Page 38 of For You & No One Else (Say Everything 3)

He eyed his TV again, an idea niggling him, refusing to leave him alone. “Are you really going to watch Star Wars?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Say good night. Say good night. Say good night.“We could co-watch it, if you want. Stay on text while we both watch?”

“Co-watch it?” she asked, surprise in her voice.

“Yeah. It’s been a while for me, too, and I was going to watch something before bed anyway. Trent wantedThe Secret Life of Pets, but I could probably change his mind.”

She was quiet for a few agonizing seconds, and he started to feel like he’d crossed the line again, but then she said, “Yeah, sure. That could be fun.”

He sat up and ran his hand through his hair, annoyed at how much he liked that she’d said yes. This didn’t need to bea thing. He’d do this with a friend. She was having a lonely night. They were going to kinda sorta hang out. No big deal.

“All right, cool,” he said. “Go pop your popcorn or whatever you need to do. Meet back on chat in fifteen minutes or so?”

“Sounds good,” she said, her voice upbeat. “I’ll just go wrap my hair into some Leia buns and I’ll be all set.”

“Me too.”

She laughed. “Hawt.”

He rolled his eyes at her tongue-in-cheek response.See, brain. Harmless flirting between friends. We can do this.“Get your popcorn, Eli.”

They ended the call. Beckham tossed his phone aside and rubbed his hands over his face, blatantly ignoring the half-hard situation in his pants.

Glutton for goddamned punishment. That’s what he was.

A group counselor had once suggested that his decision to get so much ink was a sign that he sought out pain. He’d dismissed her observation out of hand. He got ink because he liked how it looked and because it distanced him even further from who he used to be. No one would expect Matthew Joseph Laketon, the kid they’d watched grow up on the reality showSeven on Sunday, estranged son of fundamentalist preacher John Laketon, to be some tatted-up hacker living in New Orleans.

But this thing with Eliza… Maybe he was more of a masochist than he thought.