“What’s all that?”
“Just some warm clothes. Boots.”
“Where’d it come from?”
I drop my shoulders, sitting next to him on the bed. “Dare.”
“Ah.” He nods. “Eric two point oh?”
“It’s not like that with Dare. I really like him.”
“And it has nothing to do with the fact that he has money and you have…assets?”
“Fuck you, Jess,” I say, standing. “That was a low blow.”
Sure, at first, that was part of the appeal with Eric. But Jess knows it was more complicated than that.
“My bad,” he says. “For what it’s worth, I actually like this guy. It just looks a lot like how things started with Eric.”
It’s not the same. Not even a little. But Jesse wouldn’t know that. He wouldn’t know that I’ve felt more for Dare in the first week of knowing him than I ever felt for Eric, or that Dare fought this thing between us just as much as I did.
“I think he’s broken, Jess. He’s broken, but he still tries to save me every single day. The job, the clothes, the defending of my questionable honor,” I say, huffing out a laugh that lacks humor. “He brought you here when I was too wrapped up in my own shit to realize my little brother was without fucking heat or lights.” I’m still beating myself up for that one. Jess has always been my first priority, and I slipped up this time.
“Oh, come on, Lo.” Jess rolls his eyes. “We’ve probably lived half our lives without that shit.”
“It’s not the same. You were alone.”
“Quit being dramatic. Look, if this guy makes you happy, fuck the rest. I don’t think you’ve ever done a goddamn thing for yourself. I’m not eight anymore, Lo. You don’t have to take care of me.”
“That’s not true. We take care of each other. Always.” I need Jess to know that I’m not going anywhere. Ever. “Like, it’s going to be you, your future wife, and then me hanging out in one of the eighteen spare rooms in your mansion when you become a legitimate hacker for the government or some shit. You aren’t getting rid of me.”
Jess cracks a smile, picking at a piece of fuzz on his pants.
“How were things with Henry the other night?” I’ve been meaning to ask him.
“Good,” he says, and I wait for the but that never comes. “He offered to take me to my first meet. I guess he did wrestling in high school, too.”
“Wow,” I say, shocked and impressed…and maybe a little hurt that I didn’t even know about his meet. “When is it? I’ll see if I can request the day off.”
“It’s like an hour and a half away. Henry said he’d get us a hotel room and we’d make a weekend trip out of it.”
“I still want to go,” I insist, and he nods. I’m proud of Henry for stepping up. I’m wary, but optimistic. Jess needs this. I just hope it doesn’t backfire.
“I’ll send you the information. It’s in my locker.”
I lean over to give him a one-armed hug, then pull away, wrinkling my nose. “You smell like a foot. Why don’t you go take a shower and get ready for school?”
“Blame your stalker. He was the one who cockblocked my shower.”
“What did Eric say to you, anyway?”
Jess shrugs a shoulder. “Not shit. He just said he wanted to talk to you.”
“That’s it?”
“That was it. Well, until your new boyfriend came and smashed your old boyfriend’s car to pieces.”
“What?” I screech, right as I hear Dare’s truck pull up.