Page 130 of Forbidden You

“My dad’s dying. What’s your excuse?” I slam my shot glass on the wooden table we snatched in the back of the sports bar around the corner from my condo.

Jason arrived not long after I buried my grief inside my girl, and after she convinced me she was fine being on her own, I gave into my friend’s relentless whining to go for drinks.

Part of me just wanted to curl up against Kayla, with her skin tight yoga pants and hoodie, but now that I feel the alcohol surging through my veins after shot number three, I’m not regretting it.

“Damn, nice come back. You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

I told Jason the short version of my mood when we descended in the elevator, right before I told him he wasn’t allowed any questions, and I felt no desire to sulk about it all night.

“Nope.” There is no use talking about it.

My dad's dying. I’ve got shit to take care off, but not fucking tonight.

Tonight I’m going to get shitfaced.

“Does Kayla know?” Jason’s dirty blonde brow lifts up in more of an accusation than a question and I return it with one that saysdon’t start.

“Since she’s myfriend, she knows just as much as you.” Fuck, I’m so full of shit. The word friend tastes like acid in my fucking mouth, but what the hell am I going to call her if not that?

Jason snorts, bringing his lips to his beer before holding it still right before he takes a sip. “Yeah? Still got her firmly in the friend zone, huh?”

“I thought you dragged me out here to talk about Julie, not Kayla.”

“I dragged you out here because I need to get shitfaced.”

“Because of Julie,” I counter like a smartass, anything to deflect from my own fucked up life. “Does Hunter know about you two? Or Charlotte?”

He tosses a beer coaster to my head. “There’s nothing toknow. Julie and I are friends.”

Now it’s my turn to snort. “But you want her.”

“No,” he huffs, indignant like a fucking toddler. “I just don’t want her to be with my fucking brother.”

“Because youwanther.” I hold his intense gaze, challenging him more each passing second. Jason is picky with his women.

Sure, he picks up the occasional girl every couple of months, but he doesn’t invest unless he’s serious. In fact, that applies to all people in his life. He’s very protective of his circle, going in deep for the people he cares about and not giving a shit about those he doesn’t give a shit about.

Jason, Hunter, Charlotte and Julie have been friends since high school, but over the years I’ve known Jason, I’ve seen the way he looks at Julie.

It’s not the same look he’d give Hunter, frustrated and pissed because he was fucking up everything with Charlotte again and again.

Nor the affectionate glances he gives Charlotte like she’s his sister, fierce about protecting her, even from his best friend.

No, the way he looks at Julie is different.

Tormented when his brother touches her.

Angry when he talks to her like shit.

In awe when she smiles.

He might not be in love with her, but he sure as hell is feeling something.

And it ain’t nothingfriendly.

“I don’t know, man.” Jason sets his glass back on the table, running a hand over his jaw. “I don’t want to ruin what we have, but it’s killing me to see her with Jacob. He treats her like shit. She doesn’t deserve it. She deserves someone to kiss the ground she walks on. Someone who makes her smile and takes care of her. Someone who supportsherdreams instead of wanting to take her position inherfamily’s business.”

My brows shoot up. “You think he’s after Bradford Real Estate?”

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