Mr. Perfect (Sinister in Savannah #2) - Aimee Nicole Walker Page 0,54
Rocky replied, making Jonah and Avery snicker.
“Smartass,” Felix replied dryly. “Skeet is back and unloading vehicles. I can’t leave without tipping him off, so I’ll record the activity instead. Maybe the hull ID on the ship will give us some answers.”
“Or you could just ask Jude tomorrow when you go to his house for dinner,” Avery suggested.
Felix groaned. “You guys heard that?”
“You pulled the piece out of your ear but didn’t power it down, so your microphone still picked up the conversation,” Rocky replied. “You were holding your own. I’m proud of you.”
“Christ,” Felix groused. “I’m not going to Jude’s house for dinner.”
“Uh-huh,” Jonah said.
“Sure, you’re not,” Rocky said.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t,” Avery teased.
Felix removed the earpiece again but powered it off this time. “Smug smartasses think they know me. I’ll show them. There’s no way in hell I’m going to the bastard’s house to talk or anything else.”
Felix’s phone buzzed with an incoming text a few minutes later. He expected one of his friends wanted to give him more shit, but it was from Jude providing his address.
I have a pool. Bring your swim trunks. Or not.
At 5:45 the next evening, Felix’s phone buzzed on the table beside his lounge chair. Then it sounded again and again, one right after the other. And without looking away from his laptop, Felix knew two things: it was a group text, and the senders weren’t some random persons who’d included his phone number by accident. He could ignore the messages, but it would only encourage or mislead his smartass friends.
Felix set his laptop aside and picked up his phone. Sure enough. He had messages from Rocky, Jonah, and Avery.
Good luck on your date, Jonah said.
Hope you trimmed your pubes, Rocky added.
How do you know he has them? Avery asked.
Every adult has pubes. Some just choose to shave or wax them off, Rocky replied.
Yes, but your message implies you have firsthand knowledge of whether Felix waxes, trims, or shaves his pubes, Avery responded.
Stop saying pubes. It’s a gross word, Jonah admonished them.
Felix laughed loud enough to scare the birds out of a nearby tree. He tapped out a single reply. I’m not going to Jude’s. He’d told them twice already, but he could see how little they’d believed him. Then Felix added, My pubes aren’t up for discussion.
Come on. Not you too, Jonah replied.
It’s not too late to go to Jude’s, Avery said.
It’s fourteen years too late, Felix replied.
Rocky replied with a fist bump, and Avery sent a sad face emoji. He was such a cutie. It was no wonder he had Jonah wrapped around his pinky. Felix figured it wouldn’t be long before Jonah took up real estate on Avery’s ring finger too. He was happy for his friends and a little envious also.
They exchanged a few more jabs before each of them claimed to have something to do. Rocky had super-secret PI stuff to attend to, and Jonah and Avery got to do each other.
Yep. Envious. Not because he wanted Jonah or Avery for himself. That smarmy bastard Jude had Felix so worked up lately that even masturbating didn’t ease the ache for long. He could’ve gone to The Cockpit or another club to find someone to ease his loneliness with, but it would only make him feel worse, not better. The need pulsing through his veins wouldn’t be sated by physical release alone.
Felix hadn’t connected with anyone the way he had with Jude Arrow. Part of it, he chalked up to chemistry and physical attraction, but most of it was due to emotional stimulation. Jude had been the first person to make Felix feel seen and valued, at least romantically. Jude had never looked at him with disdain; he’d expressed genuine curiosity about Felix—first as a person, then as a lover.
It had stirred a longing within Felix that became addictive. For the first time in his life, Felix had understood why his mother had sold her body to get her next high. Every day had revolved around getting a fix of Jude. Felix had known to limit his exposure to drugs and alcohol at college, but no one warned him about the impact love and lust had on a person.
But Jude had used the knowledge he’d gained to humiliate Felix in front of his peers.
Poof.
Just like that, the temptation to drive over to Jude’s house downshifted from a throbbing, aching need to a low-level hum he could swat away like a pesky mosquito.