Page 31 of My Brother's Bad Best Friend

Jonas

Ilock myself in my office and go over spreadsheet after spreadsheet of pricing data, filling out paperwork, and basically doing any boring-ass accounting stuff that needs doing.

It’s my version of taking a goddamn cold shower, and it barely works.

I just couldn’t help myself. Seeing her like that, so fucking gorgeous and hurt and alone, I needed to touch her. And once I touched her, I needed to kiss her, and once I kissed her…

Fucking hell. My dick’s hard for half the day as I fantasize what I could have had back there. I keep myself shut in, itching to get out in the shop and do something other than this horribly boring paper garbage, but I know that would be a mistake. I need to quarantine myself until these fucking feelings go away.

I shouldn’t be obsessing about Lizzie like this. I know it’s a bad look, considering how deep in trouble her brother’s getting and how vulnerable she is right now. I absolutely don’t want to take advantage of this fucking girl but god damn, every time I’m around her I just keep thinking about her lips wrapped around my cock, her eyes locked on mine, her pussy gaping and dripping wet for me…

I grunt and grip my pen in my hands. I duck my head and double down, losing myself in all the annoying minutiae that comes with running a coffee shop and a weed dispensary.

Hours pass like that. I drift between daydreaming about having Lizzie’s body the way I so desperately crave and doing as much busywork as I possibly can. As five rolls around, I realize that I’m actually running out of shit to do, so naturally I boot up my computer and browse Reddit.

It’s like torture, trying to keep my mind off Lizzie, and I don’t know why I’m dragging myself through this when she so clearly wants me. I’ve given a lot to her brother already, and it’s not entirely unreasonable of him to want me to leave her alone, at least right now. After what she’s been through, with the accident and her dead boyfriend, and her shithead stepfather hitting her in the face, I can’t imagine she needs another asshole man in her life trying to fuck things up for her.

And that’s what I am. I know it, always have known it. I don’t date, and the only time I ever tried ended in fucking disaster. It wasn’t cheating or something dramatic that lead to me breaking up with my ex, but pure, plain boredom, the kind that comes when you get to know someone way too well.

I’ll do it again, and I know it. I’ll get bored of the next girl that I let inside, but I can’t let that girl be Lizzie. It isn’t fair to her and it’s not fair to her brother. I have to be better, resist her, stay fucking strong.

Except I’m not strong. I’m very, very weak.

Eventually the sounds of the shop slowly dwindle. I check the time and it’s a bit after nine. I figure it’s probably safe now, so I head out to the main café to find Lane wiping down the tables and closing up the shop.

“How’s it going?” I ask her, heading behind the register to count the drawer.

“Good,” she says, spraying another table and wiping it off. “I had some help today.”

I pause. I act like it’s no big deal as I keep counting out the cash, but I’m barely keeping track. “How was she?” I ask.

“She’s sweet,” Lane says, watching me carefully. Fucking Lane, knows me way too well. I know she can see through this charade. I should’ve fired her a while ago and hired someone a little stupider. “Picked up on everything pretty fast.”

“Good. Think she’d be worth hiring?”

Lane snorts. “Jesus, Jonas.”

I stop counting and look at her. “What?”

“You’re like a lovesick little puppy dog. Next you’re going to ask if she talked about you.”

I glare at her. “It’s not like that.”

“Yeah, it is,” she says in this sickly sweet singsong voice, spraying another table. “You like this girl. I guess I can’t blame you, she’s got that whole ‘sexy wounded bird’ thing going on.”

“Sexy wounded bird?” I grin a little bit. “Is that a thing?”

“Sure, it’s absolutely a thing. I mean, she’s hot and all, but you’ve had hotter, so it’s not just that.”

I go to argue but she’s right. I’ve been with a lot of women, and maybe some of them were theoretically more attractive than Lizzie in a conventional sense, but pure body shape and face symmetry isn’t all that matters, not by a long shot.

“So it’s gotta be her vibe,” Lane continues. “She seems both fierce and shy, which is totally weird, so I figure she’s probably a little damaged. Frankly, Jonas, I never saw you as the type to try and fix a girl.”

“I’m not trying to fix anything.”

She shrugs. “Yeah, sure, whatever. Look, it’s not my business.”

“You’re right, it’s not,” I say to her, going back to the register. She laughs sweetly and cleans off the rest of the counters as I finish up my task, trying not to get pissed off.

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