The Moth and the Flame (When Rivals Play #2) - B.B. Reid Page 0,46
its yummy goodness. How he managed to climb up here with it, I’ll never know and didn’t bother to ask.
“Quit your bellyaching, bestie. It was on the way.”
“And just my fucking luck the shake machine was broken, so I had to drive to another White Castle to get it.”
I flopped back onto my bed and turned up the volume to drown out Wren’s grumbling. Bellamy was going to be on screen any minute. “Uh-huh.”
“It was twenty minutes in the opposite direction.”
“That sucks.”
“You’re not even listening to me, are you?”
“Of course, I am.” I couldn’t believe the real name of the actor who played Bellamy was Bob. Bellamy was dreamier. I couldn’t imagine myself in a million years screaming “Harder, Bob!” while in the throes of passion.
Wren finally gave up trying to make me feel bad and peeled his soaking wet hoodie off before sliding onto the floor where he rested his back against the foot of my bed. Ten minutes into the show, I heard what sounded like a bear yawning and realized it was coming from Wren’s stomach.
“Jesus, is that you? Didn’t you eat?” It sounded like he hadn’t in days.
“There wasn’t enough time.”
I was about to remark that he could have gotten food at White Castle when I remembered he hated it. Finally, shame came.
“Want some of my shake?” I offered the cup, but when he looked over his shoulder with a frown, I remembered that he hated chocolate, too. Psychopath. Who doesn’t like chocolate? As far as I was concerned, it should have been a major food group. With a shake of his head, he refocused on the television.
The show went to commercial, and I used that time to run downstairs. Five minutes later, I guiltily returned with a plate of the roast Cathleen had made for dinner. I tried not to think about how many Bellamy scenes I’d missed. Thank fuck for reruns, I guess.
“Here you go. It’s not much.” The budget in the Henderson household was strict, and not even the stipend they received for fostering me helped much, but once upon a time, even a roast had been out of the question. Neither one of the Hendersons had received a promotion or raise, so where the extra cash came from, I didn’t have a clue.
He only glanced at the plate before holding my gaze long enough to make me squirm. Finally, he took the food with a smirk that confused me, and dug in.
My eyes widened when the plate full of roast and rice was gone in under a minute. I wasn’t sure even a wild animal could be capable of such a feat.
“Want some more?”
“Nah,” he said with a burp and a smile that made me giggle. “I’m trying to watch my figure.”
My laughter died when I eyed the muscles stretching his shirt and jeans. Wren was far from the lanky teen I’d met. At nineteen, he was still a teen, but he was no longer lanky. And he certainly had nothing to worry about. We may have been friends and nothing more, but not even I could deny that he was pure hunk.
“I think you’ll be fine.” I reached out for the plate, and when he handed it over, I ran back downstairs. For a brief moment, I didn’t care about the show or Bellamy Blake. I just wanted to take care of my friend.
Thankfully, tonight was Bible study at the church, which meant we were all alone. It occurred to me then that there hadn’t been a need to make Wren climb through my window. At least there was less chance of the nosy neighbors seeing. Wren was a bit of a hot topic among the neighborhood, which I hated even more than he did. Especially since Samantha Davis, the leggy neighborhood slut was always sniffing around him. It wouldn’t have bothered me as much if I hadn’t glimpsed the interest in his eyes whenever she came prancing around in tight low-riders that showcased her tramp stamp. She’d noticed too and had become even more smug than usual.
It wasn’t that I was jealous…like I wanted Wren for myself…sexually.
It was that Trampy Bambi pretended like they were a couple, the world was their house with a white picket fence, and I was the goddamn dog.
I can’t count how many pats on the head I’ve received since she photobombed our friendship, but I did know the next one would probably end with me breaking her bony wrist.