Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“Yeah, I’m fucking the guy,” I said, shrugging and tossing the kitchen towel back onto the counter. “If you think I’d be dating someone I didn’t want to fuck, you’re crazy.”
“You’re beating around the bush,” Nathan said. “I’ve never heard you use the word ‘dating’ before. You always have hookups and fuck buddies, but not anything exclusive.”
I clicked my tongue. “Well, this guy is special.”
Nathan’s eyes widened, just a little. “Holy shit, you really are dating someone,” he said.
Now the flapping in my chest felt more like soaring. “Maybe,” I said.
“Hell has frozen over. Pigs are flying. You better have hours and hours of storytime for me, after we’re done digging this trench out back,” he said, pinning me with his gaze. “And storytime in the future, when you break the fuck out of this guy’s heart, whoever he is.”
There it was. His words hit me hard, making my heart feel icy.
“I’m not going to break anyone’s heart,” I said, fumbling with a chocolate truffle I was coating. “I wish people would stop saying that about me.”
“What? I thought that was just what you do,” Nathan told me. “What you like to do.”
I shook my head, leaning back. “Look, I do owe you storytime, and I think it’s going to take longer than a few hours. But I don’t think it’s possible that I could break his heart. More likely that he’d break mine, actually, because I’m really fucking into him, and I’ve never been into anyone this much, and it’s actually really scary and wild.”
Finally, Nathan’s expression changed. He clapped his hands together once before coming in to give me a hug. “I’m sorry, Rush. I… wow. Okay. It’s just a new concept to me.”
The shame I’d felt finally started to dissipate. “Thank you, Nathan.”
“I’m a little jealous, too, I’m not going to lie,” Nathan said with a grin. “But happy for you. Is he local?”
“Very local, actually.”
So local you literally grew up with him in the same house.
“Even better. When can I meet him?”
I cleared my throat, my heart rate going up a little. “Probably in about five minutes.”
This morning, Shawn had texted me to let me know he’d be over a little bit later than his brother because he had to stop to get gas on the way, which meant that he was due over any minute now.
I should have felt as cool as a cucumber. Nathan was happy for me, things were going smoothly, and I’d fessed up to something I never could have imagined years ago. But a few minutes later, when I heard Shawn coming through the front door, my nerves were back.
“Wait ‘til you hear the news,” Nathan told Shawn as he walked in.
“More Jim and Charlie drama?” Shawn asked. “God, why does it smell so good in here?”
“Way better news than that,” Nathan said, beaming at me. “Tell him, Rush.”
“What?” Shawn asked.
“I—we—” I broke off, actually rendered speechless for the first time in my life.
“Look at him, all shy about it,” Nathan said.
“Oh, jeez,” I muttered.
“Is there something I don’t know about?” Shawn asked. My chest felt so tight with the tension now that I swore I was going to explode.
Just tell him. Say something, for fuck’s sake.
Nathan was still smiling like a fool. “There definitely is.”
“I’m fucking your brother,” I blurted out.
Which was totally not the thing I wanted to say.
Not the thing I was supposed to say.
Very, very inelegant.
“Oh, fuck,” Shawn said, blushing deep pink. “You told him?”
For a moment Nathan paused, frozen in place. But then he started laughing a low cackle. “Y’all are hilarious,” he said. “Holy shit. Are you trying to film my reaction for a Youtube video or something?”
“I am dating your brother,” I said, correcting myself from earlier.
There. That was more like what I’d expected to say.
“Imagine if that were true,” Nathan said. “Goddamn.”
“It is true,” I said. “Shawn is my boyfriend.”
It was the first time I’d told anyone since Shawn and I decided to make it official. And it felt even weirder saying it to someone else. Especially when that person still seemed to think he was being pranked.
“Oh yeah?” Nathan said, a crooked grin on his face. “You two gonna get married soon, honeymoon in Hawaii, have some babies?”
“You know I’d do Fiji, not Hawaii,” I said, trying to crack a joke. “But we aren’t kidding.”
Nathan looked at his brother, raising his eyebrows. “Are you in on this?”
Shawn’s blush slowly started to dissipate. After looking like a deer frozen in headlights for a moment, he exhaled.
“Fuck it,” Shawn said, coming over to me and planting a kiss on my lips.
Nathan hooted. “This morning just keeps getting more interesting,” he said. “Wow. You guys actually just kissed. You’re committed to this joke.”
As Shawn pulled away from me, his eyes were wide with excitement. Just from his expression, I knew exactly what he was thinking. Because I was thinking the same thing, too.