Page 18 of Forever Your Touch

“I might. I can’t afford to buy a new one.”

“So, how are things working out with Mase? He looking out for you?”

“He’s been really cool. Takes me to and from school every day. I don’t think he’s much of a morning person, though.”

Keith laughed. “He’s not. Doesn’t like to get out of bed before noon if he can help it.”

“He’s like a zombie in the mornings, grumpy, growly, and rabid until he gets coffee. I think I’m going to buy some of those disposable coffee cups and bring him a cup in the mornings.”

“It might wake him up, but I’m guaranteeing he’d need more than one cup. We had to get up once for a class project at five in the morning. He walked around in a daze all day. Boy is addicted to caffeine.”

Jo smiled thinking of him stumbling around in the wee hours of the morning, coffee-free. She shook her head at the thought. “You know, Keith, I appreciate everything he’s doing, but it’s not fair to make him get up and haul me to and from school. I’m not even his sister.”

“But you’re mine, and if the roles were reversed, I’d do it for him in a heartbeat. Mason knows that. Plus, he likes you. He nearly took my head off when he found out who you were. He had a serious fanboy moment, there.”

“Really?” Jo frowned, thinking back to that first day. “He didn’t seem like it.”

“Mason’s good at covering up his feelings, but trust me, he was freaking out.”

“Huh.”

“So how you doing up there all by your lonesome?”

“It’s different, but I’m okay. Getting used to the school is taking longer. It’s so much bigger than the college I was attending. I got lost, like, three times already.”

“Well, it’s a good school. I checked it out to make sure. You didn’t need to be in that small college in the first place. You should have been at a university.”

Jo sighed. She hadn’t gone to a university because of Ray. She didn’t want to be so far away from him. Keith held that against him even though it wasn’t his fault.She’dmade that choice.

“Well, I’m here now, so stop playing the blame game.”

Keith was quiet for a long moment. “What do you think of Mason?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I asked. What do you think of him?”

Jo frowned. Why would he be asking that? “He’s cool, like I said. Good guy. Funny. Why?”

“No reason.”

Her eyes narrowed. He sounded way too casual. “Keith…you’re not trying to play matchmaker, are you?”

“No.”

“Good, because I love Ray. I don’t know how else to get that through your head. I love him.”

“You love someone who puts himself before you.” This time there was no mistaking the anger in her brother’s voice. “Hell, even Mason saw that. Pissed him off, and he didn’t even know you.”

“Keith…”

“Don’t Keith me. I’m right about this. I’m hoping being around Mase will show you how a man is supposed to treat you.”

Jo ran a hand over her eyes. Her brother was never going to accept Ray. “Keith, I’m not arguing with you about this. Mason is just afriend. It’s all he’s ever going to be. If you start trying to shove your best friend at me, I’ll push him so far away, he won’t even remember my name!”

“Don’t do that, Jo.” Clear frustration poured out of her brother. “You need someone there to rely on. Mason is family to me and the only person I trust to take care of you when I can’t.”

Her temper flared. First, she came home to an empty house and an absentee boyfriend, and then Keith pointing shit out she was already seeing only made her madder.

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