Page 57 of The Pieces We've Lost

“He’s definitely more tolerable than you, and he hasn’t even been getting laid,” Jake quipped at Mikey.

I might not have been getting laid per say, but no one said anything about self-gratification, and I drew my lower lip between my teeth daydreaming about the few times I’d had to jerk off in the shower thinking about how Ellison’s lips would feel wrapped around me. I quickly pushed away those fantasies, bringing myself back down to Earth.

“Hey, hey, hey! That was a personal attack, Flynn!” Mikey grumbled. He’d been going out to the clubspractically every night and it appeared to be affecting his performance. Mikey was Mikey, though. He seemed to be the “can’t teach an old dog new tricks” type. The “tricks” in question being a steady relationship and not just bouncing around from woman to woman.

“Is it really a personal attack if it’s true?” Reid snickered.

“Lawson, just because I have fun with women doesn’t mean I’m a bad guy.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, buddy.” I patted him on the back before I got up to go call Ellison again.

I clicked her name and admired the photo that I had snuck of her at the zoo in Houston. She had been looking at the red panda exhibit and she turned around to tell me something, a bright grin on her face. It might not have been a posed photo that most girls preferred, but it was real and it captured the personality she kept hidden from so many people.

The FaceTime call rang a couple times before her face appeared on the screen.

“Hey, Colter, I’m sorry but now’s not the best—” she started.

“IS THAT HIM?” a bubbly, feminine voice in the background screeched.

“Isabelle Bennett, I swear if you take this phone from me I will never go out to a bar with you ever?—”

The FaceTime cut off.

I needed to meet Isabelle Bennett one day. If not to see what Ellison’s best friend was like in the flesh, then to at least thank her for everything she did to bring me and Ellison together.

I’m so ready to be home.

Blaze

You’re almost there

I wish you were here with me. That would make this trip a whole lot better.

Blaze

I miss you too Sparks

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

ellison

Ace

What would you say to a trip up to the north country?

Depends. What kind of trip are we talking about?

Ace

Oh, you know. You, me, the wide open Montana skies, and this thing we call the Bucking Horse Sale.

How charming. I’ll think about it

What the fuck is the “Bucking Horse Sale?”I thought to myself as I read Colter’s text repeatedly. Also, a trip to Montana? I knew he missed me after a month and a half of being apart, but how did he think I was going to get there? My phone buzzed again.

Ace

Please don’t say no, Blaze. I spent good money on this planeticket *wink emoji*

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