Page 41 of Fallen Hearts

“Maybe,” she agreed, making me smile and cutting into some of the sexual tension between us. “But not as big of one as I thought.”

“There you are.”

Fucking Beck.

Pia stepped backward.

“We need more vapor barrier.”

Our proximity hadn’t been lost on Beck. He’d basically written the playbook on seducing women. Not that I had been trying to seduce Pia.

Well, maybe I had, a little.

“I’ll go grab it. Maybe some takeout for dinner too.”

“Sounds good. You taking off, Pia?” he asked.

Her demeanor completely changed with him. “Why do you ask? Need something?”

“Just you to agree to a date. Just one date.”

“Not gonna happen.”

Pia’s shoulders shook as she walked away, toward my fucking asshole of a friend. He would stop asking her out… today.

Patting him on the back like an errant toddler, Pia called, “See you in the morning,” to me. And just like that, she was gone.

I glared at Beck, who, unapologetically, leaned against the banister and crossed his arms.

“So what the hell was that?”

“What?”

“Really? Come on, man. I’ve known you since kindergarten.”

“As if I could forget, especially the day you pulled your pants down in the hall waiting for the bathroom.”

We’d been in a line, the teacher taking us all to the bathroom at once, when Beck’s pants were suddenly around his ankles. The teacher screamed as if he’d just stabbed someone. Beck had been making women scream with his dick ever since. According to him, anyway.

“First of all, I was goaded into it. Second, you don’t actually remember that, just the story. No one can remember being five.”

“I can.”

“Whatever you say.”

Beck claimed a girl dared him to pull down his pants. If nothing else, it made for a memorable story. His mother had not been pleased by that phone call.

“I say, you are attracted to Pia.”

It wasn’t the first time he or the others had accused me of much, but denying it now was pointless.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“So you admit it?”

I sighed. “I need to go get a vapor barrier.”

Attempting to walk by Beck, I was stopped by a hand on my chest. Beck could be so fucking annoying sometimes.

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