Page 39 of Burn

At least she’s got pants on. She walks around half-naked a lot, but since we broke up, I’ve never had those kinds of thoughts about her. Owen probably does. Mostly because he’s dirty like that but assures her she’s only for the spank bank.

She sits on my bed and hands me the bagel and coffee. “Don’t say I never did anything for you.”

There’re some benefits to having her work part-time at Starbucks when she’s not at the bar. Free coffee and bagels.

I take the bagel from her and then the coffee. After one sip, I set it on the nightstand but don’t say anything to her. When I twist, the sheet moves and Jacey makes a gagging sound.

“Caleb, are you hard?”

I groan and roll my eyes, playing it off. “It’s morning. Most men are.”

Just as I’m taking a bite, Jacey’s grin lifts mischievously. “I licked the cream cheese off that.”

She probably did. “I don’t even care at this point.” I lean over for the coffee on the nightstand again. “I’m so hungry.”

“Put your dick away. I can see it.”

I’m naked, but there’s no way she can see it under the sheet. Maybe a little but not enough to make it out. She’s just being dramatic. “You’ve literally seen it before.”

“I don’t remember what it looks like. We were sixteen then and don’t be an ass. I don’t want to see it. I’m a lady.”

“A lady?” I raise an eyebrow and put a pillow over my lap. “Says who?”

She smacks my head. “God, you’re a butthead sometimes.”

“If you hit me again, I’m going to hit you back,” I warn, chewing slowly around the bite of the bagel I’ve just taken. “How’d you get home last night?”

“I walked.”

“You did not. You’re afraid of walking alone.”

“True. Evan gave me a ride.”

“I bet he did.”

She smacks me again. On any given day, she smacks the side of my head twenty times. It’s like a slug-bug game to her. I’m not impressed by it.

This time I take the other half of my bagel she gave me and smash it into her hair. “Stop hitting me. And E is using you because even though you broke up, or were never together for that matter, you constantly spread your legs for him.”

She glares, but there’s a good amount of disbelief I just smashed a bagel to her face. I’m actually surprised I did too. I really wanted the other half of the bagel. Damn it.

“You fucker. I just showered.” Her eyes gloss over and the last part of what I said hits her. She doesn’t need the reminder. She’s well aware of the shit show she’s created with him. “And I know I’m being an idiot with E. I don’t need you to tell me that. And what time are we going over to your parents’ house?”

Lying my head back against the wall, I sigh. “It’s Christmas, isn’t it?”

“Well, last night was Christmas Eve, so yeah, I suppose today is Christmas morning.” Standing, she looks around my room for what I assume might be a towel to wipe the cream cheese from her hair. “Jesus, Caleb. What the hell happened in here?”

Right. It’s a goddamn mess in here.

“Don’t know.” I shrug, taking the last bite of the bagel. “All we did was talk and braid each other’s hair.” I glance at the clock and see it’s almost eleven and we should be getting over to my parents’.

Standing in the corner of my room because she doesn’t understand privacy, Jacey is texting on her phone. Probably to Evan. “Sure you did. I saw that girl, and if I had a dick, I would have fucked her, so I know what probably happened in here.”

I think Jacey’s spent too much time with guy roommates. It’s ruining her personality.

Taking the bagel I smashed in Jacey’s hair off my mattress, I toss it in the garbage can next to the bed and pull the sheets around my waist to get dressed. “Go away. I need to get dressed.”

Because of the broken lamp on the floor, I trip over it and land on my back on the floor. No sheet around me.

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