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1
Madison
We’remid-game when there’s a knock at the door, and we all look at each other confused.
“You end up ordering the pizza after all?” Xander gives my brother a look.
“No.” Tobias frowns as he pushes back off the table and heads for the door. “Did you order something?” He looks back at me.
“Nope,” I answer, shaking my head and frowning because I’m as puzzled as they are.
He pulls the door slightly ajar, peering out, and suddenly there’s a loud greeting between him and someone else. The door falls the rest of the way open as the two men slap each other on the back. Shelby and Daniel, another guy from the team and his girlfriend, are just behind them.
“Quen!” Xander calls out in surprise to his and Tobias’s other best friend and their college quarterback.
My brother and his two best friends Alexander “Xander” Xavier and Quentin Undergrove had been inseparable in college, but now that Xander and Tobias have been drafted and Quentin spent half his senior year benched, they’re being forced down separate paths. Enough gossip and sharks circling that Xander and my brother had been pretty sure Quentin wasn’t coming. Except he’s here now and I’m not sure I’m prepared to be staying under the same roof as himandXander.
My brother is best friends with two of the hottest men I’ve ever seen in my life. My crush on Xander has never really been a secret, but I’ve always managed to keep my thoughts on Quentin to myself. Because where Xander has always been a favorite of everyone in my family, only my brother has ever been a fan of Quentin. Mostly thanks to a family feud between Quentin’s family, the Undergroves, and mine, the Westfields, that dates back to a collision on a football field two decades ago that abruptly ended my father’s playing career.
My father’s always bemoaned the fact that Tobias had to play on a team with him at the helm. And for his part, Quentin’s played into the rumors—all tattoos, bad attitude, and general indifference toward anyone around him and sometimes seemingly even himself.
“Didn’t expect you to come,” Tobias says as Quentin steps inside and he greets Shelby and Daniel. Quentin’s eyes fall over the room, moving to me as he sets his bag down. His brow rises and falls quickly—so fast you might miss it. I’m obviously an unexpected interloper.
“I needed the break. Thought it was just gonna be us. Didn’t realize I was interrupting a family weekend.” His eyes shift quickly away from me and back to Tobias.
“Oh, yeah, Madison came when we thought there’d be extra space. She’s doing her own thing while we’re here. We can figure something out.”
“Doesn’t exactly look like a keg party.” Quentin raises a brow as he looks toward the giant board game we have spread out on the table.
“We can deal you in. There’s beer in the fridge.” Xander smiles at his friend but I can feel the awkwardness building in the room.
“I can get one for you. IPA? Wheat? I think there’s a local craft Tobias picked out,” I offer, hopping out of my chair to head for the kitchen.
Quentin’s eyes flash to me again, studying me for a moment. I feel my heart kick in my chest a little, worried that I’ve done something to offend him already. A half-hearted shrug follows in the wake of his assessment though and I can relax again.
“Whatever’s fine.”
“Okay.” I nod, and round the kitchen island to grab a beer and the opener from the kitchen. “Shelby? Daniel?”
“Whatever you’ve got!” Daniel calls.
“Any seltzer?” Shelby smiles at me. I’ve met her a few times when I’ve gone to see Tobias, and she’s always been sweet to me, so at least I’ll have that.
There’s more chatter between them all. Xander, Tobias, and Quentin exchange greetings and a general appraisal of the nightlife around here. So far, they’ve only found one bar they like that’s open in the summer. We’re up in the mountains of Colorado at our parents’ house after all. A place that’s really meant to be a seasonal ski retreat rather than a summer party house. So they’ve found more luck with beer and meeting women at the local grocers than anywhere else. Women that had already caught Xander’s eye much to my chagrin. I’m pretty sure the checkout girl is ready to throw down with me over Xander, and she might win if I don’t act fast.
* * *
I’m walkingthrough the half-dark kitchen to grab a beer later that night when a voice startles me, sending my heart racing even harder when I realize who it is.
“You’re trying too hard.” His voice comes from the corner of the room and my eyes snap up to meet Quentin’s.
“Too hard?” I go stock still.
“With Xander.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The outfit.” Quentin takes the longneck bottle and sweeps it down to indicate the midriff top and extra short pair of shorts I have on. “The giggling. The bending over in front of him. Any of that ringing a bell?”
