Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Kyle burst into a fit of laughter while Braden made a ha-ha face before grabbing a piece of bacon and hurling it at Leo. Leo opened his mouth and snagged it out of the air, chomping on it with a grin.
“You couldn’t handle the mental side of yoga, anyway,” I chimed in, sliding just a bit farther into the kitchen and leaning my hip against the counter.
Leo’s eyes landed on me, pinning me to where I stood. It was then that I noticed a few chain necklaces around his neck — a cross, a plain gold chain, and was that a saint?
I almost snorted at that.
“Oh yeah?” he challenged. “And why’s that?”
“Because you’d have to drop your ego, and we all know you cling to yours like a life raft in the middle of the ocean.”
A laugh fizzled out of Braden and Kyle both.
“I’m as humble as a priest,” Leo said, pressing a hand to his chest.
“And as full of shit as a porta-potty.”
Kyle and Braden let out mixed sounds of laughter and jest as Leo stared at me, an amused smile curling on his lips. I blinked and looked away, hoping he could see I was bored by our interaction.
At least, that’s what I wanted him to think.
The truth might have rested more in the fact that if I stared at him any longer, I’d start tracing those flecks of gold in his eyes, start remembering how that voice used to sound on the other end of the phone every night.
“Ladies first,” Kyle said, plating a couple pancakes for me. “This one I made especially for you. Welcome to The Pit, roomie.”
When he handed me the plate, I looked down to find a smiley face made out of chocolate chips staring back at me from the top pancake.
And the first genuine smile in days found my lips.
I arched a brow when I looked back up at him. “I thought you were a douchebag.”
Something softened his face then, like that actually hurt to hear, but he quickly laughed it off with a shrug. “I am. But I’m trying to make up for being an asshole yesterday. There’s a difference between the two, you know.”
“Yeah. Kyle’s a douche,” Braden said, piling a stack of pancakes on his plate. “But Leo’s an asshole.”
“And Braden’s a pussy,” Leo quipped.
I instantly flung my arm out, swatting his chest with the back of my hand and a loud thwap. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Braden snickered while Leo stared at me open-mouthed, rubbing the spot I’d just hit. “I was just—”
“You were just using female anatomy as an insult because in your Neanderthal brain, pussy is less than dick — weaker, not as important.”
“On the contrary,” Leo said, his lips curling as he stepped a little closer. “I think pussy is the most powerful thing in the world.”
“So you were complimenting him?” I challenged.
Braden shook his head, slipping in between where I was glaring at Leo, and he was smiling like the Cheshire cat.
“Alright, alright,” Braden said, holding a hand up to me and his plate of pancakes against Leo’s chest. “Break it up. We don’t need a fight this early in the morning. Besides, like I said, Leo’s an ass,” he said to me with a shrug. “We don’t take anything he says too seriously.”
Braden popped a piece of bacon into his mouth with that, exiting the kitchen and heading toward the living room with his food. I turned my glare back to Leo, ready to square off, but all the humor had faded from his expression. He almost looked a little… sad.
I thought about when we were younger, about the nights we talked until we were hoarse and bleary-eyed.
“Sometimes, I’m hanging out with all these people, all my friends, and I just look around and realize that I don’t really know any of them at all, and they don’t know me. Aside from football, I mean.”
An unwanted emotion caught in my throat, my brows bending together as I watched Leo. But he didn’t look at me again. Instead, he took a breath and put his cocky smirk back on his face before clapping Kyle on the shoulder as he plated his last pancake.
“Thanks for breakfast, man.”
“Thanks for the coffee. I swear, no one makes it better than you.”
“La jefa is the only one, and she’d disown me if I didn’t live up to her legacy now that I’m on my own.”
“La jefa?” I asked as Leo filled his own plate, and we all plopped down on the couch to eat. There was a folding table that could serve as a dining table, but it was currently sticky from what I could only hope was beer and not the alternative.
“The boss. In other words, mi madre.” Leo winked, and then the attention of my roommates shifted to the television where Braden had just turned on ESPN.