Pretty Sweet - Christina Lee Page 0,5

a family, so we rarely got together.

After I showered and tried to scrub most of the grease from beneath my fingernails, we ate a simple pasta dinner. Mom was a good cook, and I tried to help whenever I could, at least with the cleanup, because I didn’t want her to think she had to feed me. But every time I brought it up, she’d say that she was still my mom and that she wanted to take care of me for a change.

“Busy today?” she asked as she passed the basket of rolls.

“Yeah, lots of oil changes and a couple of tune-ups.” I reached for my butter knife.

“How’s Mia?” Mom tried to act nonchalant about the question, but I knew where she was going with it.

“Ma, seriously?” I smirked. “You’re not obvious or anything.” She was always pushing me to date, and I had over the years, or had one-offs when I was feeling hard up, but nobody ever really stuck for more than a couple of months. I knew she hoped to dote on grandchildren someday, but that wasn’t something I ever considered, not after the childhood I had. I knew that wasn’t fair, but Christ, I was only twenty-four and didn’t need any distractions right now. I didn’t tell her that, though, because I didn’t want to bum her out. “You’re as bad as the guys.”

They were always talking about this or that hot piece of ass and always got on me for never adding to the conversation. But I wasn’t one to kiss and tell. I liked to keep those sorts of things private.

They’d pop a blood vessel if they knew I’d sometimes found certain men attractive over the years and even jerked off once or twice thinking about it. That was the extent of it, though. Strictly fantasies. Hell, I wouldn’t even know where to start with a man, but it was definitely not something those guys would ever understand. Not sure Mom would either, but I knew she’d never turn me away. Not like my dad would’ve. Bastard.

“Besides, I think Tad is sweet on Mia,” I added.

Mom scrunched her nose. “She’d never give him the time of day.”

“I would hope not,” I replied, and we both laughed.

“Once I move out, you’ll feel freer to invite people over,” she said with a knowing look, and she had a point. But if anyone had a problem with the idea of me living with my mom, then they weren’t worth my time—and absolutely not the one for me.

Besides, I was fine on my own. Probably always would be.

“Whatever you say, Ma.”

3

Seth

“You look tired, gorgeous,” Jesse said, sitting across the kitchen table from me. He usually stopped by a couple of times a week and called almost every day. He felt guilty about moving out, though he would never tell me. I felt guilty that he felt guilty, and on top of that, well, ridiculous. He was my best friend, and I hated that he felt almost like he had to take care of me. I wasn’t sure that was the right way to put it, but he definitely checked up on me and worried.

“I’m fine.”

He reached out and brushed his thumb beneath my right eye. “Some concealer might make that a little more believable. Dark circles never lie.”

“Hey! I don’t have circles, you jerk!” I replied, and we both laughed. I loved hanging out with him. I missed seeing him every day.

“Seriously, though. Are you sleeping? Do you need some Jesse time?”

I rolled my eyes.

When he lived with me, I used to crawl in bed with him if I had a nightmare and sometimes simply because I liked cuddling. I loved the feel of someone I trusted against me. It was stupid, and a little embarrassing, but that was how I was built. It wasn’t something I’d known about myself before him, probably because Jesse was the closest friend I’d ever had. Or because I’d never trusted anyone as much as him. It could also be because my mom wasn’t the type to show affection that way—she’d been better before my dad died when I was twelve. Not that she was completely cold. But she was never like Dad and me, and yeah, she’d been better. After he passed, though, it was as if she’d completely closed herself off.

Whatever the reason, I liked being held. It wasn’t sexual between me and Jesse, never had been. Before he fell in love with his boyfriend, Dane, he used to