Series: Peach State Stepbros Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“Alexis, and I don’t have a crush…oh God, do I have a crush?” She covers her face with her hands, and I can’t help but laugh.
“I don’t know. I’ve never had one.” I guess I must’ve at some point, but clearly, they weren’t memorable. And just the thought of loving someone and risking a broken heart like Dad got when Mom died gives me hives.
“Shut up. Like you don’t have one now.” She snickers, then takes a drink of her coffee while I try to figure out what the fuck she’s talking about. I wait for her to say just kidding, but she just looks at me with her brows drawn together before saying, “Wait. You realize you have a crush, don’t you?”
“I’m not sure if you woke up in a different reality today, but please tell me who I would have a crush on.”
“Taylor.” She shrugs like she’s making any sense at all.
I clutch my stomach as I give an exaggerated laugh. What is she on about? “I think you’ve totally misjudged my relationship with Taylor. Sure, we’ve hooked up, but he’s just my best friend.” I figure Taylor won’t mind me telling Mila. It’s similar to Dax knowing and feels different from telling our friend group. That would be harder to control.
“You really don’t know? I thought you were pretending you didn’t. The way you follow that boy around with your eyes…”
I shrug. “He’s hot. I like the taste of his cum. Of course I look at him.” See? She has no idea what she’s saying. “There’s a difference between attraction and a crush.”
“You talk about him all the time.”
“Again, best friend. We’re always together, so of course I would talk about him a lot.”
“You smile dopily when you do it.”
“I’m a dope. That’s nothing new.” I chuckle but shift a little uncomfortably before taking a drink. “You just don’t get us. We connected at a really important time in our lives. Tay trusted me with pieces of himself, and…I guess he was the first person to do that, to see beyond the annoying, obnoxious Brenner, and it connected us.” Whoa. I didn’t even know I felt that way, didn’t realize how much Taylor accepting me and seeing more in me was something I really needed. Or need, I guess.
“Okay.” Mila shrugs. “Back to Alexis…she was really, really good, and I needed it. She did this thing with her fingers where—”
“You don’t believe me,” I interrupt.
“I said okay.”
“Yeah, but it was one of those placating okays. I don’t have a crush on Taylor.” I can’t have a crush on Taylor. What if it ruined everything? Plus, I don’t do crushes.
“I believe you that you don’t think you have a crush on Taylor.”
“You said think because you believe I do.”
“Well, I’m allowed to have my own feelings, aren’t I?”
She might have a point there.
But…what if I do have a crush on him? How could I not know that? Sure, I’m not always in touch with my emotions, but I would have to be an idiot to miss a crush on my bestbro…hey, that’s cute. Best friend and stepbro.
I’m different with Taylor, though…and I like cuddling with him, talking to him, having sex with him. Isn’t a crush more than that?
Mila reaches over and puts her hand on top of mine. “I feel like you’re spiraling. I didn’t mean to give you a hard time. Maybe you have a crush on him and maybe you don’t. I’m sure you know your feelings best.”
“I would have thought so five minutes ago, but I’m not so sure now. Thanks for that.”
Mila laughs, and I can’t help doing the same.
“Are you feeling better now?” she asks.
“I don’t know. I kinda feel like my whole life has been a lie,” I tease, and we dissolve into laughter again. When I settle down, I say, “I need to get back to work. Tell me about the fingers later?”
She grins. “Absolutely.”
I pinch her cheeks, and she curses me out.
As I get back to work behind the counter, I keep thinking…she’s so wrong about me and Taylor.
She has to be.
*
By the time I get home that evening, I’m convinced Mila’s clueless. She simply doesn’t understand my relationship with Taylor. We get us, though, and that’s all that matters. And even if I did have a crush on him, which I don’t, it would be a small one. It’s practically impossible to be as close as we are and not have some kind of small something. It’s completely normal.
I’m surprised to find Dax sitting on our couch, playing video games with Taylor. Um…definitely didn’t expect this. Not that it matters. It doesn’t matter. But I kinda wonder if they’re hooking up.
“Hey,” I say, then walk over to the couch and sit between them.
“Hey,” Taylor replies. “You okay?”
“Yep. I’m good. How about you two?” Translation: did you fuck him again? No. Stop. I can’t care if he does.