Page 75 of Worth the Fall
“That makes more sense about the spell,” he added, and I grimaced.
“Please tell me you finally took your dick out of hiatus,” Matthew said crudely as he shifted on the couch. The same one where I’d made out with Brooklyn a couple of days earlier.
I rolled my eyes. “I did not. But we kissed. A lot.”
“What are you, fifteen?” Matthew chastised, and I wanted to hit him.
“Hey, it’s a good start. Kissing leads to sex,” Patrick added before contradicting himself. “Sometimes. Maybe? He’s got to start somewhere.”
“Yeah, I don’t know if it’s gonna work out, fellas,” I said, not really knowing what else to say. I wasn’t in the mood to get into some sort of wild and deep discussion right now. Not when Clara was coming down at any second, ready to go trick-or-treating.
“What do you mean, you don’t know if it’s going to work out? What happened? If I were a chick and I saw what you did, I’d be dying to jump your bones after that,” Matthew said.
Even though that’s pretty much what Brooklyn had told me when I walked through the door that night, things hadn’t ended the same way they’d started.
“She’s not ready for anything serious.”
That one sentence explained it all, in my opinion.
“Did she actually say that?” Patrick’s face scrunched together in disbelief.
“I mean, not in those exact words, but basically, yeah. Yes,” I said, hoping they’d back off, but knowing damn well that they wouldn’t.
“You’re an idiot,” Matthew said in response.
“How so?” My defenses were rising already. This was exactly what I’d hoped to avoid.
“You’re making assumptions. It’s so obvious that she’s into you,” Patrick added.
“Physically maybe,” I agreed because Brooklyn beinginto mewasn’t the issue.
“What’s wrong with that?” Matthew asked.
“I want more,” I admitted, knowing I’d hit them both if they fucking made fun of me for being soft or some shit.
“And she won’t give it to you?” Patrick wondered out loud. “I can’t imagine that.”
“You guys, she just got divorced.”
“So?” the two of them said in unison.
“So...” I sucked in another long breath before spitting it out. “She still feels guilty about her marriage ending. She needs time to sort out all of her feelings and work through them.”
“Did she actually say those things, or are you making shit up?” Patrick asked, clearly wondering what had been said and what I had read between the lines.
“Pretty much, yeah. She said all that.”
“I don’t buy it, bro,” Matthew interjected and finished off his beer. “I think you should let me ask her out. We can test the theory on what she is and isn’t ready for.”
Patrick socked Matthew in the shoulder as I ground out my overly jealous response. “We will no longer be brothers if you do that.”
Matthew laughed, and I knew he was just busting my chops. At least, I hoped so. This was the second time he’d brought up asking her out, and even though he loved to push my buttons, one of these days, he was going to take it too far.
“I will you all to stop fighting,” Clara shouted from the top of the stairs as she waved her sparkling wand at each one of us. She looked perfectly witchy in her costume.
“We weren’t fighting,” I said, not wanting her to worry.
“You always fight, and then say you aren’t. We don’t tell lies, Daddy. And if you three don’t stop fighting, I’ll keep all my candy for myself and puke again,” she declared like she was the boss of this whole damn family in her lit-up skirt and mismatched shoes.