Page 102 of Fair Catch

“And by that, you mean healthy ones?”

“Exactly,” he replies with another laugh. “It’s just funny to see other best friends function like normal people after being tied to Phoenix’s hip for so long, that’s all. But I dunno, it’s also kind of refreshing, I guess?”

“Refreshing,” I echo, my brows shooting up.

“That might not be the right word. Again, I only passed English because of Phoenix, remember?” he adds, grinning. “It’s more that I’m glad to see it with my own eyes.”

“Keep working on things with your therapist, and it can be you and Phoenix too, you know.”

From the eye roll I get, he knows I’m right, he just doesn’t want to admit it. Further proven when he reroutes the subject entirely.

“Since we’re on the topic of best friends and messy relationships, are you gonna tell me what the deal is with you and Oakley?”

My lips pull up in a wry grin, and I shake my head. “Well, let’s see. In addition to having a general dislike for people and definitely not trusting them, like Q warned earlier, I also have a tendency to hold a grudge.”

“So what you’re telling me is now that I’m on your good side, I better stay on it,” he supplies.

Arching a brow, I counter with, “Who said you were on it in the first place?”

He leans in, his lips a hair’s breadth from mine, and whispers, “Well, if having your mouth wrapped around my cock until I come is what it’s like to be on your bad side, then I can’t wait to be on the good.”

The Kason standing in front of me is a far cry from the nervous, bumbling fool he was when we first met. Sure, he has his moments where I make him flush to high heaven, but the snarky filth that leaves his mouth these days leads me to think this change is due to me being a very bad influence.

And, God, I fucking love it.

“Okay, you made your point,” I murmur, playing with the hair at the back of his head. “With Oakley, though…I just saw how badly he hurt Q. It’s hard to see someone you care about be completely decimated by another person who claims to love them. And though forgiveness isn’t necessarily mine to give, it seems like I’m the one refusing to hand it over.”

“Because you’re a good best friend,” he whispers before pressing a kiss to my lips; soft and sweet and gentle. “But Quinton is his own person, perfectly capable of protecting his heart and making his choices. Maybe that should be reason enough to let sleeping dogs lie.”

And now I’m the one who doesn’t want to admithehas a point.

“Look at you, taking your turn to play therapist,” I muse with a laugh.

He snorts and shakes his head, his gaze full of humor that matches mine. “I’ve been seeing mine for so long, God knows I should be able to retain some of what I’ve learned.”

I can’t help the pervy little thoughts that sneak in, and I whisper, “Well, I happen to know you’re anexcellentstudent, so I can’t say I’m surprised.”

Lust fills his eyes instantly, that sinful grin appearing again, and from the way his hands start trailing toward my waistband, I know exactly where his mind has headed.

Too bad for him, I’m not having it.

“Nuh uh, Fuller. Don’t look at me like that,” I chide, making an attempt to step away. A failed one, because he just reels me right back in.

He takes a page from my playbook earlier, blinking at me with innocent doe eyes and asks, “Like what?”

“We’re not spending the entire day in bed.”

This time, I do manage to sneak out of his hold, bolting away from him toward the front door. I grab my jacket and hat from where they’re still draped over the entry table and quickly shove them on, knowing we need to get out of this condo if we have any chance of seeinganythingtoday.

Meanwhile, Kason is just staring at me from where I left him.

I give him ac’monlook, arching a brow. “Sex can wait. We’ve only got five days in the city that never sleeps. Now, grab your coat and tell me what you wanna do first.”

Twenty-Six

Kason

The first two days we spend in New York City are loaded with sight-seeing most of the big attractions: Times Square, the Empire State Building, a couple art museums, and Hayes somehow snagged the four of us last-minute tickets to a Broadway show.

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