Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 133655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
A sudden bang on my door sits me upright like a slingshot, and I unpause the video on Netflix to sell the vision that I’ve just been chilling and watching TV as Julia’s voice rings through the door. “Ace!”
I move with both speed and casualness to answer her call.
All right, boys and girls. It’s showtime.
“What’s up?” I ask, dialing concern into my tone and flexing the muscles of my abs as tight as I can manage at the same time. She pauses briefly, taking in my low-slung basketball shorts, shirtless chest, and backward hat before shaking her head and focusing.
I flex a little harder, hoping to regain some quick attention as she runs it down for me. “I just got home, and my AC isn’t working.”
“What? Really? Mine is working just fine…”
“God, that’s so strange,” she says and blows out a breath of air from pursed lips. “I don’t think mine’s been working since I left to meet Scottie and Kayla because it legit feels like a sauna in my apartment. Do you think you can come help me try to figure out what’s going on?”
“Why, of course I can,” I say, clearing my throat to force some of the nagging guilt down with my saliva. I’m going to fix it for her—obviously—so it’s not like I’m really messing with her. I just want to show her how useful I can be. This is a little reminder that she can count on me in times of need.
I follow her across the hall, shutting my door behind me, but leaving hers open. Crossing the threshold is like stepping inside an oven as the July heat does its worst against her unprotected space.
It’s just as intended but also makes my butthole clench a little bit with the pressure to get things circulating again after we have a little sweat chemistry.
“Wow. It’ll fucking roast your ass in here, huh?”
“I think it might be hotter in here than it is outside!” Julia complains. “I’m pretty sure you could fry an egg on my boobs right now.”
I grit my teeth to stop myself from saying we should try.
“Go change into a bathing suit or something if you want, and I’ll get to work on this thing.”
“Good idea!” she agrees readily, running to her bedroom while I take the cover off the front of her unit and pretend to start looking at it. When I’m sure she’s gone, I find the reset switch on the back edge of the left side I disengaged earlier and push hard against it with my thumb.
I shoot forward as it breaks under the pressure, slamming my fucking forehead into the hard plastic grate on the front as the switch officially lodges itself in the off position. Panic seizes my already struggling lungs as I fight to get a grip on the now-broken shard, but that only pushes the switch deeper inside.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Genuine sweat pours from my forehead now as I wrestle with the unit, my plan crumbling along with the frail, dry-rotted old switch. Not only is my easy little fix dwindling quickly, so is any chance of me looking like a fucking capable helper—which was the entire point of this whole endeavor. I didn’t go to HVAC school. I don’t really know how to fix this shit.
“How’s it going?” Julia asks, returning from her room in a tiny green bikini with a wet washcloth around her neck. She looks amazing, as expected—it’d be nice if my huge fuckup weren’t getting in the way of my enjoying it.
“Oh, I’m just troubleshooting right now,” I bullshit, turning back to the unit and pretending to twist and turn knobs. “If you have a screwdriver, I bet I can get it taken care of.”
“Oh my God, I do have a screwdriver!” she says excitedly. “My dad was insistent on me having a toolbox full of stuff, and I guess this is why! Let me grab it.”
I watch as she runs for the laundry closet on fast toes, but I’m surprised when she stops to pull out her phone just short of the white latticed doors. She reads quickly and then spins around, heading for the speaker panel beside the open front door.
“Oh, hold on. Drew is here.”
“What?”
“Drew. He’s here. I have to buzz him in. We were texting earlier and planned for him to come over, and then I got distracted with the AC being out when I got home. Hey, maybe he knows something about how to fix it!” she suggests happily, practically skipping to the door in her bikini top.
Oh, no, no, no! This isn’t good.
Drewgie Schnauzer was not part of the plan. I wasn’t looking for a three-way, and if I were, it sure as fuck wouldn’t be with a guy who looks like a dog with big, bushy eyebrows. Hell, I might as well have hand-tied Julia’s tiny fucking bikini myself. Go change, Jules! Get comfortable because Drew is coming over!