Hard Hit by Toni Aleo (IceCats #3) - Toni Aleo Page 0,87
off a guitar to Evan to sign. “How is the beautiful Jaylin? We haven’t been invited over this week.”
“Because you hit on my girlfriend—and my nanny,” I remind, but he doesn’t seem the least bit guilty. “But we’re good.”
“In love yet?” Owen asks, waggling his brows.
I can’t contain my grin. “We are.”
The guys all razz me, but it’s out of fun. “So, when’s the wedding?” Chandler teases, and I grin.
“As soon as she lets me ask,” I say simply, and Nico gives me a look.
“Lets you? What’s that mean?”
I don’t know why I said that. My happiness made my tongue loose, and now I have five pairs of eyes on me, waiting for an explanation. I shrug. “That came out wrong. I don’t mean when she lets me. It’s more, we’re trying to get past a huge independence issue.”
Dart shakes his head. “That’s why you don’t go for super-successful chicks. They don’t need you.”
“I’d rather her not need me than only want me for my money,” Evan adds. “Plus, strong, confident women are hot.”
I hold up my fist to him, and Evan taps his to mine. “Exactly.”
“But a no-success girl with daddy issues is way hotter,” Owen says, grinning.
We all look at him, even his buddy Dart, who slaps him on the chest. “Your mother would be disgusted.”
Evan points to Dart. “What he said, and I’m so telling her.”
“Asshole,” Owen calls over to him, and we all laugh at their bickering.
“What’s the issue?” Nico asks, and just like that, the laughter is gone. Once again, everyone is looking at me.
These are my friends, and maybe they can give me advice. Or maybe they’ll judge us. I don’t know what to do. Also, could she get upset if I say something? Shit, I don’t know. I need help here. “She’s never slept at a man’s house or lived with a man.”
Chandler raises a brow, as the young children who probably have never been in a relationship look at me like I’ve grown another head. I have no clue what I was thinking, opening my mouth.
“She doesn’t want to sleep at your place? I have to push girls out the door, they don’t want to leave,” Owen says, grinning like a fool.
“Who? No one is ever over there,” Evan disputes, and Owen glares.
“Not now, but when we lived at home.”
“With our parents?”
Dart is basically beet red, he is laughing so hard, but Nico shakes his head. “I think there is a song. Something like ‘Can’t turn a hoe into a housewife’?”
I look at my best friend as everyone gawks at him, and I have to control the urge to rip his head off. “I will fucking kill you if you ever say something like that again.”
Nico automatically throws up his hands in defense. “Bro, my bad. I didn’t think that through. I don’t mean that. Jaylin is not a hoe.”
“I know. But please listen to me right now—I will not let you disrespect her like that. Or me. I don’t care if I love you as a brother. You will not do that.”
He nods. “I apologize. That was uncalled-for.” The anger inside me recedes as he holds my gaze. I know he didn’t mean it. He doesn’t think sometimes, just speaks. “Honestly, with Jaylin, she’s always been by herself. She’s never had to depend on anyone. I may have doubted her in the beginning, but I know more now. She’s in it with you. She’ll get over that.”
I can tell no one else knows what to say, or else they’re worried I’ll snap at them if they say something I don’t like. From beside me, Evan suggests, “Maybe she doesn’t like being in someone else’s space. What if instead of asking her to share your bed, you guys get a bed together?”
“I suggested that, but apparently moving in together scares her,” I say, and he nods as Dart looks at me.
“Wait, you two aren’t banging?”
I give him a dry look. “That’s not a problem, dude. It’s the sharing a space with a man she’s struggling with.”
He doesn’t understand. “Shit, girls never want to leave my bed.”
“Me either,” Owen adds. “But then, I’ve never met anyone like Jaylin.”
They both nod. “That’s the truth,” Dart admits.
Chandler clears his throat, and I meet his gaze. “I second what Evan says. If she doesn’t want to share your bed, offer to buy another—”
“Guys, it’s not that,” I say slowly. “She had something happen when she was younger that makes it hard for her to sleep in