Free Cocky Roomie: A Bad Boy Romance Novel (Cocker Brothers of Atlanta Book 1) by Faleena Hopkins

The job search was one thing, but that nightly studying deepens my respect for her.
    “My uncle has a thing for helping people, so it was actually in your favor that you have no experience. That’s why I have to go to Denver. He kept trying to give this guy Dwight a chance, but he blew it. My uncle thinks he’ll still get his shit together and get sober. I’ll be there until that happens, I guess.” Drew is watching me intently. “Uncle Don never gives up on someone until he has no other choice.”
    When she knows I’m done, she softly says, “Your uncle sounds like a good man.”
    “He is.” A lump forms in my throat, because of how proud I am of my family. The one I’m going to be far away from. Now is the perfect time to exit this too difficult conversation. “I’ll leave you to whatever it is you do at night.”
    Drew calls after me, “Thank you for the job, Jake. I won’t let you guys down.”
    I wave over my shoulder without looking back. In my room I close my door and take a half dozen deep breaths. I tear off my shirt because it’s suddenly very hot in here. Blinking around my room, I shake my head and walk to a photo of my own, one that hangs on the wall. It’s my brothers and me when I was only fifteen. We’re all such different heights here. Jaxson is the oldest but Jett, one year younger is taller than him in this, stockier, too. They’re the same height now, maybe an inch difference. Jett’s still stockier. Jax is sinewy from workin’ on his ranch. Then there’re the twins on either side of me. Justin’s mouth is open because he’s telling our mom how to take the picture. Jason is laughing because Justin’s bossing her around. I’m smirking because of the shit we pulled that day that Mom didn’t know about. I forget what it was, but we got into some kind of trouble in Cascade Springs Park. In this I’m scrawnier than the older four, shorter by a couple inches at least. Then there’s Jeremy, Mr. Serious, only thirteen, the baby. “Can’t believe you’re a Marine now, you fucker,” I mutter to his goofy smile. I haven’t seen him smile like this in a long time, always so serious now that he’s a man.
    Grabbing the doorknob, I walk out to find Drew. Her bedroom door is closed, so I knock on it, feeling another tinge of guilt for having broken her privacy earlier. I hear her padding toward me. She opens the door with raised eyebrows, blue eyes guarded.
    “Yes?”
    “You hungry?”
    She pauses. “Actually, yes. Very.”
    “Let’s make some dinner. Watch a movie. Just friends.”
    She stares at me like she’s trying to figure out if I’m tricking her. “Okaaaaay.”
    I hit the nearest wall and flip around, calling over my shoulder, “Great.”

DREW
    B reakfast for dinner is one of my favorites. When I suggested it he told me he feels that way, too. Then he tore off his shirt and tossed it onto the floor, telling me he prefers to be shirtless when he’s home.
    “I noticed,” I smiled.
    Now we’re easily moving around each other while he sautés spinach, ham and onions for the omelets, and I fry up red potatoes with garlic, basil, salt and pepper.
    “Bummer we don’t have any bacon,” I tell him as I add a little more salt.
    “Mmmm. Bacon,” he mutters. “Did you go to college?”
    “This is not something I’m proud of, but no.”
    Jake flips the sizzling contents of his pan as he says, “I didn’t either. But I knew I was staying in construction. Everything I learned was on the job. Been working with Uncle Don since I was fifteen.”
    Reaching around him, I slide open the utensil drawer and grab a spatula. My arm brushes his naked lower back and electricity sparks. Jake glances at me as I retract my arm and turn over the potatoes. “Ten years at your job and you’re only twenty-five? Do you still love it?”
    He makes a face like that’s a crazy question. “Fuck yeah! That’s what men are meant to do. It charges up my battery!” His eyes drop to my pan.