Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 129881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“Oh my god. It’s Felix,” Riley says from somewhere behind me.
Her voice jolts me alive, and I surge forward then and fist Felix by the shirt.
He grunts when I yank him against my chest and wrap my arms around his shoulders and squeeze and say, “It’s you. Thank fuck.”
I breathe him in. He smells like sweat and rainwater.
“Jake.”
His mouth moves against my neck, and his arms are wrapped around my waist so tight.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“It’s okay. You’re okay.”
“My dad stole my phone.”
“I know. I called it.”
“I didn’t know your number by heart and I couldn’t—Jake, I couldn’t see you until now. I had to wait. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“I don’t care. I’m just glad you’re okay. I was so fucking worried about you.”
Felix peels us apart to look at me, and I realize then that everyone is looking at me, at us, and I don’t want to do this out here.
There’s so much I want to say that I haven’t already.
And whatever Felix needs to tell me, whatever he looks anxious about right now, I want him to feel comfortable sharing it.
I don’t want him holding back. I need it to just be us.
“Come on,” I say, grabbing his hand.
I lead him down the hallway, passing Riley, who smiles quietly at me, and pull Felix into my bedroom. I shut the door behind us.
“Jake, I—”
I grab his face and lower my head and press my mouth against his so fucking softly when I really want to slam him up against the wall. I’m tender and timid because I think I need to be—this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done—and my tongue barely licks inside his mouth when Felix slants his head and parts his lips and kisses me like he’s teaching a fucking lesson on it.
And I’m such a liar because now, this is so much harder.
Part of me wonders if I should just let this happen, we can always talk after we fuck around, but I’m miraculously still able to hold back.
I lean away a little to keep myself from taking us beyond the point of stopping, and I simply press my lips to the corner of his mouth.
Felix grips my hips and whimpers, his cheek rubbing against mine and mouth seeking more.
“Wait,” I say, pulling back to look at him.
He blinks, sending a tear down his face.
“Hey.” I catch it with my thumb. “What happened? Can you tell me?”
He nods and allows me to lead him to the bed.
We sit on the edge, our knees touching and our hands in his lap.
Felix stares at them like he’s never held a guy’s hand before, and I get it. Even if he has, I haven’t, and I wish I could sit here and look at this part of us for as long as I want because it’s fascinating to me too.
His hands are just as big as mine, and his skin is calloused in places and his grip is stronger than any girl’s hand I’ve ever held, and I like it so much.
And when I twist my wrist and push my fingers between his, interlocking them and holding hands like a fucking couple, I smile a little and so does he.
“Um. So, do you want the short version?” he asks, wetting his lips.
“I want to know everything that happened. I don’t care how long it takes you to tell me.”
“Okay.”
Felix starts at the beginning, giving me everything I missed last night after he asked me to leave.
The conversation they had after his dad got out of the shower, and how horrible it was cleaning up after him and all the good it did, because the upstairs still smelled so bad, Felix had to sleep on the couch. Then he woke up to some homeless guy raiding his fridge who his dad offered up a room to, and they both started getting tanked on mouthwash after bitching Felix out for not having any booze.
His room was wrecked sometime before he woke up and his dad stole his cash, credit card, his car keys, and his phone. Then Felix found the drugs left just for him.
“You think he wanted you to take them?” I ask.
“I told him I was clean, and he fucking laughed at me for it. So, yeah.” He shrugs. “He wouldn’t just leave a line of coke. My dad loves that shit.”
Who doesn’t, I almost say.
“He left a pill too? Just one?”
“Yeah.”
“Sounds like he was setting you up.”
“Dad of the year.”
Felix keeps his gaze lowered.
“What happened?” I ask.
He laughs a little. “What do you think? I snorted the line and took the pill.”
The only way I react to that is by scooting closer until our sides are touching now.
Shoulders, arms, thighs, lower legs, feet. I press up against Felix in every way I can while still sitting next to him.