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I gripped my knees under the table, straining for her answer.
“Oh, wow... I’d like that.” There was a smile in her voice that I could picture.
“Great. Does seven work? There’s a great steak place we can go to in Roderdale.”
“I know the place. I actually have a client over there I need to see. I can meet you there.”
“Sounds great. See you then, Dell.”
Dell?
She sounded pleased as she said, “See you then.”
The door opened and closed before I could hear my brothers talking again.
“Hayes,” Fletcher said. “Are you coming down with something? You’re acting really strange.”
I blinked, like that would somehow clear the conversation echoing in my mind. Bennett and Della were going on a date. And he was exactly the kind of guy that she would settle down with.
It shouldn’t bother me. It should be like hearing there’s going to be rain on Tuesday. Or hell, I could even be relieved someone else will be giving her rides around town from now on.
But instead, it felt like rain was falling on me now, thick and all-consuming. The kind that splattered all over the window and even the highest speed of your wipers couldn’t keep up.
He didn’t deserve her.
He was plainer than vanilla, and she was a fucking color explosion.
“Maybe I am coming down with something....” I muttered. Because I’d never felt this way before. I had to be getting sick. Something had to be wrong with me. After all, my gut did hurt.
Dad said, “Do you need me to give you a ride home?”
I slowly shook my head. “I’m good. Maybe some food would help.”
Spoiler alert: It didn’t help.
After lunch, I went back to the garage, where that foreign feeling continued blooming in my chest like some invisible masochist was adding fuel to the fire. I was pissed—pissed that vanilla Bennett thought he deserved her. Furious that Della was wasting her time with someone beneath her.
The blaze almost consumed me when I walked through my door to my empty house.
Enough was enough.
I paced my living room and texted Jess to come over and distract me.
Less than half an hour later, Jess came inside without knocking, wearing a khaki trench coat. I could already guess what was underneath. I was sitting on my couch, drinking a beer while Sons of Anarchy played on the TV, but muted it at her entrance. “Hey there,” I said, eyeing her up and down.
Soon, my body would feel right. Turned on and distracted.
She was tall—nearly six feet—and had curves for days visible even under the trench. I reached for the button on my pants, undoing it and watching as she stopped short of me and pulled the coat open to show her sheer black lingerie.
“What do you think?” she asked, slipping out of the coat so it fell in a puddle behind her.
I studied her, wondering why my cock felt limp. I reached into my pants and ordered, “Turn around. Let me see you.”
She did as I demanded, letting me see the thong where it disappeared between her ass cheeks. The sway of soft blond hair over her bra clasp. It would snap apart easily under my fingertips.
She even bent over and wiggled her ass to give me a better show, and... nothing.
No twist of my hand over my shaft or mental image of her riding me could get my cock to stand.