Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
“What the hell was that look for?” Laith demands, a hint of panic surging through his stare. “Don’t tell me this new guy puts it down better than I do.”
I cringe again, and Laith looks horrified. “No. That’s not possible. Nobody gives it to you like I do.” Laith pauses a moment, shaking his head as though he can’t possibly believe what he’s hearing. “I need to sit down.”
“You’ll always be my . . . second favorite.”
“What was that pause?” he demands. “Why’d you pause like that? What’s there to think about? Is there . . . Is there another favorite above me and this new guy?”
“No. Not above the new guy,” I clarify.
“Oh sure,” he scoffs. “So just potentially above me then?”
A laugh bubbles up my throat, and I watch as Laith strides through his apartment, taking me into the kitchen where he helps himself to a drink, all while shaking his head.
“You’re buzzed, aren’t you?” he questions, and that playful tone in his voice shifts to something a little more serious, prompting me to walk back out to the living room where we can have just a scrap of privacy.
“Sure am,” I tell him, more than feeling myself right now.
“This new guy,” he says, a slight edge to his tone, but something I can’t quite place. Jealousy maybe? “Is it anything serious? Do we need to pump the brakes for a minute? I don’t want to overstep if you’re starting something good.”
A soft smile pulls at my lips, loving the way he cares about what’s best for me. “I love you, Laith. You know that, right?” I tell him. “But to be honest, with this new guy, it’s complicated. If anything, it’s probably just fun. It can’t progress into anything more than that, even if there might be real feelings there. I just—” I cut myself off and let out a heavy sigh. “We still good?”
“Always good, tiger,” he murmurs. “Let me know when you figure it out. I’d hate to lose you in that way, but I want everything for you.”
“Right back at ya,” I say as a dorky smile pulls across my lips.
Laith messes around with something off camera, and a moment later, I see a little card appear on the screen. “I suppose getting this printed was pointless,” he says as I lean in a little closer to make out what’s on the card, only to find the words Dick-Me-Down Loyalty Card at the top, and ten perfect squares below.
“You didn’t?” I gasp, laughing.
“Of course I did.”
A howling laugh tears out of me, and I shake my head, more than impressed with his dedication to the cause. “Don’t get rid of that too soon,” I tell him. “Who knows how long it’ll be before I’m knocking on your door again.”
Laith grins. “Oh, I know you’ll be back,” he says, making a show of putting the loyalty card right back into his wallet to keep safe. “But listen, tiger. If a heart needs to be broken, make sure it’s not yours.”
“My heart’s not capable of breaking. You know that.”
He rolls his eyes. “I’ll let you go. Don’t be a stranger. And don’t write yourself off tonight. Be safe.”
“Hey,” I rush out before he goes. “Have you ever thought that maybe you and I, one day in the future—”
“Might end up together?” he finishes for me. I nod, and he muses his response before finally giving it to me. “I’ve wondered about it before, but I also think that if something were going to develop between us, it would have happened by now. I love you, tiger. We have amazing chemistry, both physically and emotionally, but we’re friends. I think that’s where we shine.”
“I think so too,” I tell him. “But if we get to fifty years old and we’re still playing this game, put me out of my misery and just marry me so I don’t die all alone.”
Laith laughs. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”
I smile and meet his stare through the phone. “I love you too, you big dork.”
“Yeah. Yeah.” He winks, and with that, my screen goes black. There’s no denying the small ache in my chest, but I appreciate him. Hell, sometimes I think he knows me better than I know myself.
My phone immediately rings again, and I laugh to myself, swiping my thumb across the screen to answer Laith’s call as I make my way into my closet to find wherever the hell I put my drink. “Forget something?” I chime.
“Excuse me?” my mother’s voice comes through the line.
“Huh?” I grunt, pulling my phone away and staring at the screen, wondering how the hell we ended up here, only for me to realize that in my assumption of Laith calling back, I didn’t bother to check the screen. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”
“What did you just call me, young lady?”