Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Lincoln,” I replied. Okay, so she hadn’t heard shit about me, but she was totally lying because she thought I was her son’s boyfriend and she didn’t want me to know he hadn’t told her about me. I guess I had to give it to her for trying.
“Oh…Lincoln!” Ding! Ding! Ding! She had heard of me. What she heard, I had no idea, but it was obvious she’d heard something. “You’re one of Rush’s close friends. Well, and now his boyfriend. Oh, I love stories like that.”
My vision went blurry, and my stomach flipped. “Oh…um…yeah. It just sort of happened.” Only it hadn’t happened. I’d made that shit up, and I should just say so. Why wasn’t I saying so?
Beau cleared his throat behind me, but I ignored him. No fucking way was I looking at him right then.
“I’m Beau Campbell. This is Ashton Carmichael, and Camden and Sawyer Burke. We’re friends of Rush’s.”
“Holy fuck. You’re Ashton Carmichael,” the guy said.
Not gonna lie, my breath caught in my throat a little bit because he was beautiful…but he was also nosy and in our business and Rush was hurt, so I didn’t pay him much attention.
“Guilty as charged,” Ash replied, and I didn’t have to look to know Beau rolled his eyes.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Where are my manners,” Kathy said. “This is Jude, Rush’s best friend from…well, the day he was born, basically.”
Holy fuck. The guy was Rush’s best friend? A sharp pain jolted through my chest.
But maybe it was better than ex-boyfriend…if I were to care about that kind of thing.
Everyone said their hellos, but I couldn’t speak past the boulder in my throat. Rush’s best friend was fucking gorgeous, and I shouldn’t care, but despite what I just said, I was a lying liar, and he wasn’t my boyfriend, and I didn’t want him to be my boyfriend, and he was hurt, and we were all sitting out here like it was a family reunion.
“I’m sorry. Can I see Rush? I know I’m not family, but I just…” I needed to check on him, needed to know he was okay.
“Oh, sweetie. You’re Rush’s boyfriend. That means you’re family.”
Camden covered a laugh with a fake cough. I was going to kill him. Kill all of them, actually.
“He’s having a test right now, but they’re supposed to let us know when he’s done. They said two of us could go back when he’s finished.”
Two people. As his lying, fake boyfriend, I didn’t have the right to be one of those people.
“He’s okay, though. I can see you’re freaking out. He’s fine.” She hugged me again, and I was stuck between squeezing and thanking her and telling her I was fine. That I wasn’t freaking out, and that I wasn’t Rush’s boyfriend.
“Sorry,” I said as we pulled away. “He didn’t, um…he didn’t tell me you were coming.”
“It’s a surprise. We drove out from Virginia. He doesn’t know yet,” she replied. Well, that would explain that part. I felt a little better knowing Rush would be as thrown by all this as I was.
My eyes darted over, and I saw Jude watching me. The corners of his eyes were wrinkled, making them turn into little slits, and I was sure he was either attempting to shoot lasers at me, or studying my soul.
“Okay…I’m going to go get a drink from the machine. I’ll be right back.”
There was a stampede behind me, but I rushed through the halls quickly, trying to avoid them. My friends wouldn’t be deterred, damn it! They followed me down the hallway, through double doors, until it was quiet and there were no people around to hear them yell at me.
“Holy shit! You screwed up with this one, Short Stuff!” Cam laughed, and I flipped him off.
“Fuck you very much.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Beau said. “Not really the route I would have gone, but you just tell them you lied to get in to see Rush. Problem solved.”
“I probably should have done that already! Now I kept the lie going. Am I supposed to be like, Oops! Sorry I lied to your face more than once. Stop planning the wedding in your head, Mom, and you don’t have to dream about setting fire to my soul, Jude! I’m a bit of a liar!”
Ash shrugged. “Maybe not in those words…”
“Are we going to admit now that you have feelings for Rush?” Sawyer asked.
“I don’t have feelings for Rush…well, unless you count the feel of his dick in my ass. But we’re not even sleeping together anymore. He’s a friend, and I wanted to see him. It was a little white lie. How was I supposed to know his mom and BFF were there!”
“Jude is fucking hot,” Cam replied.
Did he ever shut up? “Yes. I noticed. Thanks for mentioning it.”
There was a creaking sound, and the double doors opened. We all shut up and turned to look, not suspicious at all, to see a twinky guy walk down the hallway toward us.