Sunshine: Your sheets are magical and you’ve got better snacks. I came to eat and nap. Was gonna surprise you at your door wearing nothing but my hair ribbon tied around my neck like the gift I am.
Jesus Christ, I’m never letting her go.
“Who are you texting?”
“J—” My fingers halt. My gaze slowly rises, finding Adam with one brow arched while he waits for me to finish that J name. “—axon. Jaxon.” I clear my throat. “Riley. Jaxon Riley.” Shut. Up. Garrett.
“You’re texting Jaxon while he’s sitting across from you?”
My gaze slides to Jaxon. He waits, hands folded on the table between us, phone nowhere in sight. Fuck it, it’s worth a shot. “Yes?”
“Garrett,” Adam warns under his breath. “I swear to God, if that’s Jennie—”
“She just—she just—she-she-she…no, she just needs a ride to…I’m not…it’s not…” I give up, raking my hands up and down my face. “Aaah.”
“Aw, c’mon!” Adam tosses his book to the seat next to him, burying his face in his hands. “Garrett, no! You promised it was only the one time!”
“Well, Adam, I lied!”
He gasps, expression holding all the betrayal I expected.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to lie to you, but I couldn’t tell you. You would’ve made me stop.”
“Because I don’t want to lose my best friends!” he whisper-yells, checking that no one is listening other than Jaxon, who’s snickering like a fucking donkey. “You’d be six feet deep, and Carter would be in jail for putting you there!”
“Stop yelling at me!” I shout back under my breath. “I don’t like it!”
“Fuck me. I don’t even know what to…to…fuck.” He gestures at Jaxon. “You knew about this?”
Jaxon holds his hands up. “Hey, I accidentally saw something I never wanted to see. And then she cried and—”
“Oh c’mon,” Adam scoffs. “She cried? No, she played you like a damn fiddle, that’s what she did. She’s a goddamn Beckett, Riley. Get your head in the game.”
“Damn, he’s harsh when he’s mad. But I think I know when a girl is fake crying.” When I grin, he balks. “Fuck, she’s good.”
“You can’t tell Carter,” I plead with them. “Please.”
“Tell him what?” Jaxon glances over his shoulder. Carter’s eight rows ahead of us, seat reclined, headphones on, Olivia’s face on his iPad screen. “That you’re fucking his baby sister?”
“No, it’s not like that anymore. I mean, it was.” I squeeze my eyes shut, head wagging. “No, we’re…we haven’t, uh…”
Jaxon’s brows skyrocket. “You haven’t fucked her?”
“We do…other stuff.” What am I doing? This doesn’t feel right.
“Right. For fun?”
Adam’s jaw drops. “Friends with benefits? No. Not with her of all people, Garrett.”
“No. I mean, yes. I mean, I donno?” I rub the back of my neck. “It started that way, just fun, with rules so it didn’t get serious…”
Jaxon hums. “And now you wanna fuck the rules.”
I don’t want what I wanted before. The limited time, the lack of strings, the freedom to leave whenever it suited either of us, the fucking rules. And I hate that I’m telling someone else before I tell Jennie.
“I really like her,” I whisper. The words taste funny, not because it’s a new revelation, because it’s not. But because it’s the first time I’m saying them out loud, getting to be honest with somebody other than myself. Out of fear of losing what we have, I’ve had to swallow the words day after day, bury them right along with my intentions, all my hopes.
But now it doesn’t feel so hopeless.
“I asked her out on a proper date after her show on the fourteenth. She said yes, so…I think she likes me too. Plus, she’s…” My eyes drift to Adam’s. The hardness wanes, compassion returning. “She’s my best friend.”
Adam stares for a long moment. I know why the fear is there. The same reason it’s there for me. He sighs, scrubbing his face. “I want you to be happy. So long as you know Carter’s going to lose his shit.”
The last thing I ever want to do is hurt Jennie. I’m just not sure that will be enough for Carter.
Jaxon must sense my defeat, because he interjects. “Well, you said you haven’t had a real date yet. See how that goes first. You know, make sure you’re on the same page and everything. When you know it’s going somewhere, then you can talk to Carter. Is he really going to hold it against you if you make his sister happy?”
I can’t say I ever saw myself getting advice from Jaxon, or better yet, liking it, but it does make sense. I don’t feel like I need to wait and see if things between us will work, but I do need to make sure it’s a step she’s ready for. Plus, it gives me a little more time, rather than trying to get Carter’s permission to date his sister in the next week.
After all, I’d like to see Jennie’s recital, not livestream it from a hospital bed.
The door’s not even closed behind me and Jennie’s already dancing down the hallway, bounding into my arms.
“You clearly missed me way more than I missed you,” I mumble into her hair. She’s soft and warm as she clings to me, smelling like cinnamon and coffee, and a little like my laundry. She’s all my favorite things rolled into one.
“Pfft. That’s not even possible. You’re obsessed with me.” She slides down my body and spins, popping a hip. “Besides, I’m too grool to miss you that much.”
“Not gonna let that go, huh,” I murmur, watching as she sashays into my kitchen. “What are you wearing?”
She glances over her shoulder. “Are you having trouble with your vision?”
“I’m having trouble wrapping my head around the idea of you lounging around my apartment in just your panties and my T-shirt while I’m not here to enjoy it.” She presents a pizza box. “And you ordered dinner?”
“You’re always hungry when you get home. It got here ten minutes ago, so it’s still hot, and—” her lids flutter closed as she inhales, “—it smells so good.”
I am hungry. But not for the pizza.
I amble toward Jennie as she drops a bite into her mouth, humming happily. She swallows, smiles, and I grip her hips.
“Hi,” I whisper, touching a kiss to her lips. “I missed you. Way more than you missed me.”
She sets the slice down, draping her arms over my shoulders as I start walking us down the hall. Her smile is so happy tonight, eyes so light, tiny flecks of gold swimming in a pool of blue.
“I did miss you. The back tickler you got me for Christmas is great, but nothing beats your fingers.”
“Mmm. You do like my fingers.”
I pull her shirt—my shirt—off, ditching it on my bedroom floor. She’s not wearing a bra, and her nipples pebble under the heat of my gaze.