Page 83 of The Hookup Type

“Well, whenIasked him if he wanted to be with Trey”—he raised his eyebrows and shot me a quick glance before stopping at a red light—“he said he didn’t know.”

My eyes narrowed and he bit his bottom lip. “When didyouask him about Trey?”

The light turned green, and he averted his attention back to the road. “When we were smokin’ at your place,” he said like it was something he did every Thursday with my brother.

I sat up a little taller and thought back to that night. Theywereout on the balcony for a while. I mean, it was long enough for Katie and me to duet “Promiscuous Girl” and “Last Night” right before doing a few races of Drunk Driving.

“What else did you talk about while you weresmokin’on the balcony?” I demanded.

Jaxon shrugged. “Nunya.”

“Okay,” I mocked him, and he laughed.

We rolled to another red light, and his hand slid back over the gearshift.

“Why do you put your hand there?” I gestured between us.

He followed my gaze and understood my question. “I used to drive stick all the time,” he explained. “It’s a habit.”

“Is this Jeep a stick?” I asked.

Ever since he fixed my Hyundai a few months back, I found it incredibly attractive when he talked about cars. Normally I didn’t give a shit about cars, trucks, or any kind of model of anything as long as it worked and got me to where I needed to go. But hearing Jaxon talk about it was a total turn-on.

“No, Mace.” He answered like it was cute for me to even ask.

I prepared myself to continue the Chase conversation. “So what? I’m just supposed to figure out what he wants and nurture whatever answer he gives me?”

“Mace, I have no experience with the type of conversation you are about to have with your brother. When it comes to relationships, I get the basic background information, and that’s it,” Jaxon stressed.

If I weren’t so conflicted, I would’ve had some snarky comeback about Blondie or one of his hookup girls to poke some fun at him. But all I kept thinking about was the story Chase hadn’t told me yet. I wasn’t sure how I would react once I heard everything.

“I just don’t know”—I took a deep breath—“I just don’t know if I can sit there and listen to him justify how he could cheat on Trey. It’s not like it was some guy he was hooking up with for three weeks, Jaxon. He was with him for three years. I love Trey.”

“Just hear him out, Mace,” Jaxon urged. “Maybe there was something going on that led them to this point. Your brother is a guy, and we do stupid shit.”

“But he’s supposed to be one of the good guys,” I mumbled pathetically, and Jaxon placed his hand on my thigh. Heat trickled up my leg, and I felt a dip in my stomach.

“It’ll all work out,” he reassured me and gave my leg a quick squeeze. He placed his hand back on the gearshift, and my entire body had to recover from his touch.

I stared out my window at the passing buildings. There were dozens of small businesses I hadn’t seen before. We had been driving for so long down Main we must’ve gone a few towns over.

“Where are we going?” I asked and glanced over at him.

“I”—Jaxon looked both ways before he hooked a left—“am taking you for some food.”

“Why?” I said, trying not to sound too shocked at his response.

“Because it’s almost four, and I haven’t eaten since noon.” He laughed. “And we are at least fifteen minutes away from your apartment right now. We can stop and get some wings or something.”

I shook my head at his typical guy way of thinking, and he stared at me like I had just asked him a question he didn’t know the answer to. “Jaxon, we can’t just walk into a restaurant. You need a reservation at most places on Valentine’s Day.”

“Fuck.” His mouth fell open as he realized what I had just said. “I totally forgot what today was.”

“Youliterallyjust asked if I was calling to wish you a happy Valentine’s Day like a half hour ago,” I snapped.

His tongue grazed his bottom lip, and he shot me a half smile. “Am I keeping you from any plans if we get some food?”

“Nope,” I deadpanned and pulled out my phone to make sure Chase hadn’t tried to contact me. He was probably too deep in the couch to even notice that I was still gone.

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