Page 160 of Charming Like Us
We should be sleeping easy knowing Donnelly has some money, at least. But the pull-out couch is uncomfortable, and we end up whispering most of the night.
“When was the exact moment?” Jack murmurs, lying on our sides. My arm is draped around his waist, and I listen to him clarify, “Where you were like,yeah, I’m into him. I could fuck that guy.”
I grin. “I was thinking more like,I could hit that.”
“When?” His smile inches up.
“The same day you joined the FanCon tour. It was that night after everyone finally left the hotel room in LA.” Crowd control was terrible. The Hot Bodyguard video just leaked. My life was upending for a moment, and there came Jack Highland with a bag of supplies to get everyone through.
His levity was a breath of fresh air on a suffocating day. And he started flirting with me. Likereallyflirting with me that night.
I whisper all of this to Jack.
And I add, “You’re also hot, so yeah, I could hit that.”
He smiles more. His hand has been comfortably chilling on my ass. “I was so into you that night, and I think I knew it was attraction. I just wasn’t sure what kind. But I wanted to hang around you the whole time.”
“Why?”
He thinks for a second, then his lips quirk. “Basta ikaw,” he says in Tagalog, and translates again, “Because it’s you, as long as I’m with you.”
My chest swells, and we start to kiss. Quietly, gently. Our muscular legs tangle up under the sheet, and then I hear the squeak of floorboards.
I sit up, eyes narrowed in the dark.
A body wanders into the kitchen and bangs into the wall.
“Fuck,” I curse, throwing sheets off my legs. I jog into the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Jack whispers, following me.
I flip on the lights, and he sees Donnelly sleepwalking. My best friend is running into the wall, his eyes are open but not focused. He turns towards the microwave, his chestnut hair askew and boxer-briefs low on his waist.
“He’s done this before?” Jack whispers, watching me carefully try to guide my friend back to his bedroom.
“Yeah, sometimes. Not all the time.”
Donnelly mumbles, “Mmahmm…”
I’m trying not to scare him awake. “This way, bro.”
“Mmah…Lun…Luna…”
Jack and I exchange a confused look. Why is my best friend muttering Luna Hale’s name in his sleepwalking haze?
He lowers his voice. “They’re just friends, right?”
I whisper back even softer since Akara and Banks are asleep in this apartment right now. “Loosely. The kind of friend you’d see in group settings and catch up with.” He has offered her condoms before, but as a wingman—not for his dick.
“…Lun…yeah…lemme help you, babe.” He’s about to run into the pull-out couch. I try to block him. He bumps me, then turns back towards the hall. “…best pussy…”
Motherfucker.
Jack frowns and mouths,they hooked up?
I shrug.
Seems like it. Unless it’s just his fantasy. Either way, all signs point tobad.So fucking bad. Luna Hale’s dad is a recovering addict.
