Page 151 of Jake Forever
Chapter 53
I'd been upstairs for less than an hour when the doorbell rang. Through the closed condo doors, I heard Steve call out, "Hurry up. I’m sweating my ass off out here."
When I opened the door, Steve, with Anthony on his heels, barreled into the condo and said, "You got the beer, right?"
"Yeah," I said, watching as they strode toward the kitchen. "I picked it up yesterday."
With Jake gone, I'd been working like crazy to get everything else done, including shopping for this little pizza and Kung fu party.
At the thought of Jake, I couldn’t help but smile. In just a few short hours, he'd finally be home, and I was dying to see him.
Over the last two days, we'd been talking plenty on the phone, but it was poor substitute for the real thing.
In the kitchen, Steve yanked open the fridge and started rummaging around inside. He emerged a few second later with a bottle of beer in each hand.
He tossed one to Anthony and opened his own. He took a long pull and said, "Man, I'm sweating my ass off."
"Uh, yeah," I said. "You kind of mentioned that." I moved forward for a better look. He did, in fact, look kind of sweaty.
"What happened?" I asked. "Is the air on the fritz again?"
"In the truck? Nah." Steve glanced vaguely toward the condo doors. "We had to take the stairs." He practically shuddered. "Remember?"
Warmth flooded my face. Mental note – traumatizing my brothers with details of my sex life might work fine in the short-term. But in the long-term? Well, let's just say it wasn't the smartest plan.
"Hey, I know," I said. "What youcoulddo is take one of theotherelevators—"
"They don't reach this floor," Steve reminded me.
"Yeah, I know," I said. "But you could get off—"
"Stop." He gave me an annoyed look. "Get off? Really?"
"Oh, shut up," I said. "What I mean is that you take another elevator to the eighteenth floor, and then, you'd only have to walk up two flights." I offered up a shaky smile. "What do you think?"
Steve looked to the fridge. "I think I need more beer."
It was definitely time to change the subject. As Steve went to the fridge, I turned to Anthony and said, "Just so you guys know, you need to leave by eleven, okay? Jake's returning sometime after midnight, and I want to have the place cleaned up by then."
Anthony looked almost insulted. "What are saying? That we're messy?"
I didn't bother answering. They weren't just messy. They were total slobs. But in reality, it wasn't the mess I was worried about. It was the fact that I was dying to see Jake alone.
Makeup sex.
I wanted it. Bad.
And unless I wanted to send my brothers straight into therapy, it would be a good idea to send them on their way before that sex actually got started.
Returning with a couple more beers, Steve glanced around. "So where's the pizza? You ordered it, right?"
"Don't worry," I told him. "It should be here any minute."
"Good," he said, "because I'm starving. I haven't eaten since breakfast."
"Liar," I said. "You had lunch."
"Did not," he insisted.
