Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
I sat on the arm of Parker’s couch and crossed my arms. “Here’s the thing—” I began. No point in delaying. But evidently, Jude didn’t agree.
“Why don’t I get us some drinks? It is Friday, after all.” Without waiting for a response, he went to the fridge. That probably wouldn’t be his only stalling tactic. He didn’t want to be having this conversation at all, even though he recognized the need for it. What kind of a man was he, anyway?
Jude returned and passed out the beers. Then he sat on the couch Kylie was on, probably for moral support. “Happy now?” I snapped, after I opened my can. I wasn’t really mad at Jude, my best friend, but I resented being put in this position. “Can we continue now or should we make a toast or something?”
The musician’s eyes were full of amusement as he lifted his can. “To a successful semester.” The others raised their cans and took a drink.
With another sigh, I lifted my beer and downed half of it. Partly because I was thirsty and partly so that I wouldn’t be tempted to grin at Jude. Even though we were at odds at the moment, he was my best friend and like a brother to me.
“Now can we get started?” I asked again, but he’d managed to lighten my mood. A little.
Jude nodded and looked up at me expectantly, as did Kylie, though she still looked concerned. As for Parker, I judged that he was about 60% here, mentally, which was about as present as he got these days.
“Here’s the thing,” I said, and then I hesitated—which wasn’t like me. But over the summer, I’d accidentally made a girl cry, and it hadn’t been a pleasant experience for either of us. Therefore, I needed to tread carefully. “This isn’t working out.”
Kylie’s head snapped up, but I continued before she could cut in. “It’s like I said that first night you showed up here. We’re men. We need to be able to relax here. To be ourselves. We deserve it after a long, hard day. Everyone does.”
The cute blonde bit her bottom lip as she took in my words. “How am I stopping you from being yourselves?”
“It’s nothing specific that you’ve done,” Jude said. “It’s just… a basic incompatibility about certain things.”
Kylie took a deep breath as she looked at him. “So you agree? It’s not working?”
“Not the way things are at the moment, no.”
“I just don’t get it. I want to relax at the end of a long day, too.”
“It’s not the same for women,” I said. We could argue that one all day, but I’d never believe it was the same for them.
“Why not?”
“Because we’d never judge you or shame you for wanting to blow off a little steam.”
“Are you saying that I’m judging you?” Kylie asked. “I’d never do that. You made it clear, if I wanted to stay here, you weren’t changing things for me. There would still be one bedroom. You’d still do what you like.”
“We thought that would work out, in theory, but in practice…“ Jude trailed off.
“It’s not working,” I said bluntly.
Kylie ran a hand over her cheek, and I thought I saw a tear track.
Fuck, she was upset. I knew it. Even though Kylie seemed like a cool girl, she was still a girl. And girls were sensitive and delicate and they couldn’t handle conversations about things like this.
“Are you all right?” Jude asked gently. It was much better to let him handle a female that might get weepy at any moment.
Kylie waved him off, though, and I gave her points for trying to keep it together. “I’m all right. It’s just been a hard week and now… this.” She gulped in a deep breath of air. “It’s just… I thought this was working. I really did.”
“We tried, Kylie,” Jude assured her. “We weren’t going to speak up… but, well, I hate to admit it, but Mason’s right. We’re men. There are just some things we need.”
“I thought things were going well,” Kylie said in a small voice.
Jude and I exchanged a glance. “Don’t be upset,” he said.
Kylie took in a sniffling breath. “It’s kind of hard not to. I didn’t expect that after less than a week, you’d want to kick me out.”
For a moment, my jaw dropped. Even Parker looked surprised.
“Kick you out?” Jude echoed. “No one said anything about that.”
“What?” Kylie looked astonished. “Then what the hell have we been talking about for the last five minutes?”
Shit, I guess I wasn’t as direct as I thought. Time to fix that. I looked her straight in the eye, and said, “We need to be able to jerk off in bed at night.”
10
Kylie
My jaw dropped so low that it was in danger of rolling under the sofa as I stared at Mason. That’s what he’d been getting at?