Page 50 of Heart Strain

He nods and lifts a shoulder.

“Uh… we’re not seeing each other, though.”

“But you want to.” He’s smiling, looking like the Cheshire cat.

“I don’t date people, I fu—I mean, I… you know.” I wrinkle my nose because that’s not really something I want to talk to my brother about.

Drix laughs. “I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to date Jameson. He’s a great guy.”

“I know he is.”

“Then you should go out with him.”

My face feels hot and I start to sweat because all I can think about is how badly I want Jameson, and not to date him. I want him naked again, especially after having to watch him work up a sweat yesterday. He looked absolutely lickable. And when he kissed me, tempting me with just a taste, I—I cut off that train of thought and refocus on the here and now. I’ll have plenty of time to obsess later.

“Holds?”

“What?”

“My god, little bro, your head is in the clouds today. You’d think you were the one that just came out of a coma.”

“Hardy har har, Hendrix. You’re hilarious.”

He chuckles. “I thought so.”

I snort out a laugh, then push all thoughts of Jameson out of my mind. “What’s the closest apartment complex to Mom and Dad’s?”

“You mean to my house?”

“Yeah, whatever. What’s the closest place that’s not a dump?”

“I really don’t get why you can’t just stay in my house. It’s a waste of money to rent an apartment. And it’s not like you don’t have privacy right now. It’ll be weeks before I’m allowed to live at home.”

Of course, he doesn’t get it; to him, Mom was perfect and that house has always been a home. It’s like we had two different childhoods even though he was right there with me the whole time. Sometimes I wonder how he missed how horrible Mom was and how miserable I always was living there. “Okay, well, I still want to look because there’s no way in hell I want to live with your grumpy ass once you get out.”

He chuckles and glances around for a second before spotting his cup of chipped ice. Before I can stop him, he chucks a piece at me. I duck and swat at it with a laugh, but when he throws a second piece, it hits my shoulder.

“Quit it, you giant child.”

His laughter fills the room, and soon mine joins in.

* * *

“Why didn’tDrix want us to eat dinner with him?” Jameson asks as he unlocks the door to his house and Peanut jumps up on him. “Hey, boy, how was your day?”

I smile at Jameson petting my dog and answer him, “They were taking him to run a bunch of tests this evening and he didn’t want us wasting our whole night waiting on him to return. I’m pretty sure he thinks Nurse Patricia is hot, too, and she’s working tonight.” I forgot that Jameson was in the bathroom when they told Drix about the tests. Peanut stops harassing Jameson to come wag his whole butt at me, so I squat down to give him a little love.

Jameson wrinkles his nose. “Ew, really?”

I chuckle. “I have no idea, but your face is priceless. What’s wrong with Patricia?” The kittens come over, so we both give them a few scratches, too.

“Nothing at all. I just can’t imagine your brother liking her. He’s an ass man, and she doesn’t really have an ass; but she’s got huge boobs.”

“Oh, so you’ve been checking her out, have you?”

“What? No! Like you haven’t noticed them.”

“Nope.” I totally have—you’d have to be blind not to—but picking on him is hilarious.

---