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)
When I looked back, Lincoln was frowning at me, his typically wide, blue eyes narrow as though he was trying to find something inside me I wasn’t showing.
For a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to go with me. That I’d somehow disappointed him. But then he stood, grabbed my good hand, and the two of us walked out together.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lincoln
It’s funny how having someone like Lincoln believe in you makes you believe in yourself. ~ Trey
“So…I guess I should take you home now so you can go play with dirt bikes?” I heard the edge in my voice. I was annoyed that he was going home to Jude…and I was annoyed about how things had gone down at Fever Pitch. Obviously, I didn’t have the right to be upset with him over that, but it didn’t change the fact that I was. Humans were funny that way.
Going into the restaurant, I had totally been on Team Rush about the whole interview thing, but after hearing what Dean had to say—and thinking back on things Trey said to me—I thought it was important for Rush to do it. I wished he would, but it wasn’t my place to have any say in that.
Instead of answering, Rush asked, “Why are you mad at me now?”
“I’m not mad at you. And why do you say it like that? Like I’m mad at you all the time?” Didn’t he know these things meant I cared about him? Yeah, I had friends, a big group of them, but there were two people whose opinions mattered to me, two people who could make me feel happy or sad, and they were Rush and Beau. Well, Trey too, but no one knew about Trey.
“We’ve been nitpicky at each other a lot lately. It never used to be like that when we were fucking.”
Because I had been in denial while we were sleeping together; but I couldn’t tell him that, could I? Well, actually I could…and probably should, but I had goddamned issues. So sue me.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Rush leaned over, his right arm reaching across his body, and he brushed the rough pad of his right thumb against my temple. It felt so good…he felt so good. I closed my eyes and savored the sensation.
What would he say if he knew I was teased and tormented my whole childhood? That my parents left me with my aunt who cared more about religion than anything else? That I’d been the lonely kid, the quiet kid, the obviously gay kid, who people thought they could manipulate with false feelings…and that they’d been right? I’d been stupid, so fucking stupid in believing someone could truly like me, but they showed me, hadn’t they? It wasn’t something I knew how to risk again.
Not Rush…he wouldn’t do that. And you’re not the same person you were either.
“Porn.” I pulled away from him.
“Huh?”
“You asked what was going on in my head, and my answer is porn. You mentioned fucking, and my brain is pervy, so there it went!”
Rush pulled his hand back and rolled his eyes. “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”
“If my pants are on fire, it’s just because my ass is so hot. These are my favorite jeans.”
Rush’s cobalt-gray eyes ran the length of my body, making me tremble. “Mmm. They do look good on you. Anything does, though.”
“It’s not easy being pretty!” I paused. “So…home to play with bikes?”
“I actually don’t feel like going home yet. And we didn’t get to eat.”
No, we hadn’t, had we? “We’ll go to my condo. I’ll make some food.”
Rush opened his mouth to reply, but I cut him off, “Don’t even think about it. Your dick is staying in your pants, mister.”
“What happened to you? You used to be so much fun.” There was a teasing edge to his voice.
“Hey! I’m still fun! I’m the life of the party. Speaking of party…you’ll be able to go to Saturgay now that you’re out for a few weeks.”
“Miss me, would you?” Rush asked as I began driving toward my condo. “Not so much fun without me. I think that makes me the life of the party.”
“I think maybe you hit your head harder than we thought in your crash. I’m way more fun than you.”
We teased each other as we drove to my condo. We were quiet as we rode the elevator to the fifteenth floor with an older woman. Once we got out, I told him, “When I was in college I used to sleep with this guy who lived in these condos in Atlanta called Metropolis. The whole fucking thing was gay and bi men. We need something like that in Fever Falls.”
“So basically I need to be checking out Metropolis when I’m in Atlanta?” he asked, and my stupid stomach twisted up. This annoying voice in my head was saying, No! No, you don’t need the pretty boys in Metropolis because you have a pretty boy right here! But then, I was the one who said we couldn’t date, wasn’t I?