Wild Forces: A Friends to Lovers Romance (O-Town Book 2) by Karen Renee (summer reads .TXT) 📕

be one of your conquests, Gabe. Plus, you’re drunk. You’d never make a play at me if you were sober. Sleep it off.”

I gently pushed him to his back, stood up, and put a blanket on him.

When I wandered back out to give him another pillow, he was out cold. I took the pillow back to my room. Then I packed an overnight bag. If I stuck around until he woke up, things would be even more awkward. So even if it made me a wimp, I was going to do my damndest to avoid Gabe.

In the parking lot, I ran into Kaylee.

“Hey, uh, listen. Gabe Sullivan is on the couch upstairs. Hopefully still sleeping, but I didn’t want you to be surprised.”

“Why is he on the couch?”

I shook my head. “It’s not my place to say, but I can’t be there when he wakes up, and I—”

She gasped. “Did he do you?”

The way she inadvertently emphasized the word ‘you’ made my face fall.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that, Cassie. I just... You guys are just such good friends, and everything. I—”

I put a hand up. “I get it, Kaylee. No. He didn’t ‘do’ me. Not even close. I just don’t want him to know where I am, and I’m sorry I won’t be around to help you out more tomorrow.”

“Pshaw! Don’t be. Dad and Uncle Tom will have it handled.”

I nodded. “Okay. And don’t forget about your liquor stash. I – or really, Gabe – probably owe you a bottle of spiced rum, but I didn’t want you to forget it.”

She grinned. “Thanks, hon. Stacey’s stash is thin at best, so I’ll do that.”

8 Whiskey

Gabe

“WHO THE FUCK IS THIS guy?” a gruff voice demanded.

“A friend of Cassie’s, Dad. He’s just leaving. Promise. Here, can you take this box down to my car. It’s all liquor, and will have to go in the trunk.”

I pried my eyes open, glad to see Kaylee had led her father out of the apartment. When I turned my head, I caught a whiff of Cassie’s sweet perfume and I remembered the last thing I said to her about kissing.

Shit! I kissed her last night, but hell if I could remember what that had felt like. My cheeks puffed as I blew out a disappointed breath. I couldn’t have been a bigger dumbass.

When I stood from the couch, Kaylee came back into the apartment.

“You need get the hell out of here, Gabe,” she hissed at me.

“Not until I talk to Cassie. Where is she?” I asked, moving to Cassie’s room.

Kaylee scurried and blocked me. “She isn’t here, asshole. I don’t know what the hell you did to her last night, but nobody makes my friend leave her apartment and not pay the price.”

“I didn’t do anything to her,” I muttered, hoping she didn’t see through my lie.

“Right. Whatever, Gabe. Go home, and for God’s sake, shave.”

My head had been aching when I woke up, but Kaylee’s shrill voice made it throb. I turned around and went to my apartment.

When I walked in the door, Brock pounced on me.

“What the fuck is your problem?” he demanded.

My eyes widened, but I blew out a breath trying to figure out what to say.

“I went to Cassie’s last night. She listened to me, but I was drinking. I kissed her, but she asked me to stop. I fell asleep on their couch. I thought for sure she’d be there this morning. She was long gone, and her roommate, being the bitch she is, wouldn’t tell me where she is or anything.”

I could see Brock fighting a grin. Hell, he was probably trying not to laugh. I didn’t even realize someone else was in the room with us until Clint chuckled.

“Love to stick around and hear this brotherly heart-to-heart, but I got a job to do, boys.” He shoved Brock’s shoulder. “Think about what I mentioned, Brock.”

He turned his brown eyes on me. “As for you, man. Get your shit together. Crazy as it sounds, sometimes the truth comes out when we’re drunk. Think about that shit, ’cause I’ve been thinkin’ you’ve got more feelings for Cassie than you’ve admitted for a long-ass time. You wait too long, you’re gonna let her get away.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he ignored it. When he got to the door, he twisted to me. “And Gabe. I’m old enough to tell you right now, it’s never good to let one get away. And damn fuckin’ sure never good to let the one who is meant for you to get away. So, take care of that shit.”

Brock and I stared at the door for a beat, and then I went straight to the bathroom to brush my teeth and change clothes. In my room, I pulled the blinds, and tried to get some more sleep.

No matter how I tried, Cassie permeated my thoughts. And my dreams. I had a dream about kissing her that night, but I could not remember what it felt like, what she tasted like, and it drove me crazy. I had a fuzzy memory of the pained look on her face when I pulled away from her, and telling her it was just kissing, but normally I remembered how a woman kissed. It was important. Vital. And, I’d finally done it but couldn’t remember fuck all about it.

When I woke up, I felt mildly better, but I had to get some exercise or I’d go insane.

Brock wasn’t home, so I grabbed my basketball and went to a nearby court. My truck had been serviced yesterday, so I finally had my wheels back. When I pulled up, I noticed DeShawn and two of his friends already playing.

As I approached the court, DeShawn yelled, “Sullivan! You look like shit!”

I shook my head, and set my ball and water by the fence. “You got room for one more?”

DeShawn’s cousin, Kevin shook his head. “I got to go. And he’s right, you look like hell. What happened to you?”

I