Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Bray
The image of Carly naked is burned into my retinas. I can’t unsee it. I can’t stop thinking about it.
I’ve seen her in a bathing suit and with a towel wrapped around her, but never fully naked. And holy shit, she’s more gorgeous than I ever imagined.
Did I imagine it? Who am I kidding? I’ve imagined it every time I jerk off and half the times I’ve slept with Becca. I know I shouldn’t be envisioning another woman while sleeping with a different one, but I can’t help it.
“Dude, snap out of it,” Hutch says as he snaps his fingers in front of my face.
It’s my second night off this week, and it’s also men’s book club night at Roxy’s bookstore. I was supposed to have read a brother’s-best-friend hockey romance, but it’s been a long week. So instead of discussing the book, I’m over here daydreaming about Carly.
“Sorry, long week,” I state as I try to get my brain into the discussion. “I admit, I didn’t read the book.”
Gray frowns. Of all the men in the building, Gray is my closest friend. We’ve both lived here for several years. Gray is a composer and loves all things music. Back when I was new in the city, we would go to concerts together.
Hutch and Kasen have the gym thing in common. And Fletcher has his brothers. Cam’s old roommate, Drew, is cool, but he spends most of his time with his boyfriend in Italy. In fact, he’s trying to get residency there.
I grew up with a brother and spent a lot of my time on the boys’ cross-country team.
Having good male friends has been at the center of my life since I was a kid, well, ever since my best friend, Lanie, got sick.
I don’t know why I associate women with her.
It’s been years. She’s cancer-free, married, and has a kid.
I guess girls and then women were more of an enigma. I had a few female cousins and my mom and grandmothers, but I didn’t date much. I’ve only ever had three girlfriends. Mostly, I’ve just found women to hook up with along the way.
“Do you think it’s weird that I’ve never been super serious with a woman?” I ask my friends as I look around.
They all shrug except Gray.
“What?” I ask him as I try to read his expression.
“Can I be honest?” he asks.
I give him a pointed look.
He holds up his hands in defense. “Fine. I think you are super serious, you just don’t have sex.”
I furrow my brows. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“She’s five foot three inches tall, curvy, with brown hair and hazel eyes, and lives upstairs with her daughter,” Gray says deadpan.
I groan and run a hand over my face. “I’m not with Carly,” I growl, trying to persuade him that’s the truth because it is…sort of the truth.
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that,” Gray huffs.
“What the fuck, Gray? We aren’t together. We’ve been friends since day one. I’m so far in her friend zone that when I walked in on her naked the other day, it didn’t even change anything between us,” I blurt out and then press my lips together as every head in the circle turns to look at me.
“You saw Carly naked?” Hutch asks, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline.
Swallowing, I nod. “Yep,” I say, letting the “p” pop.
“Shit,” Kasen says, crossing his arms and making his biceps bulge.
He looks like he could rip the heads off elephants with his bare hands.
I’ve never met anyone with larger biceps than Kasen and Hutch.
I’m fit and certainly work out, but I got nothing on those two.
I guess it’s good to have friends like that, you never know when you might need them.
“Yeah. It was…” I pause as I try to find the right words, but none come to mind. “Anyhow, we are just friends,” I reiterate.
Gray laughs.
“What?” I mutter as I glare at him again.
“You keep telling yourself that,” he says.
A part of me hates that he knows the truth behind my lie. But another part of me believes the lie. We are just friends. We don’t have a romantic relationship; we don’t have sex; and we don’t share a life beyond being neighbors and friends.
Gray crosses his arms so that he and Kasen both are sitting there looking more like bouncers at an exclusive club rather than my friends at a book club. “We could cut the sexual tension between you two with a chainsaw,” he states, giving me a pointed look.
“Oh, fuck off, that’s not true. Just because I’m friends with a woman doesn’t mean I want to sleep with her,” I huff angrily. Maybe I’m mad because I don’t like being called out or maybe I’m mad because I don’t want people questioning my relationship with Carly, either way, I’m mad.
Kasen lets out a low chuckle, and my gaze darts to his.
“Your body language says differently, mate,” he teases.
I feel like a trapped animal. How do I get out of this conversation? I normally never hope for a call from work, but right now, I’m begging the universe for one.
As if on cue, Roxy walks back into her bookstore with coffee from Cam’s Cafe.
“Your raccoon is sitting on the bench,” she says to Hutch as she starts passing out our coffees.
“What’d I miss?” she asks as a hush falls over us.
I give my friends a shut the hell up look. “Oh, nothing. Hutch was just going to tell us how his hunt to find the flower person is going.” I glance at Hutch, who is silently laughing, fucker.
“I don’t know, guys, I think I might just call it quits and stop trying to figure it out,” he says.
This time, the room does fall silent until Roxy clears her throat.
“But you’ve come this far,” she says as she moves her copy of our book club book off her chair and sits down.
He shrugs and sips his coffee before speaking. “Having Jocelyn in my life and spending time with my family again has me viewing things differently. I don’t need a distraction.”
“But…who else will find out for us?” Roxy protests. “I mean, we’re all invested in this.”
Hutch chuckles. “Maybe you should take up the investigation.”
She shakes her head.
Hutch looks at Kasen and Kasen practically growls. “Hell no. I have better things to do with my time. Whoever leaves the flowers is a lovely person and that’s all we need to know. It’s like fairies in Scotland. You don’t mess with that shit.”
Roxy claps her hands. “OMG! I just got in the hottest fae book ever. You guys want to read it for the next book club?”
She gets up and walks over to her desk, moving things aside until she finds what she’s looking for and holds it up. It is a dark blue book with an illustration of a giant man with enough abs to mimic Kasen or Hutch and pointed ears.
“He’s so hot, right?” Roxy says, swooning over the fictional man.
“If pointed ears gets you off, baby, then sign me up,” Gray says with a laugh. The guys all chuckle.
Roxy rolls her eyes. “You guys are hopeless. Fine, I’m picking this book. I’ll send links to your emails.”
We all nod. But then I turn to Hutch.
“See this thing through, will ya? I mean, you’ve come this far. You know someone covers your cameras. It’s only a matter of time. Plus, you gotta go visit that mange-y raccoon of yours,” I tease.
Hutch glares at me. “She does not have mange. She’s adorable, and of course I’ll keep visiting with her.
” He looks around at us and sighs, running a hand through his long hair.
“Fine. I’ll keep trying to figure it out, but I’m not going out there every day.
Jocelyn will kill me if I do that. And frankly, I’d rather spend my free time with her. ”
The guys break into kissing noises, and Hutch blushes. “Fuck off,” he mumbles.
Kasen laughs and claps him on the back. “I got some new cameras you can try out.” Then, lowering his voice in a conspiratorial way, he whispers, “They work in the bedroom and outside.”
Hutch glares at him and Kasen laughs harder. “Mate, you should see your expression. I’m just fucking with you.”
Hutch’s shoulders relax and he leans back in his chair, the old wood creaking as he does. He’s quiet for a beat and then turns back to me. “I hear you booked your airfare…and Carly and Ava’s too.”
I let out a long breath. My friends are killing me.
“You all are going!” Roxy claps her hands again.
“I’m so excited. That means everyone is officially booked.
Cam is going to be thrilled! Did you tell her?
I think they are trying to figure out how to smoosh all of us into the guesthouses and the main house.
There are sixteen of us, and then like twenty family members.
Although I heard Fletcher’s immediate family rented a house on a neighboring property. ”
“We’ll figure it out. I mean, we figured it out when we all went on vacation,” I point out.
Gray has been quiet for a few minutes as he reads the back of a book that he has pulled off a nearby shelf.
“Can we read this one for the next book club?” he asks, holding it up.
This one has two real people on the cover.
“Uh, sure. Let me see it,” Roxy says as he hands it to her. She looks at it and smiles. “I love this one. I haven’t read it in years. It’s a friends to lovers.”
Gray glances my way and winks. I silently groan.
“We can do the fae book next month. OK, well, enjoy your night, gentlemen. Feel free to hang out, just lock up when you finish,” she says.
Gray pulls her down for a quick kiss, and I can’t help feeling a little jealous. What I wouldn’t give to have what they have.