Page 34 of The Hookup Type

Maci waited for me to keep going. I wasn’t sure if her lack of reaction was a good sign or a bad one.

“Bryson is never going to treat you the way you want him to. He’s going to do whatever he wants to do, regardless of what he tells you. He isn’t a bad guy, but he is my best friend, and I know him.”

She nodded and winced. “So the chances of him sleeping with anyone else right now?”

“Oh, absolutely high,” I stated without a hint of doubt.

“Hmm.” She inched closer to me, so her head rested in the nook of my arm.

I pulled her tighter against me, letting her know I heard her response but didn’t know what else to say. She wrapped her arm around my chest and I waited until her eyes were closed before I closed mine.

This was the first time that Maci asked me about Bryson. This wouldn’t be the last time he lied to her. While I felt a little weird spilling his usual routines, I realized they weren’t just his, but mine too. It was easy to give Maci a rundown because I just had to think about the usual shit I pulled on girls I hooked up with.

Her statement from before made a lot of sense. Maci seemed to like Bryson a lot more than she led on, and I could tell she wanted more from him. No matter how she tried to justify this hookup she had going with Bryson, she wasn’t the hookup kind of girl. I knew that from the first few conversations I had with her. She would never be okay with who he was.

If we had slept together that night, I wasn’t sure if we would have had a different outcome. She wanted honesty. I never had a reason to be honest with women before. Honesty existed in relationships, not in hookups. The only difference between Bryson and I was Bryson didn’t care if he was a temporary thing for Maci. He would cut her off tomorrow if he wanted to.

“Goodnight, Jaxon,” she mumbled against my side.

“Night, Mace.”

For the first time in my life, I didn’t want to be temporary. I wanted to keep this girl around. I just didn’t know how to do it yet without falling for her and into a territory I knew nothing about.

Chapter23

Maci

December 2015

It was fucking hot.I was thankful that Jaxon was still asleep because I assumed that watching me peel my face off his bare chest wasn’t how he wanted to start his day.

Once I was freed from his salty grip, I tore off my comforters and let myself bask in the breeze of my ceiling fan. Jaxon had turned my cozy sanctuary into a heat box overnight. But I didn’t dare complain about the view he offered me.

He was on his back, his chest chiseled and completely exposed. A layer of sweat glistened against his tan skin. He had one arm above his head and the other lay next to him where I was only a few moments ago. He looked completely at peace with whatever he was thinking about. There wasn’t a single line on his face. Even in his sleep, he was incredibly good-looking.

I stripped off my sweatshirt and threw it in my closet. I missed the hamper and it smacked into the door, causing Jaxon to jump out of his slumber.

“The fuck?” Jaxon stirred and sat up to see where he was. He rubbed his eyes and turned over onto his side.

“Jaxon?” I prompted and tried not to smile down at him. “It’s already nine. You don’t have a final or anything this morning, do you?”

“My last final is tomorrow. Same as yours,” he mumbled into the pillow with his eyes still closed.

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. I slipped quietly out of the bed and made my way to the kitchen for a much-needed cup of coffee.

While the Keurig was heating up, I peeked around the corner to make sure I didn’t wake Connor with my need for caffeine. Only to my pleasant surprise, Connor wasn’t on the couch, which meant he must’ve been in Katie’s room.

I pointed to Katie’s closed bedroom door and silently screamed in her honor. I didn’t want to get too excited, but with the way those two hit it off last night, it was hard not to.

“I see someone didn’t sleep on the couch.” Jaxon came up from behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “Morning, Mace.”

His weight on my back woke every cell in my body. Who needed caffeine when you had a half-naked Jaxon Hayes to hug you from behind?

Fuck Folgers. I would take this every morning from here on out.

“I thought the same thing,” I said, returning back to earth once he released me from his grasp. I watched him stroll into the kitchen, shirtless and in a pair of basketball shorts, searching for a mug. With each cabinet he opened, the look of confusion grew more apparent on his sleepy face.

“Over one more.” I pointed, and he chose my Professor of the Dark Arts Harry Potter mug from the next cabinet.

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