“He’s right, Jaiden,” Henry says, with an obnoxious smirk that tells me he’s about to make me pissed. “You can’t call her his fuck buddy when she hasn’t let him anywhere near her in a month. She’s his buddy at this point.”
I obviously haven’t told anybody about last night. Or this morning. Clamping my hand over her mouth to stop her from waking everyone up and feeling her squeeze the shit out of me bare is how I spent my morning. Based on the fact that Henry thinks I’m chilling in the friend zone proves that we’re getting better at being discreet.
After spending all last night—and this morning—making up for the weeks we behaved, I’m surprised I even have the energy to walk around this mall.
The girl snorts loudly, and her hand flies to her mouth in horror. She recovers quickly, though, and puts her customer service smile back on. “I’m sorry, uh, underwear is quite an intimate gift, so maybe if you’re unsure, I would say pajamas might be the safest option for you.”
“What if I buy her lingerie? What then?” JJ teases, picking up the matching panties and holding them against Hen’s body.
Henry has been checking out the sales girl since she floated over here, and now I think she’ll struggle to shake the look of him with lingerie pressed up against him from her memory. He blushes and pushes JJ away, calling him something not very Christmassy under his breath.
I scratch at the stubble on my jaw and huff, mainly because I could be in bed balls deep in Stassie right now, but I’m here, in Maple Hills Mall, with these two jackasses. “I think Faulkner will be even more pissed at me if I rip off all your limbs.”
I look back at the rack of pajamas beside us, and I think the ones I have are the nicest. She specifically said she wanted some nice pajamas that she could wear around the guys. She feels comfortable around the boys in my house, but sometimes when she heads downstairs to get a drink in a T-shirt, some of the other hockey guys she doesn’t know as well are around playingCOD, and she feels a little bit awkward.
Plus, if I were going to buy her lingerie, I wouldn’t be doing it with fucking JJ and Henry.
I can hear Henry terrorizing the poor girl, accusing her of flinching or something. “Leave her alone, Hen,” I grumble, picking up some floral pajamas and holding them against the ones I’d already picked.
I leave them all to it as I explore the other nearby options. When I circle back, I hear Henry telling her about our big red door bow and saying his roommates are attention seekers, which makes me snort, but Jaiden looks offended, which makes it even funnier.
She breathes out a heavy sigh. “Okay.”
“Okay, like, see you later?” Henry says in a weirdly cheerful voice. I discreetly look at JJ, who is already looking at me with a surprised expression. Normally we don’t see the magic happen, or even better, we have to sit and watch women throw themselves at Henry.
This girl is pretty, so I can see why he’s interested; tall and lean, long silky brown hair, big brown eyes, full lips, and glowy brownskin.I’d say she’s Henry’s type but I’m not even sure what that is because I’ve never seen him with the same girl twice and they all look different.
“What’s your name?” he shouts as she tries to escape.
“Uh.”Poor girl is probably making it up. “Gen.”
“Bye, Gen!” JJ and I shout, ignoring the weird stares from the other people in the store.
After another ten minutes, I decide I can’t decide so I’m going to buy both, much to JJ’s annoyance. I make the two of them stand outside while I head to the cash register to pay, and as soon as we’re done I’m going home. I’ve already bought her main presents, so I think I’m all set. I step up to the counter and put the items down, immediately getting a shock when Summer is the person serving me.
“Hey, stranger,” she says politely, pulling the pajamas closer to her and scanning the tags. “Sister?”
“No.”What is she?“Anastasia.”
“Oh. I saw that video but I didn’t realize you were together…” she says, tapping away on the register.
“We’re…uh, she’s amazing.” I hand over my credit card, still not sure what I’m supposed to call her to people. “Are you coming to the party later? I think Henry just bullied one of your staff into coming.”
“Not tonight, sorry.” She puts the pajamas in the bag and holds out the handle to me, and it all feels awkward. Not like the Summer I know at all. “We’re going to a service at Cami’s church with her family, and Briar flies to New York tomorrow for Christmas. She’s got an early flight, so we’re not drinking.”
“I thought B was from England?”
“She is. Her parents relocated to New York last year. Two of her siblings go to school there. Her sister Daisy is at Maple Hills, though.”
“Wow. I never realized her family was so big.”
She nods, forcing a smile. “I’ve put your receipt in the bag, I hope she likes them. Have a good Christmas, Nate.”
“You too, Summer.”
Well, that was unnecessarily awkward.
By the time we get back to the house, it looks like Santa threw up on it.