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Well, I’d thought it was clever.
I listened to her anyway, though. She’d always been straightforward with me, down to earth, and I couldn’t deny that I was tempted. Hell, who was I kidding? For the chance to not have to drown in as much debt, to bring in more money to help out me and Adrian…
There wasn’t even a chance in hell I’d turn it down.
Sure, it meant being shackled here for a few years unless I wanted to pay it back. I’d looked into it once, but the whole song and dance was one of the reasons I’d avoided it. But that had been when I thought I’d be a peon forever. I’d never thought about even being an assistant manager at a place like this, but it had its perks.
A voice in my head retorted that I was resigning myself to a life of dealing with immature brats who didn’t know the right salt ratio and that I’d be on the hook if too many people called out. It’d mean that the job I’d had would become — dare I say it? — a potential career. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
But it’d help me and Adrian out.
I slouched down in the driver’s seat of the car, tossing the papers face-down onto the passenger seat. I didn't know when it had become “me and Adrian.” I’d been fighting against his help, no matter how much I needed it, but now…
Something had changed between us the night before, even though I had no idea what to do about it. What did you do when your brother acting like a dog turned you on? I knew I was being crude, but it had been more than that and I wasn’t sure how to deal.
It had been the way I could be gentle with him, the way that he’d relaxed and responded so readily. Yeah, I’d gotten hard, but that hadn’t even been the most appealing part about it.
The way he’d trusted me was the part that stuck in my head… All right, that and the constant thought of that tail in his ass while he barked and playfully whined.
I lowered my head, letting my forehead rest against the steering wheel. For a moment, I sat there in silence, then I almost hit my head on the roof when someone knocked on the glass of my window.
I rolled down the window, eyeing my coworker. “Hey, Brad.”
“Hey, Owen.” He rested his hip against my car. “You on lunch?”
I shook my head. “Nah. Just taking a short break to get my shit together.”
How I was going to do that when I was having sexual thoughts about my own brother, I had no fucking idea, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“Cool.” He paused, fingers running along the bottom hem of his shirt, then he said, “So I’m planning on grabbing some beer tonight, ordering some pizza.” He gave me an expectant look, but when I didn’t reply, he continued, “Thought you might want to come over.”
Thought I might want to hook up, he meant. It wouldn’t be the first time. He and I had christened most of his new apartment to the point where I was sure his ass cheeks were permanently imprinted on the wall. Usually, I’d have perked up, all for the idea of an easy lay.
Today, though, my mind went to Adrian. I was oddly… I didn’t know how to describe it, but going with Brad wasn’t as appealing as just going home — even if that meant I'd be avoiding and ignoring my brother instead of getting laid. Just thinking about what had happened made me want to be available just to see if he wanted to do more…
Research .
“Nah, gotta go home right after work.” I nudged the car door open. He blinked at me, and I realized I’d never turned him down before. “My brother’s working on some project, and he’s being a real pain,” I told him.
Yeah. If by “a real pain,” I meant it was a real pain trying to figure it out, but Brad didn’t need to know that.
That much, he seemed to accept. “Yeah, okay. Maybe later this week?” “Closing shifts and exams,” I said glumly.
“Someone’s being all responsible all of a sudden,” he remarked, responding startlingly well to the first stage of being friend zoned.
“Someone is having to figure out how to pay the mortgage at the ripe old age of eighteen.” There was an edge to my voice I hadn’t expected, but I didn’t apologize for it. He winced. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
No one ever did. They assumed that me living my life the way I wanted to meant I was an irresponsible piece of shit.
“No worries,” I said, patting him on the back instead of playing tonsil hockey like I normally would. “Gotta get back in before the boss lady comes looking for me.” Brad nodded, going to the car next to mine and fishing out his keys from his pocket. “Yeah, no problem. See you tomorrow.”
I nodded then headed back inside. The line was short, thankfully, but as I headed to the back, I heard Monique using her manager voice. It was that obsequious, too chipper voice she turned on patrons of our charming establishment when they were being really fucking stupid. I paused to listen, not wanting to step onto a landmine by getting too close yet.
“But I don’t understand why I can’t just trade them out,” the man at the counter said hotly. “You’re already charging five bucks for a freaking burger. It’s not gonna kill you to hand over some more cheap-ass fries.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Monique said. She caught sight of me, but her eyes didn’t linger. “We can’t give you more fries instead of a bun. We can exchange the fries for a salad or one of the other—”
Now that I had a vague idea of what was going on, I finally headed back behind the counter. Dangerous, but it had its plus sides. I could eavesdrop even better from there and see the guy’s facial expressions.
