“Good night,” I mumbled against his shirt, nuzzling my cheek on his chest.
Neither of us let go as we stood there, relishing each other, not willing to part.
After a few long minutes, I reluctantly pulled away, resting my chin on his chest as I peered up at him.
He leaned closer and pressed his forehead to mine.
“I have to go,” I muttered.
He slid his fingers down my back and ground his hips against mine.
I groaned as I felt his hard bulge rub against my core. “We can’t,” I spurted out.
“Can’t friends fuck? It’s going to kill me to walk away tonight when you look like that,” he whispered, leaving soft kisses on my face.
A broken chuckle spilled my lips. “We tried that? Remember? Being fuck buddies?”
“Yeah.” He sighed, brushing his nose against mine. “You’re right.” He pulled away, leaving a healthy gap between us. “I shouldn’t have said that.” He ran his fingers through his hair.
“It’s okay.” My voice was like sludge—the thick tension in the air was affecting every single inch of me.
“Good night, Evy.” He locked his blues with mine.
“Good night, Jay,” I whispered as I closed the door between us.
CHAPTER 24
I started my new job this Monday. I was officially a blog writer for a small publishing company based in NYC. And the pay was really good for entry-level standards.
But the best part of it was that it was online, so I worked from home.
After years of running around with my bad knee, this truly felt like a blessing.
Though I didn’t like the fact that I only got this job because of Jay, I was grateful for the opportunity to prove myself and focus on my book.
“So what’s going on between you and my brother?” Lily sprawled on the couch opposite me, yawning as she asked.
“Nothing, we’re just friends,” I mumbled.
We were currently huddled up in Jay’s TV room while we waited for the boys to get us food.
She yawned once again as she slid over to her side. “I don’t believe that.”
A frown marred its way up my forehead. “Are you tired? How’s the internship going?”
“Yeah,” she muttered. “I’m exhausted, and it’s only been two days. So far, it’s going okay. They’ve put us in teams and assigned the work. I’m really excited, though. The show we’ll be working on is a rom-com action-adventure anime. As interns, wedon’t get the major parts, only the backgrounds, fillers, or fixing line works, but I can’t wait to learn.”
“So you’ll be working on an actual anime?”
“Yeah.” Her lips curved up. “Grisha is a subsidiary of a major anime studio in Japan. Honestly, I’m so lucky, though. It’s super hard to get into because they are the only company in America that works with mainstream anime.”
“Well, you deserve it. I’ve seen some of your sketches, and you’re truly amazing, Lily.”
A blush coated her cheeks. “I’m not that great,” she murmured, then pointed a finger at me. “Don’t try to change the subject. What’s going on between you and my brother?”
I sighed. “I swear nothing is going on between Jay and me. I’ll admit that we were intimate a few times, but then our past kept coming back to haunt us. So we decided not to talk about it and just be friends, kinda like a fresh start.”
Tension crept between her brows. “Do you think that’s healthy? You guys being friends when you haven’t worked out your issues?”