Chapter 8
8
Brenner
“I get the last piece.” Mila grabs the small bite of cinnamon roll and pops it into her mouth.
“Not fair,” I tease, but really, I don’t mind. We’ve been here for hours, and the conversation hasn’t stopped the whole time. She’s chatty like me, which might be kinda dangerous for anyone else if they’re spending time with the two of us together, but it’s fun. Taylor would like her. Maybe not the talkative part as much, but she loves video games, and from what I’ve learned about her today, she had an asshole dad similar to Tay’s, so they have a few things in common. “You wanna come chill at our apartment a bit?” I ask her. I try to pretend it’s not just because I’m wondering what Taylor is doing, like if we spend too much time away from each other, I’ll die.
“Oh God. She’s gorgeous. Look at her,” she says, and I turn to see a curvy woman with black hair and freckles walk in.
“Holy fuck.”
“I know, right? Anyway. Sorry. I get distracted by pretty girls with nice curves. We can go back to your place.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay and shoot your shot?” The last thing I want is to cock-block…pussy-block? Is that a saying? Whatever. I don’t want to stop her from hooking up or meeting someone if that’s what she wants.
“Nah. I’m good. I want to see your apartment and meet the bestie you’ve been talking about all day.”
“I haven’t been talking about him all day.” I stand up and grab our plate to put it away. I’ll be back working here next week, and I know how it feels when people don’t pick up after themselves.
“Yeah. Okay. Sure you haven’t.”
As we walk to my truck, I’m trying to figure out what she’s talking about. Taylor is my boy…my future stepbrother. Of course he’s going to be mentioned some, but she makes it sound like he’s basically all I’ve talked about.
“I don’t even know if he’ll be home.”
“Ooh, why did you have a voice when you said that?”
“I have a voice when I say anything. That’s part of talking.” I didn’t have a voice . There would be absolutely no reason for me to have a voice.
Mila laughs. “You know what I mean.”
“I do not,” I say as we get in the truck. “But I think he went to chill at the Alpha Theta Mu house.”
“Wow. You don’t strike me as the frat type.”
It’s my turn to chuckle. “Oh, I’m not. I wouldn’t mind boning frat guys, but that’s the extent of it. We’ve been hanging out with them ever since Atlas got together with Troy.”
“They’re the stepbrothers, right?”
“One of the couples. There’s also Colin and Ash. They’re both frat members.”
“And stepbrothers who are dating? Wow. Who knew so much kinky shit was going on at Peach State? You know that means you and Taylor are next.”
The last time we were together flashes through my head—the feel of his cock against my tongue, the way he grabbed my hair and lost control in the way that Taylor doesn’t often let himself do. Jesus, he’s hot. Why did our parents decide to get married again? But then I remind myself that Taylor and I are just friends.
“What was that?” Mila asks.
“What was what?”
“You made a weird sound. Like a whimper or a sigh.”
I frown. “No I didn’t.”
“Well, I’m not hearing things. Something was going through your head that had you feeling some kind of something.”
I shake off her words, then get back to wondering if Tay will be at the apartment when we get there. I hadn’t meant to stay out with Mila so long. Hopefully he’s not wondering where I am or working on the apartment on his own because I ditched him.
“Nice complex,” Mila says as I park next to our building.
“Yeah, we like it. The price is good, and our friends are close.”
The door is locked, but that doesn’t mean Taylor isn’t there. As soon as I open the door, I feel the emptiness of the space and know he’s still out. Jesus, what the hell is he doing at the frat house for so long?
I pull out my phone to text, but then put it away. I don’t think it’s weird that I want to message him, but I’m suddenly not sure.
“Want a drink?” I ask Mila.
She says yes, and I grab us each a soda before we sit on the couch and play video games. It’s fun that she’s as into them as Taylor and me, but annoyingly, I can’t stop myself from looking at the time every five minutes. I guess it’s just that Taylor and I are almost always together. He doesn’t really hang out with the guys all that much unless it’s the both of us.
“Fuck yes!” Mila says, and I realize she’s carrying me and get back into the game.
“To the left. Watch right there,” I tell her. “Fuck. I got him! Holy shit. I just saved your ass,” I tease, then hear a throat clearing behind me. Shit. Taylor got home, and I didn’t even notice. “Oh. Hey. You’re back. We were wondering where you were.”
Okay, well, I’m sure she wasn’t, but I was.
He looks at Mila, then at me. “I was at the frat. Dax was there. Everyone is meeting at Crave tonight, so I came home to get ready to go.”
Something’s off about his voice, but I can’t place what it is. Is it because he’s into Dax? I push off the couch. “The Dax-I-fucked Dax?”
His gaze shoots to her again, then back to me. “Is there another Dax?”
“Bet. I’m down. Mila, you wanna go to Crave tonight?” It’s the local gay bar we all hang out at.
She stands and walks over to us. “Hi. I’m Mila. I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you.” She holds out her hand for Taylor.
“Oops. My bad. Tay, this is Mila. Mila, Taylor.”
He shakes her hand and offers a quiet, “Nice to meet you.”
“Now that we have that out of the way,” Mila says, looking at me, “you just invited us to Taylor’s night out. Maybe he wants to be alone with this Dax guy.”
Um…huh? I frown. “Why would he want to do that?” As soon as I ask, I realize she’s right. This very well could be a sex thing, and I could be the biggest idiot on the planet. I turn to Taylor. “Do you want to be alone with Dax?”
“I don’t want to be alone with Dax. Do you want to be alone with Mila?”
“No. Why would I want to be alone with Mila?” I scratch my head.
“Oh my God,” she says.
“What?” we ask in unison.
“Nothing. You two are just…you know what? Never mind. Sure, I’ll go with you guys to Crave.”
“Hell yes.” I give her a one-armed hug.
“I’ll go change.” Taylor walks down the hall to his bedroom.
As soon as the door closes, I pump my brows at her. “You missed your curvy girl at the coffeehouse, but we just might get you laid tonight after all.”
“Taylor’s cute.”
“No shit. He’s hot. And keep your hands off. You only like women, remember?” Not that it matters if Taylor hooks up with her or anyone else, so really, I have no idea why I said that.
“I remember.”
“Why are you smiling?”
“No reason.”
Girls are so weird. I’ll never understand them. “I’m gonna go change too. Do we need to stop by your place, or are you good?”
“I’m good.”
She takes a seat again and gets on her phone while I head to my room. My clothes are all thrown into bags instead of neatly folded like Taylor’s, so hopefully I can find something that’s not too wrinkled. Luckily, at least my bed is in the proper place and my nightstand placed beside it. Taylor is more orderly than me, so I don’t want to leave things too messy for him.
I find a pair of black jeans and a black button-up shirt, grab some underwear, and head into the bathroom. I do a quick job of cleaning up, get dressed, wet my hair, and run my fingers through it a few times before I go back into the living room. Mila is waiting for me, but Taylor isn’t out yet.
“Tay?”
“Coming.”
A second later he comes out in a tank and pair of jeans I always thought look really great on his ass. He runs his hand through his lengthy bangs, and they fall right into place, as though they only needed that extra stroke to curl just right. “You look hot.” I peek at Mila, but she’s busy with her phone, so I grab his shoulders and lower my voice. “Think you’re gonna…” I let the words hang, figuring he knows what I’m trying to say.
“I might. What about you?”
“I might.” I wink, and he rolls his eyes.
“She’s pretty.” He motions to Mila, who has changed her hair since the last time we saw each other. Now it’s in braids.
“Yeah. She’s cool. I like her.” I pull back, then give my attention to Mila. “You ready?”
“Actually…something came up. I called a car. I’m gonna head home.”
“What? Is something wrong? I can take you back to your place.”
Mila waves off my concern. “Everything is fine. Plus, I’m a big girl. I can get home on my own.”
“Are you sure?” She nods in response. “We’ll wait for your car with you.”
The three of us walk out together. Taylor is being even quieter than usual, and I figure it’s because he doesn’t know Mila or maybe because he’s planning on hooking up with someone tonight. As far as I know, that will be the first guy other than me.
Which is fine. No reason he can’t, but…is it bad that I’m kinda wishing I could drain another load out of my best friend’s balls?
Mila’s ride pulls up, and as I open the door for her, she whispers, “You’re welcome.”
“Huh?”
“Bye, Taylor! Again, nice to meet you,” she says, and he tells her the same before she’s pulling the door closed on her ride.
Okay…that was weird, but whatever. I put my arm around Tay and pull him close. “You ready to do this? It feels like so fucking long since we’ve been out.”
“Yeah, it’s been a minute. Are you mad Mila’s not going?”
I feel my forehead wrinkle. “No. I mean, she’s cool, and I like hanging with her, but if she doesn’t feel like going out, that’s fine too.”
“Just wanted to be sure you didn’t want to hang with her.”
“Nah, we can meet up again.”
“I called us a rideshare too. Figured it would be easier. They’re almost here.”
I nod, appreciating that Taylor is always one step ahead, then ramble on about my day while we wait for the car.
Once we’re seated in the back, Taylor’s phone buzzes.
“Who’s that?”
“Dax. He just got there.”
“What do you think of him?” We haven’t really talked about other specific guys Taylor’s attracted to.
“He’s…hot.”
“No shit, right?” Dax is a great fuck. I nudge Taylor’s arm. “But not as hot as us.”
“Well, at least me.”
“Oh, check you out. You’ve been awfully cocky lately,” I tease, and Taylor laughs.
It doesn’t take us long to get to Crave. There’s a line outside, everyone wanting to get some partying in before school starts. Dax is waiting for us, and I see the look of surprise on his face when he notices me.
“Where is everyone else?” Taylor asks.
“They’re already inside. I was waiting for you,” he flirts, and I freeze, unsure if I’m interrupting something, and honestly, not sure how I feel about it. Then he flicks his gaze my direction. “And it looks like you too. I think tonight could be a whole lotta fun.”