“No,” Gavin noted. “It means we’re not willing to sacrifice that friendship.”
“Oh.” I watched the two of them for a moment. Then it dawned on me what he meant. “Oooh.”
Laughter erupted, along with a few snorts.
“I was tellin’ Presley that she needed to find some hot guy and get laid.”
“Can’t argue there,” Gavin said, but his eyes dropped to the floor.
I could tell something was wrong, but my head was too fuzzy to formulate a question. Not to mention, the room was beginning to spin.
I studied them both for a minute. “I think the two of you should do it.”
“Do what?” Gavin asked, his blond eyebrows lifting in question.
“You know … do it.”
They both gave me a questioning look.
“Sex,” I snapped. “Do I need to spell it out for you?”
“Actually, yes.” Gavin poured himself another shot, looking completely disinterested in the conversation.
“S-E…” I frowned. “What were we talking about?”
Blaze fell over sideways, her raspy laughter echoing in the room, right up until we all realized her head had fallen right into Gavin’s lap.
When her big brown eyes locked on Gavin as she sat up, I knew that was my cue to leave.
“I’m … uh…” I managed to get to my feet. “I’m gonna go to bed.”
“Presley, don’t go,” Gavin said, his tone serious.
“I’m wasted and if I drink any more, y’all are gonna be holding my hair back while I pray to the porcelain god.”
“Been there with you before. Not your finest moment,” Blaze noted.
“Exactly.” I stabbed the air in her direction. “So, with that said, I’m out.”
I stumbled toward the hallway, glancing back once to see the two of them staring at one another.
“Oh, hey…” I waited until they both looked at me. “If y’all wanna … you know … play hide the salami in the … uh … whatever … you’re both adults. So, do what you gotta do.”
“It doesn’t work that way, sweets,” Gavin said, but he looked somewhat sad. I didn’t want to ask why that was.
“Whatever.” I planted my palm on the wall. “But if you do … you know … be sure to use a condom.”
With that, I managed to stumble down the hallway to my bedroom. I made it the ten feet to my bed and face-planted. For the first time in forever, I passed out. And slept like the dead.
Chapter Thirteen
Jake
One week later, Saturday night
By the time seven o’clock rolled around, I was going stir crazy. My total word count for the entire week was a big fat fucking zero. And like I’d assured Liz when I talked to her on Wednesday, I had tried. Really.
Okay, mostly.
After I’d spent two hours at the coffee shop that morning and managed to research everything from tattoos to tater tots—on my phone, because, fuck, what the hell else was I going to do?—I’d come back to my condo, changed, gone to the gym, watched the midday news, showered, and fought the urge to clean more shit around the house that had no business being cleaned. Not by me, at least.
Same shit I’d done almost every day this week. And last week, now that I thought about it.
Now that the sun was down and the night was coming to life, I needed to get out of the building. To do something productive that didn’t involve staring at a blank screen or a blank page and wondering whether or not I would ever be able to write anything again.
So, that was the plan.
A night out.
I had moved to downtown Austin for the scenery. I’d lived in the area most of my life— with the exception of the five years I’d spent in New York—having grown up twenty-something miles north in the city of Round Rock. The suburban life had worked well for my mom and stepdads (all nine of them)—still did—but I needed something a little more … lively. My sister, Paige, thought I was having a midlife crisis. At thirty-six, I seriously doubted that. I was reserving that for when I turned forty.
As I was riding the elevator down to the lobby, my cell phone rang. After digging it out of my pocket, I glanced at the screen and sighed.
Liz.
Great. It was eight o’clock in New York—on a Saturday, no less—where she lived and worked, so I knew this wasn’t going to be a hi, how are you? conversation. I answered anyway.
“Jacob Wild, where the hell are you?” Her raspy, take-no-shit tone made me smile.
“Elevator, why?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know what