Page 53 of Just Neighbors

His questions are throwing me off my game.

“Bullshit.”

I give him a forced glare. “Excuse me, how do you know what I do with my personal life?”

“I know you.”

I snort. “You know nothing about me, Kyle Lane.”

His voice softens. “Then, tell me more about you.”

“Hard pass.”

He laughs. “Looks like we need to work our way up to having a serious a conversation. We’ve had sex, but God forbid, we get into a too-personal conversation.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me.”

He groans. “You confuse me.”

“Then, let me spell it out for you. This is sex. No dating. You should know this. I’ve seen the women coming and going from here. You do casual sex. If you want to keep doingthis”—I gesture between the two of us—“casual is what we have to be. We’re casually hanging out, which means no double dating.”

“Fine, then have acasualhang-out with Lauren and Gage.”

I frown. “They hate me.”That should save me from his little group date … hang-out.

“They don’t.”

My frown stays intact. “They should, considering I was going to publish a story about her.”

“Lauren doesn’t hate anyone, except for any girl who touches Gage and his ex-wife. And you’re neither one of those. We never told her about the story. Only Gage knows, and eventually, he’ll warm up to you.”

“Warm up to me? That’s convincing.”

“Trust me; he’s grateful you didn’t publish the story.” He tickles my side, causing me to laugh. “So, what do you say, Fieldgain? You. Me. Casually hanging out with friends.”

“I’ll think about it.”

He grins.

“Hey now, that’s not me agreeing to it.”

He grins wider. “We shall see, dear neighbor.”

13

Chloe

Age Fifteen

I toss my backpack on my bed and do a happy dance.

I got asked to the homecoming dance.

Me!

The poor girl with the junkie mother, the absent father, and sister knocked up with an illegitimate son was asked to the homecoming dance.

Holy yay!