Page 21 of Relief Pitcher

Ty: I’m going to stay another night.

Ethan: Yeah, you are. [heart eyes emoji]

Ty: It’s not like that. He’s having issues with his chainsaw.

Dom: There’s medication for that.

Ty: I want to flip you off, but that was actually a good one.

Dom: [GIF of a man taking a bow]

Austin: How bad is the weather there?

Ty: It’s still raining pretty hard. The forest is creepy AF.

Ethan: Good thing you have a sexy lumberjack to protect you.

Ty: I’ve had to break into the cheese stash.

Austin: You better not eat all the squeaky cheese.

Ty: *crackle sounds* Sorry, I can’t hear you. The reception is awful in this storm. *more crackle sounds*

Austin: I still have a key to Dom’s house. Good luck finding the dead fish I’m going to leave in there.

Ty: [photo of unopened cheese curds]

Austin: That’s what I thought. You don’t promise a man squeaky cheese, then deny him.

Dom: Want me to come get you? My truck can handle rain.

Ty: Did you forget there’s a tree between me and the road?

Dom: Is the land on each side of the road lava? Can you not walk on it or, gasp, step over the tree?

Ty: But there’re spiders on the tree!

Dom: [eyeroll emoji] You’re so fucking ridiculous.

Ty: That’s why you love me. [angel emoji]

CHAPTER12

TYLER

Cooper—no, Coop. We’d touched each other’s dicks, so I was going with a nickname. Coop winked and said something about going to make us some coffee. As soon as he left the bedroom, I flopped back onto the pillow and stared at the ceiling, stunned.

I had insinuated that not only was I okay with staying there longer, but overnight. Again. Voluntarily. Mr. Allergic to Repeat Performances was down for a fuck fest with the same person. Sleeping together and thensleepingtogether. I shuddered.

I knew Dom had a chainsaw, and I could’ve asked him to bring it out today. For some incomprehensible reason, those words didn’t come out of my mouth. I didn’thatethe idea of staying another night, so clearly, there was something wrong with me. Some sort of tree disease? Spores in the air that made me make ridiculous decisions? Or simply dick-desperate and Coop was more of a sure thing than anyone I’d meet on an app.

I scrubbed my hands down my face. Maybe it didn’t technically count as a repeat because we were still trapped in the house. It wasn’t like we’d had sex, parted ways, then gotten together to do it again. Technically, it was still the same “time,” right? Yeah, that made sense.

I groaned. Once or twice, I’d let a guy blow me, or I’d blown him in a club restroom when we’d had sex during a previous encounter, but that was only when a lot of time had passed, so we were both clear there wasn’t something more. I was diligent in my no-repeat rule and openly communicated that to the person or persons I was about to get busy with. No shame, no messiness. But staying at Coop’s house all weekend, possibly spending the rest of our day fucking, skirted the edge of messy.

A few minutes later, after I’d called AAA, Coop returned with coffee and the glow of a satisfied man. He handed me one, then sat in the armchair in the corner instead of getting cozy on the bed. I appreciated the space.

“While you were out, I called AAA to cancel the pickup,” I said while staring at the comforter. “I wasn’t sure how long it would take to clear the tree, so I told them I would call back when it was done.” I looked up at Coop and caught a quick, sweet smile on his face. A smile that triggered one of my own.

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