Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Of course, Jeremy took the bait. “Have you ever seen South Pacific? You might enjoy it more than you think.”
My heart pounded. I’d watch a hundred musicals at home with Jeremy if it was important to him. But to go see one at the Civic Center, as a date…
Groups of friends go to performances all the time.
But that’s dishonest. I can’t make Jeremy pretend in public like that.
Never fazed you in the Marines. You’d jerk off with a guy then act like you’d never met him an hour later.
Those men weren’t Jeremy. They were just someone to get off with. This is different.
Then get over your hang-ups.
If only it was that easy.
“Jeremy, do you want to come with us?” David asked, his tone so snarky he might as well have added, “since this asshole doesn’t.”
"Sure,” Jeremy’s voice lacked the excitement it’d had before.
“Look, I’m just not into musicals, all that random singing and smiling and dancing.”
“You’re not into being seen anywhere with Jeremy either, are you?” David said.
“David.” I’d never heard that cold, angry tone from Jeremy before, and I was glad it wasn’t directed at me.
“What is this, a test?” I’d expected this attitude from David, but I’d thought Sabrina understood how hard this was for me. Having her conspire against me hurt. “Will I agree to go out with Jeremy? Is that the game you’re playing?”
Sabrina looked genuinely shocked. “Connor, you know I wouldn’t—”
“I thought I did, but that was before you got chummy with Mr. Pushy here.”
David gave me an evil smile. “Now I have my answer, don’t I?”
I pushed back from the table, ready to leave, but Jeremy stopped me with a hand on my arm. “David, that was out of line,” he said.
“Was it? Really?” David asked.
I pulled free of Jeremy’s hold. “I need some air.”
I flexed my fists as I headed for the back porch. I wanted to punch the cocky grin right off David’s face. Instead, I pushed the screen door open and stepped into the night air. I could get in my car and leave, but I’d run from Jeremy once and I’d sworn never to do it again.
Cicadas buzzed and I tried to listen to them rather than the thoughts whirling in my head. The night had cooled off a little, as much as it did in July anyway, and there was a light breeze. I took a deep breath, but the air was too muggy to be refreshing. I gazed out at the purple sunset clouds that lay over the tops of the mountains in the distance. A sharp whine signaled that the mosquitoes had already discovered me. The fuckers.
My chest was tight with tension. I tried to relax but the tension only grew. Anger at David, and more importantly at myself, had me ready to punch something. Why couldn’t I be the man Jeremy needed instead of some fucked-up Marine stuck in the past, worrying about Mario’s opinion when Mario had fallen so deep into his own pain he might never come out again?
The sound of footsteps had me turning, instincts on high alert.
David held up his hands as he stepped onto the porch. “I’m just here to talk.”
I didn’t want to talk. I much preferred a good, rough fight. “You think I’m going to hurt Jeremy and you want to warn me off. Message received.” I gave him a mocking salute.
“Has he told you about Silas?”
I swallowed, and my pulse sped up. My instincts told me I didn’t want to hear what David obviously hoped to tell me. “No.”
David nodded. “I thought not.”
“Why should he?”
He shrugged. “He cares for you. I thought maybe he would’ve shared something about his past.”
“You don’t know me. You have no idea what kind of man I am, and yet you’ve decided I’m bad for Jeremy. Why?”
David sighed and sagged against the door frame. “You have a point. I’m making assumptions, and that’s not fair. God, you must hate me.”
I hadn’t expected such a concession, but I wasn’t ready to make nice quite yet. “I wasn’t going to say it, but yes, I do.”
“I’ve been Jeremy’s best friend since some of my so-called friends tried to beat him up in middle school. I’m a bit protective.”
“Ya think?” Was he really trying to help me understand where he was coming from, or was this some kind of manipulation?
“Silas is the only man Jeremy’s had a long-term relationship with.”
Oh fuck.
“The bastard worked for my firm. He’s suave, fashionable, and gorgeous. He can be very attentive when he wants to be, and Jeremy enjoyed that for a while. But Silas only bothers to cultivate others if he thinks he can use them. He paid court to Jeremy, knew just what to say to lure him in, but he wasn’t in love. He simply wanted a man he could take out and show off, and Jeremy is—”