Page 16 of Bravely Yours

Chapter Eleven

JAY

I sighedas Izzy rambled on about how shitty her boyfriend was. She had refused to take my advice the last time we’d had a conversation like this, so I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say.

Not wanting to start an argument with her, I kept my mouth shut and let her vent.

When she finally paused to take a breath, I couldn’t hold in my opinion any longer. “I’ve told you a dozen times to get rid of that tool.”

Sherolled her eyes. “You say that about every guy I date.”

“Yep. Because they’re all tools.” I huffed. “Yourboyfriendshould be the one giving you a ride home, not me.”

The asshole had agreed to be the designated driver before they went out. Then he’d gotten wasted and couldn’t take her home. Talk about a walking red flag.

Izzy’s eyes widened. “What’s your deal? You always say I can call you if I need a ride. So why the bitch fest? You could have just said no.”

She should know me better than that. I’d never say no to either of my sisters when they asked for help.

I clenched my teeth and pushed away my annoyance. “It’s fine.”

“Jeez, I should have just ubered.”

I laughed at the ridiculousness of that. “Getting an Uber out here at ten p.m. would have been impossible.” Small towns in the middle of nowhere didn’t have reliable rideshares.

She shrugged. “If you were busy, I would have figured it out.”

“I wasn’t busy. I was just hanging out?—”

I snapped my mouth shut. What could I say? I was hanging out with the single mom who lived next door to me? Izzy would have a field day with that one.

“Wait.” Her face lit with a smile, and she did some weird bounce in her seat. “You have a girlfriend, don’t you?”

“No.” I shook my head, but even as I did, it hit me that maybe that was what I wanted.

I’d hated having to leave Sarah and Nora tonight. Every night, really. Only a few weeks ago, I’d been in a rush to move out and get my own space. But now I had no interest in sitting in my apartment alone. The gorgeous blonde next door was constantly on my mind. I wanted to be near her, and tonight the urge to kiss her had been overwhelming. Ever since I’d left her apartment, it was all I could think about.

“Way to be sus.”

I rolled my eyes at my sister’s dramatics. I wasn’t acting suspicious at all. “She’s just my next-door neighbor.”

“Next-door neighbor…” She frowned, her brows pulling together. Then she whipped her head toward me and her eyes widened comically. “Bruh, no way. The one with the crying baby?”

A week or so after I moved into the apartment, I’d complained to her about the baby next door that cried all night long.

She laughed. “I’m shook. And Angie is gonna die.”

I rubbed a hand down my face. “Don’t you dare. She reads too many romance novels. She’ll concoct some elaborate story of how this’ll play out.”

“She’ll totally ship you.” She bounced in her seat again. “She’s convinced I need to date older men so my story can be an age gap.”

With a shake of my head, I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. I never thought anything would rival the madness that was my sisters as teenagers, yet here we were.

After Izzy and I made plans for breakfast this week, I headed back to my apartment, secretly hoping—and feeling like an asshole because of it—that Nora would be crying when I returned.

She didn’t make a peep all night long. Too bad I didn’t sleep at all. I was too busy thinking about Sarah’s blond curls laid out on my pillow as she moaned my name over and over again.

Chapter Twelve

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