“No way. Look, obviously I’m not ready to hook up with anyone or do anything even remotely sexual. I’m not even a month out of my breakup with Ben. I can’t even handle one kiss with a guy. Look what it turned into: a total mess. It’s best if Gage and I move on as friends and pretend this never happened.”
She pins me with a deadpan stare. “You can’t pretend your way out of this, Bec. You know you still have to film a ton of sexy videos with this guy, right? That means you need to actually talk to him.”
I cover my face and groan. “I know. God, it’s going to be so freaking awkward.”
Tori leans forward and tops off my margarita with more tequila. “Well, you’ve been through awkward situations before, so…”
I toss a pillow at my best friend. She chuckles before aiming a sympathetic stare at me. “It’ll definitely suck, but you’ll survive.”
I guzzle more of my drink. “I hope so.”
Chapter13
Gage
Ihit the doorbell at my cousin’s house in Lakewood, just a few miles outside of Denver. A ding-dong version of the theme song from the movieHalloweenechoes so loud, I can hear it through the door.
“Coming!” Millie yells. Ten seconds later she answers, her face red.
“You okay?” I ask. I start to reach for her, but she waves me away.
“I’m fine.” She palms her massive belly. “Now that I’m carting around a bowling ball in my stomach, it takes me longer to get places. And god, does it drain me.”
I lean down and hug her. “Are you ever going to change your doorbell ring?”
“No way. It’s creepy enough that it scares away all the missionaries that come to our door. It’s staying forever.”
“You’re ruthless.”
“Damn straight. You brought me ice cream, right?”
I laugh. “Of course I did.”
I hand her the paper bag full of a half-dozen pints of Ben and Jerry’s. Her deep brown eyes brighten immediately. She rips open the bag as I walk inside and shut the door behind me. She’s grinning so wide, you’d think she’s being presented with the keys to a new car and not six pints of ice cream.
“Gage, you’re the best cousin in the whole wide…” Her expression falls as she looks at the pint in her hand.
“What’s wrong? I thought you loved Chubby Hubby?”
Her shoulders sag. “I thought you were bringing more Sweet Cheeks ice cream.”
“Oh…” I hold back a flinch at just the mention of Becca’s ice cream shop.
It’s been three days since we kissed, since we shared that insanely hot few minutes when I got to watch Becca shed her inhibitions completely and do the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I got to see her go from shy to sex kitten as she worked herself against my dick all the way to orgasm.
And it’s been three days of radio silence since then. No text, no phone call, no drunken TikTok DM. She hasn’t even posted the video we filmed to the Sweet Cheeks Creamery TikTok. I’ve checked every day since that night and still nothing.
It’s clear she’s still freaked out about what happened and needs space. And that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to give her every time I fight the urge to text or call or DM her. She clearly doesn’t want to hear from me.
That realization makes that boulder in my gut scrape deeper. She wants nothing to do with me.
I clear my throat and focus on my cousin’s disappointed stare. Now that Becca and I aren’t even speaking to each other, I wasn’t about to run to her shop for more ice cream.
“Sorry, I haven’t been by Sweet Cheeks in a while,” I tell Millie.
“I figured. I haven’t seen you pop up in any of their TikToks.”
I grab the bag from her and walk past her into the kitchen.
