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)
We actually just fucking did that.
And now I had a big, dumb smile on my face.
Shawn turned to Nathan, letting out a breath and holding his head high. “Rush is my boyfriend. Get used to it.”
As if in slow motion, Nathan’s face melted from laughter into disbelief, then he just looked dazed. “Wait.”
We gave him a minute to catch up. He stood up for a moment, then sat back down, then stood again.
Then he held up one finger in the air. “I think I just figured something out. You two really are dating, aren’t you?”
I threw my arms up in the air. “Oh, so you believe him the minute he says it, but you didn’t believe me?”
Shawn snorted a laugh. Just then, the back door opened and Charlie came back in, pulling off a pair of work gloves. “What’s up? Oh, hey Shawn.”
“I think I might be dreaming right now,” Nathan said. “Charlie, are you real? Did these two really just tell me they’re dating?”
“Oh yeah,” Charlie said. “Shawn told me about that last night. Pretty cool, huh?” Charlie grabbed the iced coffee he’d left on the counter, taking a sip.
“He knew before me?” Nathan said, his voice rising many decibels at once. “Oh, hell no.”
As Nathan walked over to sit down in a dining chair, still shaking his head, Shawn and I had to bite back laughter.
“It just worked out that way, I promise,” Shawn told Nathan as he went over to sit down next to him at the sticker-covered table. “Charlie happened to catch us sharing a kiss in the brewery parking lot, so I had to tell him.”
“I almost forgot, to be honest,” Charlie said, shrugging as he sipped his coffee. “I’ve got way more drama in my own love life to worry about. Did I tell you what Jim just texted me this morning? I think we might be able to work things out—”
“No,” Shawn, Nathan, and I all called out at the same time, cutting Charlie off before he could even think about giving that guy another chance.
Charlie put his hands up in the air. “Fine, fine, I surrender,” he said. “He really can be a nice guy, though.”
Charlie was out the back door again before any of us had a chance to protest.
Nathan clicked his tongue, looking at me and then Shawn. “I’m going to go out there right now and make sure he’s not calling Jim again, but you two owe me a big, long storytime. The longest storytime ever.” When he got to the door, he turned to glance at me again. “I want you to know that if you break my brother’s heart you’re never going to live it down. Okay?”
I nodded once. “And I’m not going to.”
Nathan gave me a stare that was honestly a little bit intimidating. But I knew he meant well. I knew he wanted the best for his brother. But I also knew I wanted the best for Shawn, too. And I was going to give it to him.
“Oh,” he added, “and if you’re dating my brother, you have to pass the test.”
“What test?”
“Come to the Spring Festival with our whole family this weekend.”
I waved a hand through the air. “Easy. I’ve hung out with your family a million times. And I haven’t been to the Jade River Spring Festival since I was a kid, but I can’t imagine it’s much different.”
He chuckled. “You’ve never done it as Shawn’s boyfriend, though,” he told me. “You think I’m skeptical? Wait until you see how Mom is.”
“She’s loved me forever,” I protested.
“You’ll see!” Nathan shouted, shutting the back door behind him.
Shawn got up from his seat at the dining room table, sauntering over toward me. “You know, I love my brother, but I also totally hate him.”
I cracked up laughing, reaching for Shawn and pulling him into a hug. “Now that Nathan’s outside, I can admit to you that I’ve been sweating fucking nervous bullets for the last twenty minutes. Holy hell, that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Really?” he asked, leaning back to look at me, eyebrows raised. “You seemed like Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected.”
“Listen,” I told him, running my palm along his arm. “I know we’re all adults, and Nathan really had zero control over what we do. I know we could say fuck the world, and fuck other people’s opinions, and do whatever the hell we want. But I can’t help but care about Nathan, too.”
Shawn nodded, his brown hair shining in the light as he pressed a soft kiss to my head. “I give a shit, too. I mean, I’d still be your boyfriend even if the whole world turned on us with pitchforks, I’m not going to lie. But I want Nathan to be a part of our lives.”
“I can’t even imagine a life without him,” I admitted.