He pulls out a bag of bagels and pops one in the toaster oven, not even bothering to separate the halves first. Then, he pours a full glass of OJ and scowls at me over the rim as he chugs half the contents. I return his glare.

“Guess I wasn’t feeling too charitable to the dick who was trying to hit on Holly—aka the girl who’s giving me her kidney.”

Jasper rolls his eyes, which only heats me up more. “I wasn’t hitting on Holly. I was saving her from your manipulative ex while simultaneously doing some recon for you. Douche.”

“Oh, really? Recon? What, you wanted to tell me exactly how her ass felt? Maybe what she tasted like?”

The teapot whistles as steam pours from its spout, a perfect reflection for the boiling emotions spilling out of me.

“You’re fucking oblivious.” He grabs a stick of butter from the fridge while shaking his head at me.

“Oblivious to what?”

He raises his eyebrows like it’s obvious, and I can’t keep from growling, “I know you fuck guys. But there’s an equal amount of girls who do the walk of shame out of your room.” The teapot swings in my hand as I gesture, risking covering both of us in boiling water.

“Not about me, dumbass.” The toaster dings, and he removes the hot bread with his bare hand, cursing all the while.

Jasper is always a bear right after waking up, his talk littered with expletives. I take weird satisfaction in knowing that Holly would hate it. Even if she spent the night with him, she’d want to run out first thing in the morning.

Unaware of my thoughts, Jasper keeps lecturing. “If you’d watched us talk for even a minute, you’d have seen that she had zero interest in me. And, yeah, maybe, the first few days of class, I thought about trying to hook up with her. But, the second I found out she was your donor, I didn’t even consider it again. Kinda sucks that you thought I would,” he explains all this while slathering butter on the outside of his bagel, like some weirdo who’s never eaten one before in his life.

As I pour my hot water into a mug, I let his words simmer in my brain.

Slowly, my anger cools, replaced with remorse.

Jasper won’t meet my eyes as he takes a bite of his bagel, but at least he doesn’t storm out of the kitchen.

“I’m an idiot. It’s just …” The chaos in my brain doesn’t translate well into words, so it spills out in a frustrated sigh.

“She’s not easy. To read, that is.” Jasper chuckles, and my lips twitch involuntarily at his stupid joke. “At least, not for you. You’re too blinded by your dick.”

“No, I’m not,” I grumble, fidgeting with my tea bag. Then, reluctantly, I ask, “What do you mean?”

Before answering, Jasper refills his glass and grabs another bagel, not even bothering to toast this one. He waves for me to follow him back to the couch, which he collapses on with a groan.