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CHAPTER TWELVE

Skylar

“What’s this again?”

With a sigh, I drop my head against the table, banging it on the wood with a wince. I look back up at Max, who’s still staring at my notebook in confusion. “It’s the plan.”

He scratches the top of his head as he sticks out his tongue in concentration. “The plan to…”

“Max, have you even been paying attention!” I shout, then immediately regret my tone. He has every right to be confused.

Who wouldn’t be confused if their new coworker showed up at their apartment, unannounced, holding a bag of bagels, and begging to be let in? Granted, I didn’t snoop through Max’s employee information just for this purpose; I do want to get to know him, but my overeager brain feels the need to share every bit of information about my life.

So, when his first question was, “what’s up,” —I couldn’t help myself.

“But why is the notebook pink?” he asks, holding it and cringing when bits of glitter stick to his fingers. “Is this craft store glitter or supermarket glitter?”

I scrunch my nose. “There’s a difference?”

He opens his mouth to answer, but then shakes his head. “Okay, so, perfect boyfriend then. Run the plan by me again.”

I take a bite of my bagel and nod. Third time’s the charm, I suppose. I flip open my notebook to the first page and start. “I’m building the perfect boyfriend. The idea is that Cass and I will come up with different things a good partner should do and then add it to this list.” I turn to the different pages to show him where I’ll write all those things down. “Every future potential boyfriend has to be capable of doing the ‘MUSTS,’ but we can be lenient on the ‘MAYS.’”

He squints and goes back to the second page. “There’s a table of contents?”

“Organization is sexy!” I defend, snatching my pink glittery halo of greatness and holding it against my chest. “Don’t judge.”

Shaking his head, he raises his hands. “Not judging, little dude. I guess I’m just confused as to why you need this in the first place. Can’t you just?—”

“Have better judgement?” I groan and gently place the book down. Hanging my head in shame, I let out a deep breath. “You would think so, right? This really shouldn’t be necessary, but I’m at the end of my rope here. I have no trouble finding guys… It’s just finding the right guy.”

He places a beefy hand on my shoulder, and I look up to see his sympathetic smile. “I know. I was at brunch too. They really went off on you, didn’t they?”

I wave away his concern. “They weren’t cruel, just truthful, and that’s the part that sucks. Everything they said was right. I guess I just realized that I couldn’t keep going on that way.”

Truthfully, I don’t think I could take another heartbreak. Maybe this whole plan seems a bit ridiculous, and even I can hear that it does, but I’m desperate. I so very badly want to be as healthy as Elton, and I so very want to be as in love as Rhys and Everest. I want to find a guy that won’t treat me like crap. The trouble is, I don’t even realize they’re doing it. Call this a preventative measure, because if a guy can tick off all the requirements on the list, how can he be the wrong one?

Max must sense my train of thought because he shrugs. “It doesn’t seem like a foolproof plan, but I’m here to help in whatever way you need. I’ll even make a ‘do not’ list.”

I raise an eyebrow. “A what?”

“Like a list of things you shouldn’t put up with.” He smiles as he opens the notebook and uses one of my bright purple pens to section off an area near the end of it. With chickenshit handwriting, he writes the words ‘DO NOT’ and underlines it for good measure. “Like things you shouldn’t tolerate from guys. Can you think of anything?”

I gulp.

Well…

“How about, ‘do not let them leave you in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant’?”

“That really happened to you?”

“Max!”

“Sorry, sorry,” he mumbles, adding it to the list. He taps his pen against his chin, and his eyes widen with an idea. “Oh! Let’s add, ‘do not allow them to tell your fraternity you sucked their dick’?”

My lips drop into a frown. “Has that happened to you?”

“Yeah, but it’s chill,” he says with a shrug. “Live and let live, right?”

I shake my head. “I don’t think that expression means what you think it does…”

He tightens his lips into a flat line and grunts. Ducking his head, I see his cheeks flaming with embarrassment, and I almost apologize until he snaps his head back up with a smile. Chuckling, he ruffles my hair. “It’s all chill, little dude. When a window opens, the door closes.”

Okay… That also might not mean what he thinks it does, but I let it slide. When you have this sort of youthful optimism that Max does, you just have to go with it. That’s partly why I hired him and mostly why I thought he would fit into the family. We have Elton, but we needed another beautiful himbo with a heart of gold to balance all the brooding boys in our clique. Max is refreshing, gorgeous, and so sincere. Sure, he can’t make a drink to save his life, but that’s no big deal. Not every bartender needs to know all the drinks on the planet.

He takes a big bite of his bagel and speaks through a full mouth. “When’s the end date to this?”

I cock my head and think. Shrugging, I hand him a napkin when he gets some cream cheese on the corner of his mouth. “I don’t think there is one. I’m certainly not dating until it’s done. I figure when the time is right, I’ll just know. In the meantime, Cassy is helping me out.”

“Helping you out…” He turns, as if someone is going to hear us despite being in his one-bedroom apartment. “Like, with sex stuff?”

I chuckle. “That’s where your mind immediately went?”

“Well, am I wrong?”

He’s got a point there. Recalling last night, I begin to squirm in my seat. I’ve never seen Cassius so…so rough . He’s usually so gentle with me. I can’t lie and say I don’t like it when he treats me like some sort of precious china because it makes me feel special. But last night…

Fuck me, last night, he was some sort of daddy dom-esque animal, and I ate up every bit of it. I never thought I’d get so turned on around my best friend, but he hit every sexual kink I have. Someone to manhandle me, to take charge, to force me to feel pleasure. Someone with raw sexual magnetism to the point I just want to rip off my clothes, bend over, and wag my ass in the air until I get fucked hard.

“Um, little dude?”

I blink myself out of my daze. “Yeah?”

“You’re sort of developing a…big situation.”

My eyebrows pinch as I follow his line of sight, seeing the tent in my shorts. Gasping, I cover it with my hands, but there’s no use hiding it now. “Oops. Sorry.”

“He’s good then,” he states, wagging his eyebrows at me. “Can I get some details?”

I snort. “You want to know about my sex life?”

“Considering I haven’t gotten laid in eight months, yes. I really do.”

I gawk at that. Max is, like, spectacularly hot. He has this whole male model, boy-next-door vibe going on that I’m sure the ladies—or gents—love. Thick blond hair that reminds me a bit of the Hill brothers, dark blue eyes that literally smolder, and a bright white smile that can knock someone on their ass. “Eight months?”

“Hey,” he argues with a frown. “My question first.”

I huff and look down at my aching friend. This certainly isn’t going to help my raging boner go down, but I suppose family shares this kind of stuff. At the same time, I can’t exactly gush to Cassius about a hookup he participated in, and I’m sure the guys at the bar won’t want to hear it, so I take this opportunity for what it is. “It was really good,” I rush out with a giddy smile. “Oh, my sweet Lord, it was amazing .”

He quirks an eyebrow. “And you and Cassius have never…”

“No,” I answer his unfinished question. “I mean, we kiss and cuddle all the time, but we’ve never done anything like last night.”

He nods along. “He seems like a cool guy.”

“Oh! He’s the very best!” I say excitedly. “Cassius is the single most greatest person on the entire planet. He’s overprotective and sweet and considerate. He never has a mean word to say to me, and he’s always there when I need him.”

Through tearful breakups, haunted nightmares, and memories of the past, Cassius has been my lighthouse. He guides me through the storm and makes everything all warm and fuzzy. I’m the luckiest guy to have him in my life.

“Sounds awesome. I wish I had someone like that,” he mutters, then his eyes widen, as if he just realized what he said. “Not that Bryson isn’t a great friend! He totally is! It’s just that he has Juandi and Dalton now. I was his person, and I’m not angry at him for finding love and shit, but we’re just not as close as we used to be.”

I feel for him. I can’t relate, though, because I’ve always had Cassius. However, I can’t imagine what life would be like without that relationship. I think everyone needs someone who’s extra special. With that in mind, I place my hand atop Max’s and smile. “I’m your friend now. If there’s anything you ever want to share, or anything you ever need, I’ll be here for you.”

His eyes water a bit, and he sniffles. I love it when guys are in touch with their emotions. It’s just so authentic, and Max strikes me as the kind of person who just can’t help but be himself. “Thanks, little dude. That means a lot.” Wiping the corner of his eye with the back of his hand, he clears his throat. “Okay, my top priority now is helping you with this list. No matter what, we’re finding you a forever guy.”

“Really?” I beam at him and can’t help but throw myself into his big arms. “Thank you, Max.”

He pats my back a little too roughly and pulls away with a smile. “Operation: Find a Great Guy for Skylar has begun. Let’s rock this shit, man!”

And we try our best. We sit and talk about the plan, but I get too caught up learning things about Max to pay attention to that. We chat about meaningless things, some big things, and laugh a lot. All the while, I enjoy his company with a smile on my face.

Because our family just got a little bigger.