Page 50 of Bratty Badboys

I cleared my throat, averting my gaze from his annoyingly cute dimple and said, “Anna might come there, and we could have a chance.”

Caleb leaned closer. “A chance for what?”

From the look in his mischievous eyes, I could imagine what was going on in his dirty head. “A chance to ask her out. Together.”

See? I was friendly.

He thought about it, blinking at me, and sighed. “Fine. Let’s go?—”

We heard a small thud and looked for the source coming from Anna’s house. Her face scrunched up as she rubbed her forehead behind the window. I bit back my smile when she caught us staring and closed the curtain, hiding herself.

“God, she’s so fucking cute,” Caleb said with a small smile.

“Adorable,” I added.

After a moment of silence, Caleb asked me, “Are you sure about sharing her with me?”

This was the first time he had asked me outright about her. Telling him the truth about wanting them both felt too raw. Too sincere. And that he or she might not want the same thing would break me. It was too soon to feel like it, but I couldn’t help myself and my stupid heart. I didn’t want to confess now. Under the September sun, in front of Anna’s house, with him leaning casually on his bike, looking like a bad boy straight out of a teen romance movie.

But I didn’t want to be insincere about how I felt.

“I don’t want anyone else,” I said, my voice husky, holding eye contact with his intense gaze.

“And keep these books here,” I pointed out to Caleb, who followed me to the back room of the library with stacks of books in his arms.

It smelled like old books, worn out pages with a hint of musk. Since it was Saturday, people were huddled in the corners, queuing up at the reception to borrow books and running their hands through the cracked spines of various books.

I kept down my stack and started sorting them out with different categories. He was whistling as he followed suit, commenting on a few of the erotic and romance literature, making me give him a deadpan stare. He was twenty-four but acted like a horny teenager most of the time.

“What? Why are you acting like you have never read stuff like this or watched porn?”

I remained silent, going through the books. He slammed a book down, making me wince, and turned me around to face him, his hands on my shoulders.

“You’ve never watched porn?” His voice was whisper-quiet, and I was glad we were alone.

“I’m thirty, Caleb.” I rolled my eyes. “Of course, I’ve watched it. The most recent being your porn.”

He smirked, pocketing his hands in his jeans. “You enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

“We are here to volunteer.”

“And we are having a friendly conversation while volunteering… have you read smut, though?”

I sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

“Alright, alright, mister uptight. I won’t talk about smut and porn since it bothers you so much.”

Surprisingly, he was quiet after that. So, when I picked up a rom-com book, I stared at the pink cover and said, “It doesn’t bother me.”

“Whatever you say, mister uptight.”

“You don’t have any siblings?” I asked, wanting to make more conversation with him. Turns out that I enjoyed talking with him, even when we were not half-naked. He had a nice voice, not too deep but heavy. He could be a singer if he wanted with his melodious tone. He could be a rockstar, everyone going crazy over his flirty charm.

I was glad he was not a rockstar. I wanted him all to myself and Anna.

“Nope,” he said, going through the romance pile I had made, unaware of the thoughts running in my head to pin him on the table and kiss his pouty lips for being so troublesome. “I am an only child.”

I kept the book down and looked at him. “It doesn’t look that way.”

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