All the Way (Hot Jocks #2)(13)

“Yeah. That’s probably a good idea.”

“Exactly.” He smiles.

Positioning my body toward his on the couch, I take a deep breath. The one blessing in all of this is that I feel so safe with Owen, and I know he’d never push me for to do something I wasn’t comfortable with. Something about that makes me bolder than I’d usually be.

“So, how do we start? Should we go to my bedroom, or . . .”

“No.” His gaze meets mine. “Meet me at my place at six tomorrow. We’re going on a field trip first.”

“Okay.” I grin at him, my fingers relaxing from the tense fists I didn’t realize I’d made.

Owen rises to his feet, and I follow him to the door. “You sure you feel okay about this?” he asks, pausing by my front door.

I nod. “Yeah. I feel surprisingly good.”

He touches my cheek, brushing a strand of my hair over one shoulder as he gazes down at me in a move that’s surprisingly sweet and tender. “Me too.” He opens the door and then looks back at me one more time. “And, Becca, don’t fuck Morgan, okay?”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” I hear myself say before I can think better of it. I don’t point out that it’s not his business who I sleep with—I simply agree.





5




* * *





Cheap Massage Parlor





Owen



“So much has changed,” Elise says, waving her arms dramatically.

“Yes!” Sara nods, agreeing with her.

I watch their conversation like a game of Ping-Pong as they lob their thoughts back and forth.

Teddy, Asher, Sara, Justin, and my sister are all here to watch a new sci-fi movie that came out recently. Everyone’s situated on the huge gray sectional that takes up most of our living room, and I eavesdrop on their conversation while I wait for Becca to arrive. Huge bowls of popcorn are on the coffee table, along with a six-pack of beer.

“A lot of women I know don’t want children, and that’s perfectly fine,” Elise says.

“You’re looking at one of them.” Sara holds up one hand. “I mean, if men weren’t attached to my favorite appendage, I wouldn’t need a man at all,” she says with a giggle.

Elise nods. “True. But they’re also good at opening jars.”

“You guys are ridiculous,” Teddy scoffs.

Their conversation is a good distraction from the noise that’s been buzzing inside my brain since Becca asked for my help and our coach all but called me out.

I’ve always heard men and women can’t be friends. That a platonic friendship between a man and a woman goes together about as well as water and electricity.

But Becca and I have always defied that rule. Everything between us has stayed squarely in the friend zone from day one, only now I’m considering changing that, and I have no idea if I’d be making a huge mistake.

But before I can ponder it further, the intercom sounds and I buzz Becca in. A few moments later, the front door opens and she steps inside.

“Hey,” she says, smiling as she takes in the scene.

She looks perfect. When she texted earlier today asking what she should wear on this little field trip, I told her something comfortable, preferably layers. She’s dressed in black leggings and fuzzy boots and an oversized sweatshirt.

It matches my own casual look of athletic shorts, a white T-shirt, and my forest-green team hoodie thrown on over the top.

“Hey,” I say, a little speechless when I look at her. I have to blink and force my eyes away so I’ll stop looking at her like she’s a snack I’m about to eat.

“Hey, Becca.” Elise jumps up from the couch to greet her friend with a hug. “What are you doing here? I thought you had plans.”

Becca’s eyes venture from Elise’s to mine. It’s obvious that Elise invited her over for movie night, and that Becca had to decline.

“I do.” She grins at me. “With Owen.”

Elise’s eyebrows pull together. “But Owen’s going to his gross massage parlor thing-y. It’s Monday.”

It’s true. I have a standing appointment every Monday at six thirty. It’s also true my friends have teased me about it for just as long.

In reality, it’s a cheap massage parlor in a strip mall run by the nicest Vietnamese family you’ll ever meet. But my jack-off friends had to go and turn it into something dirty. They assume I get some sort of full-service massage, complete with a happy ending. It’s compounded by the fact that I’ve never let anyone come with me before, so the place has remained shrouded in mystery.

Becca’s gaze snaps over to mine. “Um . . .”

I grin. Surprise. That’s our field trip. But I don’t want her to know that just yet, because everyone will inevitably try to talk her out of going, and I really think it might help her relax. Plus, she’s letting me into her world, so it’s only fair that I let her into mine.

“You’re going to make poor Becca watch you get a rub and tug?” Teddy asks. “That’s just wrong, dude. Sick and wrong.”

“Shut it, TK,” I say with a warning glare. The last thing I need is my idiot friends scaring Becca off before we’ve even started.