Page 7 of Starfish and Coffee
“Fuck you,” Alex said halfheartedly to his brother, still holding Holly’s gaze and meeting her grin with one of his own. He mouthed,Holy shit.
Holly’s smile grew broader as she mouthed back,I know.
“I hate when you two do that,” Will said in irritation. “I swear you share the same brain.”
“Truer than you realize.” Holly gave Alex a knowing smirk. She finally took a drink of her beer, grimaced, and set it on the coffee table. She reached over, grabbed Will’s drink out of his hand, and helped herself to it. “When’s Matt start?”
“Saturday.” Will gave Holly a look. “Get your own beer, Hol. You don’t live here despite evidence to the contrary. You don’t buy the groceries. If you’re gonna eat all our food and drink all the booze, I’m gonna start charging.”
Unperturbed, she gave Will an impish grin. “Can I spend the night again? The game’s still tied. I hate to miss the extra innings, but any later and I’ll be too tired to drive.”
Will snorted. “You live a mile up the road.”
“Stop being a dick. She’s had one too many.” Alex gave his brother a glare of annoyance. “Sure you can stay.”
“Thanks, baby.” Holly winked at him and then leaned back against the couch, her attention back on the game as she worked at finishing Will’s beer. “I’ll sleep in your bed—I hate the couch.”
Will glowered at Holly, his eyes narrowed. Then he stood and headed toward the kitchen. “No one get up. I’ll get myself another beer.”
“He’s gotten so surly lately,” Holly said, with a roll of her eyes. “What crawled up his ass and died?”
“He’s only surly when you’re here.”
“I’m always here. My mother thinks I moved out ages ago. I have my own closet and everything.”
Alex shrugged. “I dunno what his problem is.”
“Whatever.” Holly huffed, falling back against the couch. Never one to dwell on things for long, she started humming under her breath and finally whispered, “Matt’s an interesting development. You’ve been crushing on him since middle school.”
Alex sighed, trying to tell his dick to face reality. No matter how much time he was going to spend with Matt Tarrington, he wasn’t available. “Straight as a board, not a chance in hell.”
“I’d say bent,” Holly said, scooting over on the couch and cuddling up next to Alex. He put his arm around her and pulled her to him, enjoying the comfort that came from having Holly near. She beamed up at him. “I think you could work with the goods, especially if you’re at close quarters turning up the heat.”
Alex considered that, his cock hardening at the thought of working in the small kitchen at Frank’s restaurant with Matt to brush up against. “We gotta get you your own bed, Hol. Sharing one with you every night is seriously damaging my stress relief. We’re buying a sofa bed with our next checks.”
“You can jerk off in the shower,” Holly suggested, giving Alex a falsely innocent smile. “Put the soap to good use.”
“I don’t wanna jerk off in the shower. I wanna jerk off in bed and then go to sleep,” he snapped at her. “Help me out, will you?”
“Am I interrupting something?” Will asked, looking surlier than ever as he sat down on the other side of Holly, taking a long drink of his beer. He stared at the television, his shoulders stiff in annoyance as he cast another sidelong glance at the two of them curled up together. “Why don’t you two get a fucking room?”
“Wow, you are charming tonight.” Holly turned in Alex’s arms to look at Will. “Do you have a problem with me?”
“No, I love the idea of you freeloading off me for the past four years.”
“Excuse me?” Alex gave his brother an incredulous look. “Last I checked, I pay half the bills around here, and I do most of the maintenance for the rentals so you can get all your school shit done. Holly cleans them every time someone checks out and does all the sheets and towels, which you and I both hate. We wouldn’t even have this place if it wasn’t for her pitching in. Far as I’m concerned, it’s one-third hers, and if she wants to drink your beer, fucking deal with it.”
Will looked away, because he couldn’t argue with that. They got this little shack on the beach free of charge, but they still had to work their asses off maintaining the other ten beach rentals for Old Man Grover who took pity on Will and Alex when they’d lost their parents in a car crash as teenagers. It was a sweet deal, but neither Alex nor his brother was stellar at the laundry and housekeeping side of maintaining vacation rentals. Holly was a godsend.
Holly grinned at him, a tinge of pink showing on her tan cheeks. “I love you, baby.”
“Love you too.” Alex leaned down and kissed the top of her head before he got up to get his own beer when the game went to commercial.
“Bring snacks,” Holly called out. “Chips.”
“How do you stay so thin when you eat like you do?” Will asked, his annoyance fading away to general confusion as if Holly was a complete enigma to him. “Feeding you takes a second job.”
“Actually, changed my mind. No chips,” Holly shouted, clearly ignoring Will. “Can you throw some of those pizza bite things into the oven? Do you have time?”
