Page 9 of Gorgeous

Too late.

“It’s four in the morning, assholes!”

I bang on Hayes’ door as I pass, answering his dickish, yet warranted remark. “We’re going. You may want to tell what’s-her-name to truck it out of here before Ans wakes up. Otherwise, the commander will take out all those pre-wedding jitters on you.”

I jog down the steps with a grin after I hear a thump and several swear words, and meet an annoyed Theo, holding my recently warmed coffee in his hand.

“Don’t even say it.”

I waggle my eyebrows devilishly, and with a stupid smile, I say it anyway.

“Thanks, biotch.”

Our run turns into a sprint. Theo is not having any jogging today which clearly shows that I was right. He’s nervous. “I thought you weren’t nervous,” I tease, walking around to cool off. My chest could literally be a Slip ‘N Slide with the amount of sweat running down into my shorts.

“Jameson, do not even try to lump me in with your awkward ass by saying I’m nervous. I’m not fucking nervous.” He paces in front of the freshly painted barn, chugging his water and spitting the majority back out. I make an amused scoff, and he whips around to face me. “Seriously, Jameson. Nervous is what you do when you’re stalking the jelly girl at the Farmers’ Market. This” —he points at his bare chest, having tossed off his shirt two miles ago—“never gets nervous. Anniston and I have been together since middle school. I always knew this day would come.”

Apart from the annoying comment about me stalking the jelly girl, a.k.a. Breck, the brunette who works the Farmers’ Market booth on the weekends, his comment makes me laugh. “You did notalwaysknow this day would come. Just over a year ago you were frantic, trying to drive me away from your ‘middle school sweetheart.’ Don’t fucking lie, Von Bremen. You were scared she would send your ass packing. You should thank me.”

He scoffs, spitting his water in my direction. “Thank you? For what? Being a pain in my ass for the last eighteen months?”

I shrug, walking toward the barn doors, checking the locks. “My presence made you act on your feelings for Anniston.”

Truth.

Theo had been such an asshole trying to get rid of me. He made sure he rubbed my face in his relationship with Anniston. He wanted to make sure I knew she was his. Back then, I had a thing for her and could have done without him in her life. Obviously, times have changed.

Theo throws his head back, his fake laughter echoing in the open pastures. “You are such a chick, Jameson.” Another laugh. “Fucking feelings … how ‘bout you take your feelings and fucking act on them and ask the jelly girl out?”

My mouth snaps shut, my jaw going tight. He knows why I can’t ask Breck out. No matter how appealing she is,I can’t. I made a promise to myself to stay away from women.

“Her name is Breck, not the jelly girl,” I correct, which only makes Theo laugh even harder.

“I bet you know her bra size, too.”

Not technically, but I guess she is a solid C cup. She’s always wearing these ridiculous superhero t-shirts that hug the fuck out of her ample chest. A chest that would fit perfectly in my hands to squeeze.

Fuck, it’s like she tries drawing attention to them.

Even her cut-off shorts and Converse tennis shoes dredge up fantasies of jerking off onto her tits. Her nerdy style screamsI work in a comic book store, but she doesn’t. Instead, she works all day at the local orchard making jellies and pies. Just thinking about her bent over a stove, my hands wrapping around her hair, twisting it in my fist so the back of her neck cools down … pushing her chest against the island …

Water splashes my chest and I jump back. “What the fuck, dude?” I swipe Theo’s backwashed water off my chest, wiping my hands on my shorts. They’re damp when I pull them back, and I feel my eyes narrowing into a glare, but Theo doesn’t care. He’s ridding his nerves by getting on mine.

“You were thinking about fucking her, weren’t you? Are you planning on using all the hot water again this morning so you can whack off to your jelly girl?” His eyebrows jump up and down like the moron he is.

Me jerking off in the shower is a running joke in the house.

Not that it isn’t accurate.

It’s the only way I can get off anymore, but the lack of privacy in this house is egregious. A man should be able to fantasize without some asshole hitting his stopwatch every time he hears the shower turn on. I guess that’s the only downside of living at a foundation with five other guys and a commander, the only woman in the house.

Theo doesn’t stop there when I flip him off. “Does the orchard girl know you barely eat any of the jam you buy from her every weekend?”

I wonder if Anniston will be upset if he walks down the aisle with a black eye.

“Anniston loves the jam,” I argue with the extra annoying idiot today. “And I eat it. Sometimes.”

I turn, heading up the hill to the house, done with this conversation. I need to get ready. Soon there will be a fuck-ton of people coming onto the property for the wedding and I want to be sure I’m there to inspect each one of them. Nothing is going to ruin Anniston … and Theo’s big day.

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