Page 24 of Of Pranks and Passion

Angel:Because if he was dead, he’d totally be able to answer that. *eye roll emoji*

Coach:Has anyone bothered to call him?

Angel:Ew. Who calls anyone anymore?

I snorted,watching the chaos as they argued over whether or not to call and see if I was still alive. I usually went from classes to The Hideout unless I had family shit to deal with, so their asking wasn’t weird. Instead of responding with a message, Isent a picture of me and Gary, though I was nice enough to make sure the blanket covered most of him. It was obvious what we had been doing, though.

Angel:Is that the guy you’ve been stalking?

Coach:You’ve been stalking someone?!

Angel:I just said that. Pay attention. Well, P?

Phantom:Not stalking. Watching. I needed to figure him out. And yes.

Chuckles:Dude. That’s totally stalking. And he went for it?

Angel:What do you think, dumb dumb?

Watchingthem bitch at each other was entertaining. I still didn’t think it was stalking. It wasn’t like I was taking weird pictures of him or doing anything creepy. I just followed him and figured out his schedule and who he hung out with. What was wrong with that?

Coach:You coming back tonight?

Phantom:Nah.

Angel:Oo intrigue. Has lust turned into something more?

Chuckles:After one night? Does he have a magic dick?

Phantom:No. And no. I’ll talk to you about it later.

I’d needto tell them about the fake boyfriend thing. If they didn’t hear it from me, they’d assume I was being coerced or something. I probably wouldn’t need to pretend for long, kicking a few guys’ asses would get the message across pretty quick, but I didn’t hide shit from my friends. Besides, Gary should meet them. Having only me and his roommate as friends was just sad.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

GARY

My alarm wentoff like it normally did, but when I rolled to reach for it on the shelf in the corner above my bed, I rolled into a warm body. I jumped, surprised, and sat up quickly, only to remember at the last minute who was lying next to me. Holy crap, that hadn’t been a dream.

Easton spent the night. We had sex. Lots of sex. I wasn’t a virgin anymore.

It all hit me at once, and I sat frozen for a minute, just trying to take it all in. Who would have thought that I, sad little bookworm Gary, would have spent the night having sex with my crush, who was also my fake boyfriend. I almost wanted to throw it in my sister’s face. She thought she’d beaten me down, but here I was, naked in bed with a sexy man covered in tattoos and piercings. A man who groaned and scowled because I still hadn’t turned off my alarm.

Whoops.

Snatching it off the shelf, I silenced the alarm. I had a shift in half an hour, I couldn’t dawdle, even though I really, reallywanted to. It would be wrong to call in sick because you had a hot naked man in your bed, right?

I debated it for maybe half a minute before giving in to my sense of responsibility. I needed the money. I couldn’t afford to skip work. Especially when Brienna could call any minute demanding more of my paycheck. I slipped out of bed, hastily getting dressed in the dark. I stumbled a few times, my muscles and… other places… so sore they were screaming.

Carter came back at one point last night, though thankfully after the third time Easton dragged me to bed. I had been asleep when he came back, and I was so grateful for that. The embarrassment from the night before still hadn’t faded.

He said I sounded like I was being tortured… Ugh.

Pushing that out of my mind, I tiptoed out of the room with my morning toiletries. I hated that I had to go back and forth and potentially wake Carter and Easton up so early, but I wasn’t going to work with fuzzy teeth. Gross.

Thankfully, I’d showered the night before, so I didn’t have to worry about that. My face flushed as I remembered that particular shower. Who knew showering with someone else would be so much fun?

Because I kept getting sidetracked with memories of the night before, I ended up running a little late. I left a note on my pillow for Easton, letting him know where I was, and then snuck out of the room. I had to run to get to work on time, so when I showed up, I was panting and gasping. I really hoped Easton was kidding about me exercising with him. Exercise and me were not friends. Especially after last night. Could I use that as an excuse? Or maybe it counted as exercise. I was sore, wasn’t I?

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