Page 36 of Jesse's Girl

Jesse’s lips twitch with the hint of a smile, then his expression suddenly falls. “Oh! But you should know: I don’t have any followers.” He feigns regret. “Like… not even one.”

“Aww,” I say with a pout. “No one likes your rock tumbler content?”

He shakes his head and turns away. “Nobody gets me. I cry myself to sleep every night.”

“Well, you sound like you’ll be an ace roommate,” I deadpan. “I’ll just get some earplugs to block out the sound of your sobbing.”

“Don’t forget the rock tumbler.” His blue eyes slide back to meet mine.

“Right.” I catch myself grinning, then bite my lip. Another long silence hangs in the air. “You really read an article on dyslexia?”

“It might have been a podcast.”

I give him a look.

“Okay, it was some video clip,” he admits.

“The truth comes out.”

“But it was a fascinating video clip.”

8

JESSE

“Who tied this knot, fucking Hercules?” Marcus eyes me across the roof of his car as he tries to untie the mattress.

“Hey, man, sorry,” I puff up my chest. “Sometimes I just don’t know my own strength.”

“So those muscles aren’t just for show, then? My mistake.” He chuckles as the knot finally loosens and throws the rope over to me.

We disentangle the mattress and I move to lift it off the car.

“Hey, before we go in…” he says, stopping me.

“Yeah?” I ask cautiously.

“So, uh… You’re gonna be living with my sister, right?”

“That’s the plan, yeah.” I step back, dropping my hands to my sides.

Where’s this going?

“You sure it’s gonna be okay?” He jerks his head toward the apartment’s front door.

I blow out a breath. “You’ve picked a weird fucking time to be having second thoughts about this, man.”

“Look, I don’t wanna be that asshole, but… she’s my sister, y’know?”

“And?”

“I mean, the last time you lived with a chick, you uh?—”

“Wow. You’re bringing up Naomi?” I fold my arms across my chest, drawing my brows together.

Shit. Is this where his head’s at?

He shrugs. “Dude, you two were roommates, right? And you got your heart broken. I just wanna make sure?—”

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