assholes who’s good at everything,” Holden jokes. “I hate guys like you.”
Leo laughs. Actually laughs. “I didn’t say I was any good. Hence the used to.”
“Right.” Holden grins. “So, what’s your thing?”
“My thing?” Leo asks, marking a dot on a piece of timber, then sliding the pencil next to his ear between his cap and temple.
“Yeah, your thing,” Holden answers, before pointing to himself. “Like my thing is pussy.”
“Holden!” I gasp, which gains a chuckle from both of them. Are they… friends? I don’t know how I feel about this.
“She’s such a prude,” Holden says.
“Nah,” Leo responds, running the backs of his fingers along my exposed knee. “She’s fucking adorable.”
Heat burns my cheeks, and I look at my best friend, eyes wide, because what? Before anyone can respond to that statement, my phone rings again. And again, I ignore it. This time, Holden doesn’t let it slide. “Damn, Mia Mac. You ghosting a guy or something?”
I roll my eyes. “They’re not after me.”
“Wrong number?”
Shaking my head, I nod toward Leo. “They’re looking for Leo.”
“Me?” Leo’s eyes meet mine.
“Uh-huh.”
Holden throws his hand out, requesting my phone. I hand it over to him, and he uses my pin to unlock it. His thumb flicks across the screen, scrolling through pages and pages of unanswered calls. “All these girls been calling for him?” He looks at Leo with admiration. “Well, yeah, I guess after last night…”
“Girls sure love a bad boy,” I mumble.
“Don’t I know it,” Holden almost sings, raising his fist for a bump from Leo.
Leo shakes his head, amused, and gives my best friend what he wants.
“What do you know about being a bad boy?” I accuse.
“Fine.” Holden rolls his eyes. “They love a good ol’ country boy, too.”
It’s new—the sound of our mixed laughter—and it’s also nice. Real nice.
And while Holden’s laughing, I can tell that he’s jealous at the attention Leo’s getting, even though Leo doesn’t seem to have any form of a reaction. “Yo, check out this girl I hooked up with,” Holden says, taking his phone from his pocket. “She keeps sending me these pictures…”
Leo lifts a hand. “Nah, I’m good.”
“For real?”
Leo focuses on drilling holes in the spots he’s just marked. “I’m sure the pictures aren’t meant for anyone else’s eyes.”
I smile at him, but my words are for Holden. “See? Leo’s a good boy.”
Leo looks up, his eyes locked on mine as he chews his lip. He quirks an eyebrow, just one, and then he smirks. “I can be bad, too, Mia. You just say the word.”
What does that even mean?
Holden’s looking between us, his eyes bugging out of his head, and then he leans back, his arms wide, shouting, “The sexual tension on this porch is ASTRONOMICAL!”
I pick up a screw and throw it at his head. “Shut up! Papa will hear you!”
Leo chuckles, already focused on his work again.
“I’m cool to pull these girls’ numbers from your phone, right?” Holden asks, even though he’s already doing it.
“I don’t care,” I tell him. And since he’s busy, and Leo’s busy, I look over the paint swatches, dividing them into two piles. Heck no and Maybe.
Besides the occasional sound of the drill, we all remain quiet. Until Holden says, “Wait. Why do you have Brent Silva’s number in here?”
I practically jump off the beam and try to grab my phone from him, but another beam is blocking me, and suddenly, the drilling has stopped.
Holden won’t shut up. “There are incoming calls from him. Ones you actually answer. Hang on. Twenty minutes?” My cheeks flush because I know what’s about to happen. He’s about to tease me, and that teasing will turn to torment.
“Holden, give me my phone!”
He holds it farther away from me—as if I could actually reach.
Leo’s drilling again. And when I look down, he’s not drilling into a marked spot, he’s just… drilling.
“Have you been holding out on me, Mia Mac?”
I sigh, resigned, and sit back on the beam. “He’s called a few times, yes. And he’s asked…”
“What?” Holden pushes. “Asked to see your tits?”
The whirring of the drill gets louder, and when I chance a peek at Leo, his eyes are squinted, jaw tense.
“Shut up, Holden! Don’t be crass. And no. He’s asked me out on a date, okay? That’s it.”
Holden’s silent a beat. “So, are you going to go?”
The drilling stops for no other purpose that I can see besides Leo wanting to hear my answer.
I cross my arms, my head bowed, embarrassed. “I don’t know.”