Page 91 of The Science of Attraction

He was right but that wasn’t going to cut it. “Maybe so, but this is an important decision that affects your immediate future, and you need to take it seriously, Plus, you’re going to have to sell it to your mum, convince her how badly you want it, and that you’ve done your due diligence.”

He frowned. “Due what?”

“Done your research.”

“Oh, right. But then you’ll help me talk to Mum, right?”

“If you can show me that you’re serious, then yes, I’ll help.”

“Deal.” He offered his hand and we shook on it. Then he leaned forward with a cunning smile and said, “So, getting back to your love life.”

I groaned. “Do we have to?”

“Yes. I get that Jules’ dad is a piece of work sometimes, but I reckon you’ve thrown a spanner in his nice little red-neck life.”

“And why would you think that?”

“Because he was asking about you when we were playing draughts and about what happened with James.”

“Hang on a minute.” I shook my head in confusion. “Exactly when were you two playing draughts?”

“Yesterday, while you were setting up the chairs along his circuit to the woolshed and back. He sometimes forgot whose turn it was, but he was mostly okay.”

Now I was curious. “And what did he ask?”

“Just stuff. About how close our family was. About why I stood up for James, and what I was doing at school. Sometimes he had to write the question down, but it was cool. He didn’t say anything crappy about the gay stuff, and I obviously didn’t tell him you were banging his son?—”

“Jesus.” I rolled my eyes.

“He just seemed... confused about it all, I guess. Like, why wouldn’t you want a woman instead?”

I snorted. “And how did you answer that?”

“I just said it was probably for the same reason he didn’t want a man. You want what you want.”

I was pretty sure my mouth was hanging open since I had no idea what to say to that.

“But here’s some free advice.” Connor shot me a sly look. “If you two really want to keep your nooky times secret, then you should probably do a better job of cleaning up after yourselves. When I came back today, your bedroom was a disaster and there was a pair of briefs that don’t belong to you sticking out from under the fridge.”

Shit.My face blew hot. I was first to leave while Jules was still dressing and he must’ve forgotten to close the bedroom door. Then a thought occurred to me. “How do you know the briefs don’t belong to me?”

Connor laughed. “I didn’t, but I do now. Score one for me.”

I gave him a shove. “Get back to your study before I pull my offer to play wingman for you with your mother.”

“Nope. You promised.” Connor landed an impressive dive onto the couch while I shot off a text to Jules.

You left your briefs here?

Dots came and went.Oh great. You found them. I’ve been going commando.(Eggplant and poking out tongue emoji)

I snorted.You’re an idiot. And no, Connor found them.

There was a pause before his response then—Oops.(wide-eyed emoji)

Oops?I laughed at the screen and returned—(head explosion emoji)

“You’re being sappy again.” Connor’s voice sailed over from the couch.

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