Page 49 of Get Undressed With Me

Gus heard the irony in her tone and chose to ignore it.

“She’s at my place because she has a threat on her life, her mobility is compromised, and her situation is untenable. Are you here to tell me I made an error in judgment?”

Gus knew he had, but he dared Val to call him on it. Val, who broke up with a new girlfriend every other week, was the poster child for errors in judgment, and she knew it.

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t snap at me. I’m on your side.”

“Since when?”

“Since always. I just want to make sure you’re doing okay. I know this woman messes with your head.”

Gus certainly couldn’t deny that. And, since this was Val, he knew he had to tell her about the previous evening.

“Robbie came over last night and stumbled on her there while I was out getting groceries.”

Val’s eyebrows shot up. “That must have been quite the scene.”

“I came home part way through it. Turns out Robbie had been cheating on her.”

“Ouch.”

“For months.”

“Damn, Robbie.” Val had met with Robbie several times, and always commented on what a loose wire he was, not impressed with his insistence on hitting on her even though she had been out as a lesbian for several years now.

They watched Brittany for a moment as she answered an audience question that had people laughing and falling in love with her at the same time. Val sighed.

“Just be careful, Gus. This girl is bright and beautiful, and I know you got a weakness for her. She’ll mess you up if you let her.”

Gus nodded. Val was right. But he didn’t think he was actually going to be able to stay away from Brittany. She was becoming essential in a way that had him scared.

CHAPTER 12

BRITTANY

Brittany was in the worst mood. First, Gus had flirted with some girl right in front of her, which was absolutely his right to do since they weren’t even dating, but her stupid hormones didn’t know that and she spent the rest of the day angry and hurt. It didn’t help that her ankle was sore as fuck. And while she was pissed at Gus, at the same time, she just wanted to go back to his place and sit on the couch with him while watching a stupid dating show.

Apparently, she had lost her mind. She was thinking about him constantly, thoughts of her orgasm last night filtering in when she was trying to concentrate on whatever the current moderator of the panel had asked her. She needed to stop, needed to exorcise him from her brain.

And the only cure she knew of was a night out.

Luckily, Kickoff was just as famous for its nightlife as it was for its fan stuff. Brittany had been invited by a streaming company to attend their party at the Waterfront, a notoriously wild affair filled with all kinds of streamers, influencers, andcontent creators that was always both fun and the cause of the worst hangovers she ever experienced. Brittany had been going to skip it, but with her new weird fixation on Gus, she decided she needed to go. This crush or whatever was getting in the way of her job, and she needed to blow off some steam before she did something stupid and made a move on Gus.

Brittany mentally went through her list of friends at Kickoff, trying to figure out who to go with. She had plans to flirt with cute guys, and that meant that she had to leave Gus at home. And the only way he wouldn’t kill her when he found out was if she went with someone he trusted.

Finally, she texted Randall and Dev. Randall was always up for blowing off steam after spending his whole day on the floor making sales, and Min’s little sister was in need of more hangout time after her accident and several surgeries. Brittany shot them a text, and Dev immediately answered with a number of excited emojis, while Randall sent a GIF of someone giving finger guns. They arranged to share a rideshare so they could arrive together and so Brittany wouldn’t be alone.

Gus came to gather her after her last panel, handing her yet another bottle of water that she took gratefully. Without a word, he took her hand, keeping her close to him as they both turned to leave, slowly making their way out of the convention center.

One quick rideshare later, Brittany and Gus pulled up outside of what looked like a closed section of a small shopping mall. Only the window declared ‘Fabrics’ in faded paint. Otherwise, there was no indication the store was open.

Brittany took it in, confused.

“You sure this is the place? It looks like it’s been abandoned for months.”

“That’s just Liam’s style.”

Gus reached for the door handle and shocked Brittany when it opened right up. He led her inside, where she immediatelyfroze at the sight of floor-to-ceiling shelves of fabric. Everything that she could think of was there, well organized with poorly hand-written signs that you had to search to find. But it was a treasure trove.

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