I’m not possessive. I’m not jealous. I’m not any of those things. Or at least I wasn’t. This girl has me out of my fucking mind.
Cracking my neck to the side, I try to clear my head. There has to be a way for me to keep seeing her despite the hectic schedules we’ll be going back to. I mean, it has to calm down some. Event
ually. I know my schedule will calm down after several days, as long as the protein line Kode is helping me produce doesn’t eat up all my free time.
“Ignoring me?” he asks, following me down the stairs. I can feel his shit-eating grin.
“Yep.”
“You actually like her. I mean… for more than sex. More than just a fling.”
I glare over my shoulder at him, and he chuckles as we reach the living room. He knows I won’t answer questions like that, so I don’t know why he’s asking. Hell, I rarely answer question in general, and it’s not just so I can remain mysterious.
I’m genuinely just not a guy who talks about me. Unless Bo is the one asking questions. Then I tell her anything she wants to know, and I tell her things she doesn’t even ask about.
“Why do you keep asking?”
If Dustin even thinks about going after her—
“Because I like her,” he drawls. When my jaw ticks, he quickly adds, “Platonically, dude. Chill. I think she’s cool, and I think she’d be good for you.”
Some of the tension eases out of me. See? I’m going fucking crazy. I’m ready to punch my best friend in the face right now for no good reason.
Of course, I don’t tell him anything.
Right now, I’m trying to figure out how in the hell we’re even going to be able to see each other. The day after we get home, I have four meetings with Kode and some buyers he set up for my new protein line. I barely even have the first draft of the presentation ready. Not to mention all the shit with my dad’s company, since I’m still working for him on the side to earn extra cash until the gym starts paying for itself.
Fortunately, what I do for him can be done from any computer anywhere. Which will be from the gym’s computer, since I’ll be buried in client emails when I get back, amongst other emails. At least Dad pays well. I’d rather not completely deplete all the funds from my trust. And I’ve apparently used a lot more than I realized.
To Dustin, I just say, “I have a lot to do with the gym when I get back to keep things floating the way they need to float. We’ll see how things go.”
Groaning, I turn and head to the kitchen. This is not a pre-coffee conversation. Yeah, it’s three in the afternoon and I’m just getting up, but I still need coffee. Bo and I stayed awake until seven this morning, because I think we’re both dreading life back in the real world.
“You made the gym too big too soon,” he points out. “The pool, the fifteen, private studio rooms, the top-of-the-line equipment, the basketball court, the tennis court, the—”
“I get the point,” I interrupt, annoyed. “It’s Sterling Shore. Go big or go home. I’m not hard-up for cash or anything, but I’d like to make sure that I don’t get hard-up for cash, so I’m working on a few things. Those things take up a lot of my time.”
I should have been paying closer attention to my financials. Instead, I’m a spoiled dick who thought I would never run myself low.
“Don’t say anything about this in front of Bo,” I tell him, already feeling inferior to her since learning her true net worth. Yeah, it’s a hell of a lot more than I thought, and she brushed over it like it was just casual conversation when Dustin—being the blunt, nosy ass he is—asked her about it straight up.
“Like I’d tell your girl that she makes more than you,” he scoffs.
“I think she probably knows that,” I mutter dryly. “I don’t care that she makes more, dick.”
He shrugs as we walk into the kitchen just as Cody joins us. He’s been unusually quiet, and he keeps acting as though he has a problem with Bo. Probably because he knows a girlfriend means less time with friends, and we’ve already lost four from our high school group.
“Makes more dick,” Dustin snorts belatedly, using my words differently because he’s a perv like that.
“Asshole,” I grumble.
“What’re we talking about?” Cody asks, confused.
“Jax trying to figure out a way to make Bo and him stick after we go home tomorrow,” Dustin tells him.
Gee. I wonder why I’m private.
Fucking big mouth friends. That’s another reason why.