Page 42 of Neighbors With Benefits

Me: I’m glad it’s not a secret family.

Aiden: Oh, I do have two secret families. But they’re in Dallas and Seattle. It doesn’t count if they’re in different timezones.

Me: Oh, good.

Me: That sucks. I was looking forward to foot-fucking you under the table tomorrow night. What am I supposed to do for the next two weeks while you’re gone?

Aiden: You should probably brush up on your J-words. You missed a few big ones last night.

Me: I don’t think you get to critique my game since you’re the one who lost.

Aiden: I only lost because someone was rushing me in the final round. You don’t play fair.

Me: I didn’t see you complaining about it last night ;-)

Aiden: I enjoyed it very much, actually :-)

Me: Thanks for letting me know. I’ll miss you.

I hit send, then immediately regretted my final text.I’ll miss youwas the kind of thing people texted when they were in a relationship. We were supposed to play it cool.

But he replied back a few seconds later:

Aiden: Same, but it’ll go by fast :-) We can download the iPhone app and play over the internet if you want.

Me: And give you a chance to cheat? No way. I’m keeping my win streak until you get back.

Aiden: I’ve never cheated at Scrabble in my life.

Aiden: Wait. I take it back. I cheated one time to beat my friend, but only because I knew he was cheating.

Me: So you admit it. Good. I’m screenshotting this to use against you at an unknown future date.

Aiden: Lesson learned: don’t open up to Jasper Barnes.

Me: Using my ACTUAL name? Ouch. I’m going to remember this, Aiden Samantha Rush.

Aiden: My middle name is James.

Me: Too late, I’ve already changed your contact info. It’s permanent now.

Aiden: Damn. I liked my middle name, too.

Me: Also, I put “fuckboy” as your occupation.

Aiden: I’m good enough in bed that I could do it for a living? That’s a compliment, baby.

The playful banter was nice, but my smile soon faded. My fuckboy was leaving for two weeks. Obviously that wasn’t very long, but itfeltlike an eternity since I was expecting to play Scrabble with him—among other things—tomorrow.

I was in a funk for the rest of the day, and slept poorly that night. It shouldn’t have bothered me this much, but it kind of felt like a breakup. Which was stupid, but it’s not like I could control how my dumb brain felt.

I was eating breakfast the next morning when I heard their car. I was usually already on my way to work by the time they left, so I went to the window and peeked out the blinds. Aiden was loading a small suitcase into the back of the car. Bash was probably taking him to the airport.

“Her name is Vanessa,” Cat told me over Thai food that night. “We’ve only gone on two dates, but I really like her. She has this aloof punk vibe, like Gwen Stefani. AyoungGwen Stefani, before she started hosting stupid singing shows.”

“Is she good in bed?” I asked.

Cat leaned forward and gave me a look. “I don’t even know, Jazzy! We haven’t slept together! Vanessa wants to, and I quote,take it slow.She says she rushed into things with her last two partners and doesn’t want to make that mistake again.”

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