Page 54 of Stay

Julian: I’m scarred for life.

Heart racing, I scroll through the texts in the brother group chat. Then I open the one that’s just from Trey.

Trey: WHAT THE FUCK! I need to bleach my eyes out now. Thx.

I’m so fucking confused. I have to read it twice and slow down to figure out what’s just happened.

Oh. Shit.

I sent the fucking dick pic to Trey, not Haley. And that asshole sent it to the group chat for all my brothers.

I hate him.

Cole: *middle finger emoji*

To the group chat I text: Hey, don’t be jealous mine’s the biggest.

Trey: It’s not. Trust me.

Michael: Ur so precious, bro.

Julian: Aww wittle baby.

Reid: Mine will make a woman skip her next life.

Trey: Yeah, but you gotta break away from your work to find a woman first, bro.

Julian: Amen. And why the fuck aren’t you coming to Thanksgiving, Reid?

The chat blows up, the new target being Reid, and I close out of it.

Haley’s is the only one left, and it’s a picture of her pouting at me.

Haley: You’re no fun. I wanted a dick pic, and you left me on read. That’s gonna cost you.

I close out of it and tuck my cell back in my pocket. She can make me pay however she wants to. This day is just getting better and better.

“Are you taking off for the rest of the day?” Tamara asks.

“Hell yeah.” Hooking my arms around her and Jaedyn, I steer them towards the kitchen. “But first, let’s go eat cake.”

Chapter 17

Haley

It’s only three o’clock, which means I’ve got probably four more hours before Cole comes home. Just enough time for a nap. This laggy, icky feeling has been creeping in all day. I’ve been working nonstop lately, so this might be my body telling me to slow down.

Dragging my ass to bed, I climb in and crash.

An hour later, I’m stiff and groggy. My nose is a little stuffy, too. Damnit. Pulling the covers over my head, sleep takes me again.

When I wake up a second time, it’s to the sound of someone knocking on my door.

Cole. I need to get him a key to my place.

Climbing out of bed, I don’t bother fixing my hair or putting on pants. Shuffling to the door, I open it and smile. “Hi.”

His face falls. “What’s wrong?”

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