Page 42 of Pitcher

Theo waves him off.

“Goodnight,” I add. “Thank you for all the help tonight.”

Thad flashes me a genuine smile before staring at Theo with a look I can’t decipher.

When the door to my bedroom closes, Theo finally turns back to me.

“Are we going with my collection or yours?”

I scoff. “What? I don’t have porn.”

The twitch of his mouth says he’s joking. “I’ve seen under your bed, McCallister,” he drawls. “Terrible hiding spot by the way.”

This man.

“They’re yours! You put them there the last time your parents came for a visit.”

He grins. “You don’t need to lie, Ans. I’m not judgy.”

He’s a damn fool, but I can’t help but laugh.

“Fine,” I relent, letting him keep his teasing. “We’ll go with yours since the ones under my bed are clopping porn.”

I shake my head like I’m ashamed, and he laughs, pushing at my shoulder with his good arm. “They are not.”

They aren’t furry porn based on cartoon characters, but I probably wouldn’t care if they were. That’s how hard up I am for this man.

“You ready now or want to eat something?” I change the subject.

He didn’t eat much tonight. Not that I monitor him like a baby, but when you live with a guy who’s also an athlete, you get used to huge portions of food. So when he only eats one piece of pizza instead of four or five, you worry he may be sick.

“I’m fine.” He waves off my concern and kicks off the blankets I piled on top of him when he fell asleep. “Come on,” he orders, struggling to his feet. I don’t offer to help him because sometimes when he’s hurt, he isn’t in the best of moods. I’m not looking to get my feelings hurt and sleeping on the sofa, so I don’t have to sleep next to him.

I busy myself with putting the food up and turning off all the lights when Theo finally lies down in the bed, his TV lighting up the hallway.

I feel awkward tonight, and I’m not sure why. Last night we slept together. Hell, I can’t count the number of times we’ve slept in the same bed. We’ve even watched porn together. Well, not really. I’ve caught him watching porn, and I might have hidden like a stalker and watched him longer than I intended.

But never have we watched porn in the bed. Together. Under the covers.

I shouldn’t be nervous. If I told Theo I didn’t want to watch porn in the bed with him, he would turn it off and never say anything about it. But I feel like this is a test. He knows I sabotage his dates and delete contacts out of his phone.

He knows.

And this is his test.

Are we friends or not?

I vote not, but what if I totally mess this up? I’ve never had a boyfriend longer than a day or two. I don’t know if I know what to do with a man or even how to keep one.

“Anniston!” comes a loud voice that will probably get us a text from the neighbors to keep it down.

“I’m coming!” I holler back softer than him, but still loud enough to get a complaint.

Under the covers, reclined on a mound of pillows, lies the man I’d do anything for.

“I figured you’d want to watch the one with the pizza delivery guy and the hot college student.” He tries to shrug but forgets his shoulder is taped up, so he settles for an eye roll.

“What if I wanted the one where the baseball player boned the batgirl?” I return with a smile, sliding under the covers and purposely trying to avoid touching him.

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