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)
“Damn, you still know how to make a good roast,” I say. I’ve always loved Keith’s roasts. “I won’t mind having more of these after you guys are married. Mom, I love you, but I can’t be subjected to any more of your HelloFresh experiments.”
She laughs. “It’ll be nice to have someone who’s a natural chef around the house. I’ve put on ten pounds since he moved in.”
“Just as beautiful as the day I first saw her,” Keith says, his affectionate gaze making Mom blush. As adorable as the moment is, I feel I wouldn’t be doing my job as her kid if I didn’t make a gagging sound.
“Get a room,” Bren adds.
“Thank you, we have one to head to,” Keith teases, and we all enjoy a laugh.
“Speaking of living arrangements,” Mom says, “how is the apartment working out?”
“You guys getting on each other’s nerves yet?” Keith adds.
“On each other’s nerves?” Brenner says. “We’re best friends. It’s a blast. Now we can do all the things we love.”
“Please tell me it’s not just the two of you,” Keith says. “I could see you both playing video games and disappearing from the rest of the world.”
“We have people over,” Brenner insists.
Is he referring to Dax? I shoot him another look.
His eyes widen. “Like Mila,” he says, and I blush, realizing he wasn’t trying to sneak in a reference to our extracurricular activities.
“Oh, yeah,” I say, “And Atlas, Troy, Colin, Ash, and Lance have swung by too. We have plenty of company.”
“Plenty of fun company,” Brenner adds, and now I know he’s referring to Dax. “But we haven’t seen our friends the past few days.”
Because we’ve been too preoccupied with each other to make time for them.
“Yeah, we were gonna head to a party at Alpha Theta Mu tonight,” I say. “Catch up with everyone.”
And they’re likely gonna find out we’re a thing.
It’s a strange thought.
We don’t even know what the hell we are, but whatever it is, it feels good. It feels like us. Just doing our thing, and not really giving fucks about what anyone else thinks of it.
Everyone except our parents, that is.
When we finish up at Mom’s, I drive us back to campus, and Brenner’s got his hand on my thigh, gripping firmly.
“Making up for lost time?” I tease, since I hated not having his hands all over me while we were at our parents’.
“You fucking know it. Might need you to pull over so we can give each other BJs before this party.”
“It’s weird to think that we’ve pretty much fucked through the week and I still fucking need it.”
“I don’t know that weird’s the right word for that,” Bren jokes.
“So we just gonna go to this party and let everyone figure it out on their own?”
“I think they’ll suspect something when your tongue’s down my throat.”
“More likely when your hand’s down my pants.”
“One of those will probably be a clue,” Bren says. “Then maybe we can sneak off to Lance’s room and beat one out real quick.”
“Or let Lance know and take our time.” I sneak him a quick look, and he smirks.
“Mmm…somebody’s been missing these lips…this ass…this dick.”
“Guilty.”
I park down the street from the Alpha Theta Mu house, and when we get to the party, we run into some of the guys.
“I haven’t gotten an invite to play any games this week,” Lance says after we hug it out.
“We’ve been kind of busy,” Brenner says.
“Meanwhile, why don’t I ever get invited to these game nights?” asks Marty, the more anxiety-ridden part of the Alpha Theta Mu crew.
“Do you play?” I ask.
He flinches. “I mean, I didn’t say I’d be any good, but I like hanging out. Being chill.”
Lance cringes. “No one who’s actually chill has to tell everyone they like ‘being chill.’”
“It’s giving desperate vibes,” Payton adds.
“Anxious, desperate, uncool?” Marty says. “These are my things. Can’t everyone just be glad I make them look better by comparison?”
“Is this one giving you guys trouble?” Colin comes up from behind him and drapes his arm across Marty’s shoulders. “Threatening to kick you out? Trust me, it’s better than him threatening your security deposit.”
Marty is a notorious goodie-goodie and known for policing all the guys in the house, so I’m not surprised by Colin’s assumption, considering Marty’s likely given him enough hell to be more than a little annoyed.
We all catch up, the guys sharing Alpha Theta Mu gossip. I notice Lance getting close to Brenner, and though I know he’s straight, Brenner was being flirty with him before the cruise. It makes my insecurity flare up.
A part of me thinks I should stuff this away, at least while all the guys are here, but hell, we said it doesn’t matter if they know, so I hook my arm around Brenner, resting my hand on his hip, acknowledging it’s a little fucked up that I’m claiming him in front of his straight friend.