Page 107 of Study Buddies

“Just do what I do,” Jayden said.

“But it’s all backwards.” Lucas sounded like a sullen little boy, and it was cute as hell.

After another minute or two, Lucas’s tie looked worse. “Fucking hell,” he muttered.

“Dude, you look like you’re making a noose.” Jayden was silent for a moment, and I could almost feel his frustration from here. “I’m calling in reinforcements.”

Lucas’s head snapped up in alarm. “What? No. Jayden, don’t! No! Jay—Hey Kyle.”

“Hey.”

Holy shit,Kylewas going to teach him how to tie a tie? This could very well end in disaster, but it was still the funniest thing I’d heard of in a long while.

“Start with the wide end on the right,” Kyle said.

“It is.”

“Oh. Guess it’s backwards. Put the wide end over the narrow end.”

School was in session, and the instructions went on as I watched through the mirror.

“No, bring the wide end up. Thewideend.”

“I’m trying,” Lucas snapped. And he tried for a couple more minutes with Kyle giving instructions in what was—for him—a relatively patient voice.

And finally, it looked correct, at least from my vantage point.

Kyle seemed to agree. “I think that’s it. Just slide the knot up to tighten it.”

Lucas did so and then cautiously removed his hands, as if afraid the whole thing was going to fall off.

“Yeah, that looks right,” Kyle said.

Lucas examined himself in the mirror over the dresser and smoothed the tie down. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.” There was an awkward silence. “Is Tori’s mom really marrying that loser?”

“Afraid so.” Lucas sighed. “She’s pretty upset.” That much was true, but he’d found one hell of a way to distract me last night.

“Tell her…” Kyle hesitated. “Shit, I don’t know what to say. Think of something supportive and tell her I said it, okay?”

“Will do.”

Lucas ended the video call, and I eased the door shut as quietly as possible. The interaction between the two stepbrothers had been wildly entertaining, but also strangely heartwarming. And it touched me that Kyle clearly didn’t know what message to send to me—but wanted to do so anyway.

I thought it over while getting dressed. I loved seeing the two of them work together, like they had when they’d gotten my necklace back from Todd. Or even if they didn’t work together, it would be nice if they could just be civil.

Maybe once we got back, I could try to figure out some way to help them get there. Jayden might help, too. He wasn’t scarily smart like Lucas, but he was smart in his own way, and he was excellent at reading people.

Plus, we were overdue for a nice long chat in the hammock. It was always so damn peaceful lying against him as we talked quietly.

God, I’d just slept next to one man, and now I was thinking about lying next to another. And my date with Kyle was tomorrow evening. I hadn’t forgotten that, and I didn’t want to. My mind was in the gutter, but that served a purpose today. It helped keep me from agonizing over the wedding ceremony we’d soon attend.

Thinking about war and famine would be preferable to thinking about that, so it was a real treat to keep my mind on the three hottest men I knew.

And the intimate moments we’d shared recently.

But once we got to Macon, I knew I wouldn’t have any way to hide from the horrible truth about what my mom was committing to.

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