Page 48 of Badd Love
"She's legally your first cousin, now."
"I know. But we share zero genetic material, I wasn't raised in the same house as her, and also she's married to someone else."
"I didn't actually say anything. I was gonna say something dickish, but decided against it. You're welcome."
"Dane, you've completely missed my entire fucking point."
"Which is? How is me telling her I love her—which is the objective truth—being an idiot?"
"Because she can't handle that. She wouldn't have P-I-V sex with you because she was afraid of being dragged into feelings. I'm inferring, here, but it really seems like she used quasi-kinky sex—or foreplay, or whatever you wanna call what you did—to distract you from everything she didn't want to talk about, think about, or feel." He shrugged, pulling athere you goface. "She did everything she could to protect herself from what she feels like is a threat to her emotional stability, which seems pretty damn fragile. She was trying to get rid of you so she could get a grip on her shit. And you go and drop the L-bomb on her…and then leave."
"Fuck. I hadn't thought of it like that."
"Clearly. You think after you left, she sat on her balcony plucking flower petals and gazing wistfully into the sunset, daydreaming about your ass?"
"My ass? No."
"Dane. This is real shit, man."
"Shut up. You do the same thing."
"And you call me on it."
I sighed. "I know, I know." I groaned, rubbing my face with both hands. "I don't know what to do, Jax."
"If it were me, I'd give her some time."
"This is a dance of months, Jax."
"So? Whatever she went through is deep, dude. Clearly, it's an open wound, not even a scabbed-over thing. That shit isstill bleeding. If you really love her, which I don't doubt, you're gonna have to be patient."
"Patience is not my strong suit."
“We're Badds, man. None of us are exactly overflowing with it."
I cackled. "I dunno. Your mom is kind of a saint. She deals with your ass."
He flipped me off. "I'm her precious little angel."
"Mommy's boy."
"Yup!" He leveled a look at me. "And you're not? You're still living with them. Ten bucks says she does your laundry."
"Does not. Unless it's really stained." I wasn’t gonna mention the jeans LIndsey washed which were, as we spoke, still in my bag…laundered.
“No, but for real! Why are moms so good at stains?"
"Periods, apparently.”
"Huh?"
"They deal with bloodstains every month. You think after that a little mustard on your Care Bears T-shirt is a big deal?"
He hummed thoughtfully. "Oh. Huh. Never thought about that." He glared at me. "Also, don't throw shade at my Care Bears tee. It's vintage and cool as hell."
"I wasn't throwing shade. It's a cool shirt."
"You really love her, Dane? Like for real? It's not just wanting another shot at epic sex?"
