our mind.” I pretended to be in the know, even though everyone in the room clearly knew I wasn’t.
Houston sighed. I couldn’t lie, the rest of the night was awkward. The more time passed, the more pissed I got, because fuck that. Why hadn’t he told me? Did he think I couldn’t handle it?
I made it home before him but didn’t wait. It was just a couple of minutes later when he got there, and I said, “I’m gonna go for a run.”
“Cullen.” I ignored him and went straight for my room. “Can you hold up and listen to me for a fucking minute?” He followed.
“Why? What’s the point? We both knew that shit was going to happen.” I kicked out of my shoes and tugged my jeans off before going to the dresser to look for athletic pants.
“I was going to tell you. They literally called me after the game and said they were sending the formal offer. It hasn’t even come yet. I just thought we should talk about it when it was just us. I wasn’t trying to keep it from you. I was trying to…fuck, I don’t know, not do this at the stadium or with my parents?”
Oh…well, when he said it like that, it made sense. “It doesn’t matter anyway.”
He gave me a small smile before walking over and holding my chin. “Always such a fucking hothead. You were one in college, and you still are. Sometimes if you just slow down and don’t assume the worst, then you’ll keep yourself from a whole lot of stress.”
“First, you’re the logical one, not me. Second, that’s boring.”
He shook his head, chuckling. “Dad’s right, though. People will ask about it once it’s announced. We should come up with a story so we say the same thing.”
I nodded, not really wanting to talk about that. I was in my underwear and a T-shirt, and Houston was close to me. Talking was the last thing I wanted to do. “Can we do that after we fuck?”
“Who said we’re fucking?”
I ghosted my lips over his mouth when I spoke. “Don’t pretend you don’t want to…”
“Jesus fucking Christ, it’s like you suck all the good sense outta me.” He lowered his hand and cupped my bulge. “Is this a thing we’re going to keep doing now?” he asked, massaging my erection.
“I feel like we go over this every time.”
“Probably because it’s fucking dumb.”
“But inevitable,” I countered. I wanted to fuck my fill of him while we could. What harm could it do? We’d always succumb, no matter how hard we tried to fight it. “We know this thing has an expiration date.” Even if it hadn’t before, it did now. Houston would be in LA next year, and I would be here or…who the hell knew where. But for the first time, I almost felt like I’d found a home. I didn’t want to leave Denver. Not yet. “We quit before, we can do it again.”
“We also hated each other afterward.”
He had a point… “That is different. Even if we wanted more, we both know long distance would be a disaster. Last time, we thought we were in love. Now we know we’re not. We know the score…so you can’t get jealous when we break up and everyone wants me.”
He laughed like I’d hoped he would. “Fuck you.”
“Yes. Do that.”
I leaned in, but Houston stopped me, grabbing my face before his mouth slammed down hard on mine. He did exactly as I’d asked him to, fucked me until we both came, saying each other’s names, sweaty and clinging together in my bed.
When we were done, he didn’t leave, and I didn’t ask him to.
We could totally do this. We could fuck, knowing it was all about fun, knowing it would end, and this time, walk away without all the anger and pain.
It would be no problem. No problem at all.