Page 4 of Love Thy Neighbor

“Lose the dick pic in my line of sight.”

She shoves it in my face again, and this time I’m quick, plucking her phone from her hand and pocketing it.

“Cooper!”

“You can get it back when we’re done with this conversation,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest, staring down at her. “You’re not answering my question. How the fuck do you keep falling for the same dude’s shit?”

“What do you mean? It’s all online.”

“Yes, but—”

“It’s not hard to create a new profile. It’s not like the app gods keep good track of that stuff. There aresomany people on here pretending to be celebrities. I once got matched with Tom Holland. It, unfortunately, was not him.”

“Why do you say that like you talked to this catfishing dude for a while to determine it wasn’t in fact Tom Holland?”

“Hey, I’ve read my fair share of romance novels—falling in love via a dating app or by accitext is a thing.”

“Accitext?”

“You know, you text the wrong person on accident and then you fall in love. Accitext.” She shrugs. “It happens.”

“Yeah, infiction.”

“Fiction sounds really good right about now. It’s a heck of a lot better than standing around listening to you judge me.”

“I’m not judging you. I’m worried about you and the random dicks—actual random dicks—on this dating app you’re on.”

She rolls her eyes. “Please. Don’t start your wholebig brotherbull hickey again. That’ssohigh school.”

I don’t bother denying it, but I wouldn’t call fending off numerous tools abig brothermove, just a common sense one.

I saved Caroline from many shitty dates and handsy assholes. It’s not that I completely kept her from dating—I’m not her parents, just a concerned friend—but I did do plenty of vetting and never let her forget it.

“You know, I’m surprised you aren’t on the app with you being perpetually single and all. I’m sure you’d match with someone in no time considering…” She gestures toward me. “Well, you know.”

I do know.

And that’s not me being a cocky douche. It’s the truth, and my physique is one I work damn hard for.

I can thank my middle school years for my love of hitting the gym, being bullied about being a tiny little shit when all my friends had already hit puberty and were shooting up like trees. I begged my uncle to allow me to use his workout bench in his garage for the whole summer between eighth and ninth grade. A month before high school started, Ifinallyhit a growth spurt. It seemed like I sprouted four inches overnight…and then didn’t stop until I hit six foot five and towered over everyone else.

I lift a brow. “Elaborate for me.”

She huffs. “You know exactly what I mean. All buff and hot and whatnot.”

That same brow inches higher.

Hot?That’s a new one from her.

Over the years, she’s called me cute or handsome, even dropped beautiful a few times, whatever the fuck that means for a dude. Buthot?

That word has never left her lips regarding me.

I…think I like it.

I lift my lips into a smirk. “You think I’mhot, Caroline?”

Another glare. “You’re something…like annoying, for one thing. You’re totally ruining my vampire-fest right now, and you’re a tool for taking my phone, which I’d like back now.”

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