Page 38 of Switch Pitching

I open my eyes back up and snort. “Is shittily a word?”

James pokes me in the ribs. “If it wasn’t, it is now. I just coined it.”

He’s gone quiet again, but not for long. “If you ever go back there to give them a piece of your mind, take me with you,” he says.

“What?”

“I mean it. If you ever want to go and face them, you don’t have to do it alone. I’ll be there with you.”

His sincerity knocks the wind out of me. I wasn’t expecting that. I wasn’t expecting any of this.

Trying to find the words, I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. What can I even say? James just offered to step into one of the most painful parts of my life with me. No one has ever offered to do that.

“I blocked them after it all went down, and I don’t feel a need to reconnect with them. But I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t worry about it, bro. I’ve got your back. Any time.”

Hearing him say that hits hard. It’s difficult not to fall for him a little more every time he does something deep like this. I mean, he’s attractive, of course, but he’s a lot more than that. This is something else. He treats me well. He says he cares, and I know he means it.

I’m grateful for all that, but I hate that I’m falling for him like this.

Oh, fuck.

I’m falling for him.

My eyes shut as I lean back into my pillow, willing myself to let this go.

It’s clear he’s not into me like that, but the way he looks at me and talks to me screams that this is more than friendship.

But it can’t be. He’s straight, and I need to remember that.

James pulls back, giving me a small, reassuring smile. “Alright, enough heavy stuff for tonight. How about we watch something stupid?”

I laugh, grateful for the shift. “Yeah, I could go for that.”

Grabbing the remote from the bookshelf, James fires up the projector. I lean back into a pillow that James brings me and realize that the pain in my groin is already throbbing a little less.

James wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. “Sponge bath after this?”

Groaning, I sock him with a pillow. “Shut up, you idiot. Find something for us to watch.”

James tousles my hair. “Whatever you say, buddy.”

Rubbing my stomach, I try to stop it from flipping. Damn it, my stomach shouldn’t be flipping in the first place.

I’m a mess.

14

JAMES

Call me spoiled, because I can’t sleep unless it’s pitch black. Even though this apartment faces west, the sunrise still manages to creep in, and I’m wide awake. We’re right at the end of May and the sun already rises at 5 a.m. Ethan didn’t want to put blackout blinds on all the windows, so my room is the only one that has them.

I blink, trying to get my bearings. Huh. I’m in Ethan’s room, so I must have fallen asleep here.

That explains the blinding light streaming in at this ungodly hour. Groaning, I try to pull myself away to go back to my dark room to catch some more sleep, but I’m trapped.

Ethan is lying on my left arm, pinning it to the bed, and I’m draping my right arm over his waist.

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