Page 57 of Brittle Heart

I turn my head from Xander to Clay. “I’m boring. I go to college, work, and sleep. Do you?”

“Now you’ve done it,” Xander whispers.

Clay grins at me. “Well, I do jump rope.”

I furrow my brow. “You’re kidding, right? Like ‘Down in the Valley?’”

“I wish he was,” Xander interjects, and as I look back at him, I notice the smile that tugs at the corner of his mouth.

“He’s just messing with you. He likes to watch when I do it. It’s not just plain jumping rope. I do the cool version with difficult steps to different songs,” Clay explains.

I turn my gaze back to him. “You lost me.”

“Wait,” he says, reaching for his phone again.

He opens YouTube and shows me videos of guys doing incredible jump rope routines to music. I have to admit, it looks pretty amazing, even though I’ll never admit that to Clay.

“And you can do that too?” I ask.

“Yes, he can. Even better,” Xander says, licking his lips, and I don’t miss the way his tone changes.

Dio,is it hot in here?

“Wait, let me show you some more,” Clay mumbles, fumbling with his phone.

* * *

Someone gently shakes me, and my eyes snap open to see Clay looking amused.

“You’ve got some drool there, Karen,” he says, pointing to the side of my mouth.

I blink away the remnants of sleep, feeling cozy and warm. It takes a moment for me to remember that I’m in the truck with him and Xander.

When I look up, I realize I have been leaning on Xander, and he has his arm around me. It seems I fell asleep on him.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” he says softly in his deep voice. “We didn’t know when you needed to get to college, so we thought we’d wake you and ask. If it’s too early, you can sleep some more.”

My consciousness slams back into my body at that moment, and I jerk away from him. “What time is it?”

“Six,” Clay replies.

“Fuck, I need to go,” I say. “Would you mind driving me home? I’m already late.”

“Sure, don’t worry,” Clay assures me, starting the truck and getting back on the road. “We can wait and drive you to college if you want?”

“Dio,no. You’ve already sat out here for hours while I drooled all over you,” I say, eager to escape the situation as quickly as possible.

“To be fair, you only drooled on Xander.” Clay snickers. “But I’m hurt that you fell asleep while I was showing you my not-boring hobby.”

I glance up at Xander, mumbling a quick “Sorry.”

He just huffs in response.

When Clay stops in front of my apartment complex, Xander gets out first. I turn to Clay, who says, “Promise me you’ll call if something like this ever happens again.”

“You mean my sweet little sister getting railed will be a more frequent occurrence now?” I ask, tone laced with sarcasm.

“Most definitely.” He smirks back before his face turns serious. “Promise me, if you feel unsafe, you’ll call.”

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