Page 22 of Strip Bare

Leo: Hypothetically, how would I make my fake boyfriend real?

CHAPTER SEVEN

I was still debating the best way to test the water with Kit a full day later and was no closer to having a concrete plan. Of course, that frustrated Kat more than anything. She was friends with Jamie, possibly the most impulsive person I'd ever met, and was used to her slightly more brutal methods. That wasn't my style. I didn't want to ruin things between me and Kit. I wanted to see if he only wanted to be friends, or if he was open to the possibility of something more. We'd kissed, fuck—we'd more than kissed, and maybe I was stupid or naive but I didn’t want to believe it meant nothing.

"Maybe you should ask him for me."

"You're not in third grade, Leo. If you're worried about asking him, then get him drunk first. Be an adult about it." Kat licked the line of sugar from the rim of her glass and then winced as she sipped her cocktail.

"Is alcohol the solution you give to everyone's problems? Or just mine?" I said dryly as I accepted the nachos she slid my way.

"I'm just saying, sometimes people say things when they're wasted that they wouldn't when they're sober."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

She adjusted one of the thin straps of her black top and avoided my eyes as she scoffed. "What? No. Of course not."

I waited her out, munching on nachos and drinking my beer as she fidgeted. If there was one thing Kat struggled with, it was silence.

"Okay, yes, Max may have said some things to me the other night."

"Like?"

Half of her cocktail disappeared in the massive gulp she took. "None of your business."

"Seriously? So you can ask me to describe my sexual encounter with Kit but me asking about a conversation between you and Max is too much?"

"Well, you didn't actually give me those details."

I rolled my eyes at the hopeful look on her face. "Do you have any advice outside of alcohol and sex?"

She paused, pouting her mouth as she considered my words. "No, not really." I snorted and she laughed with me. "If you don't want to seduce him or get him drunk, and you don't want to just ask him outright because you're a chicken, then you only have one other option."

"Oh?"

Her smile made me uneasy, it felt like the embodiment of chaos and mischief, especially when she blinked at me innocently. "You need to make him so feral with jealousy that if he does feel something for you, he'll lose control to claim you as his."

I wrinkled my nose, tapping my fingers absently on the side of my glass to the indie pop song The Box was playing. Claim me as his? She made it sound so… caveman. "I don't want to hurt or manipulate him."

"You're not," she needled, wiping away the smudge of her pink lipstick on her glass. "You're just making it clear that you have options, that you're not just going to wait around for him to step up and declare his intentions."

"Have you been reading regency romance again?"

Kat sniffed before trying, and failing, to hold back a grin. "Maybe." I opened my mouth but she shook her head. "Just think about it, okay? The worst that could happen is he doesn't get jealous and you know where you stand, friendship intact."

"I guess," I said quietly. "Anyway, I have to get back to the house, my parents are leaving tomorrow so I said I'd have dinner with them tonight."

"Sure thing." She stood and stretched and I glowered at the guy in the booth behind us, checking out her ass over the head of his girlfriend. "You'll text me?"

I nodded as I walked her out of the bar. We'd been chatting a lot recently, normally over text, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed her company. Somehow, I'd stumbled into another friendship that felt just as comfortable as the one between me and Kit. "Thank you. For the advice," I added when she looked up curiously.

"Say hi to Kit for me," she called as she strode off towards the direction of campus. I wasn’t quite sure where her parents lived but maybe she wasn’t heading there.

"Do you want me to walk you back?" It was getting dark and the parks weren't hugely safe once the sun went down.

Kat shook her head and blew me a kiss, walking backwards before spinning around. I'd text her later to make sure she got home safe anyway.

I walked in the opposite direction to her, enjoying the smell of the grass and warm earth as nature settled in for the night and the city lights began to glow a little brighter as the dark crept in. The walk was short, but it helped clear my head a little after the drinks I'd shared with Kat.

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