Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
The last thing I needed was for Mano to tell Holly about my slight addiction to her words. She would never let me live that down.
“The only thing that will stop me from confessing your crush to Holly is if you come with me to invite her to the game,” Mano mentioned. Or, more so, threatened.
The elevator door opened on the twenty-fourth floor, and I grumbled to myself as I stayed in place. There was no way I would allow my brother to go to Holly’s apartment and make any confessions.
We rode up to the twenty-fifth floor, and Mano hurried over to her apartment.
“How do you even know where she lives?” I asked him.
“Uh, because we’re friends, bonehead. Holly made me cookies last week, and I picked them up from her.”
What? Did she make him cookies? What the hell?
A tinge of jealousy hit me.
I wanted Holly’s cookies.
I bet her cookies were warm, moist, delectable, and would melt in my mouth.
I huffed and tried to act as if I wasn’t some odd man jealous that my younger brother was receiving baked goods from Holly.
Before Mano knocked on her door, his face shifted to a worried expression. “Hey, before we do this, I need to get something off my chest.”
“What is it?”
“It’s kind of serious,” he said, rubbing his neck.
I grew concerned and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I feel like we are a bit disconnected lately.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s clear that you feel like you have to hide your smut books from me. You don’t have to be ashamed. If you want to read about throbbing cocks, quivering thighs, and aliens banging each other, do it, Kai. This is a judgment-free zone.”
I shoved him to the carpeted hallway floor, and he snickered the whole time he fell.
He stood, still laughing at his stupidity. He took a second to compose himself before he knocked on the door.
I’d be lying if a part of me wasn’t hoping to see Holly. It’d been two days since I’d seen her in person, and I was beginning to miss her. I wanted to ask how she was doing. I wanted to ask how her day had been. I wanted to ask when the third book in her Wild series would be released because screw that cliffhanger.
I had so many things I wanted to ask that woman, but reality set in when the door opened.
“Hello?” a gruff voice said.
It wasn’t Holly’s.
“Oh shit,” Mano said, stunned to see Matthew standing there.
“Language,” I muttered, silently saying “oh shit” in my head.
“Sorry, we were looking for Holly,” Mano said, trying to keep his cool.
“She’s in the bathroom. She should be out in just a—”
“Hey, you guys,” Holly said, walking out of the bathroom and seeing us standing in her doorway. I felt like a complete idiot for interrupting her at-home date night. She smiled and gestured toward Mano and me before looking at Matthew. “These are two of my friends, Matthew. They live downstairs.”
Friends.
I was officially friend-zoned.
“Nice to meet you both,” Matthew stated with a genuine smile. I wanted to smack his smug self as I mocked him in my mind.
Nice to meet you both.
Shut up, Matthew.
The sound of his voice mimicked nails on a chalkboard. I wondered if Holly would’ve been pissed if I throat-punched him. Just a few knuckles straight to his jugular. I didn’t like the guy and had no real reason not to. I didn’t know him, but I’d never met someone who irritated me so much from his mere existence. From the stories that Holly told me, he was perfect, which meant there had to be something wrong with the guy. No one was that good of a person. That, or it was that my jealousy was at a full-blown level when it came to Matthew.
A popping sound began inside the apartment, and Matthew did an annoying sort of jump. “Oh shoot! I’ll let you guys talk. I have to grab the popcorn on the stove before it goes all over the place. Great meeting you both,” he repeated as he hurried to the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Holly asked Mano and me.
“Nothing. Sorry to interrupt, but Mano was determined to ask if you wanted to come to his football game on Friday,” I explained. I cleared my throat. “But we see you’re busy, so you go ahead and entertain—”
“I’m playing quarterback,” Mano cut in. “I’m starting this Friday.”
“What?!” Holly and I both said in unison.
“No way. Dude. Why didn’t you tell me you were starting? That’s huge.” I shoved my brother from excitement. Was I my brother’s biggest fan? Of course. But did he ever get play time on the field? Not at all. This was a big deal. I slugged him in the arm. “Dang, Mano!”
“It’s whatever.” Mano shyly blushed, shrugging his shoulders. He was excited about this.