Page 62 of 1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Forty-Two

“Of course, you can,” Lotus says, her tone indulgent. “Honey, you take all the time you like, but Ineed to know by Tuesday.”

I can’t help but laugh. Yeah, this whole experience might beworth the risk.

Chapter Seven

Naz

“So let me get this straight,” August says, leaningagainst the rail and looking out over the turquoise water of the Mediterranean.“You meet this girl Takira…what? Twice? And somehow persuade Lotus to inviteher on Kenan’s birthday cruise as your plus one, but you never actually askedTakira to be your plus one?”

“That’s about right, yeah.” I leanon the rail, too, between him and Jared Foster, my agent’s husband.

“I like it,” August’s brother Jared says, crunching icebetween his teeth and swirling the drink in his glass.

“You would,” August shoots back.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jared frowns.

“Dude, you’re intense,” I offer wryly, not sure how I feelabout the comparison to Jared who is known around the League as a shark.“Especially about Banner and your daughter.”

“I think that’s what they call being a family man,” Jareddefends himself.

“Or sociopath,” August counters. “I’ve heard both.”

Two brothers couldn’t be more different. Technically,they’re stepbrothers, which accounts for their physical differences—August withdark, curly hair and golden-brown skin juxtaposed against Jared’s blond hairand blue eyes. It’s the differences in temperament that are most striking.August is a fierce competitor on the court. He has to be as the Waves’ team captain once Kenan retired, but he’spatient and has a well-earned reputation as one of the nicest guys in theLeague.

Jared Foster? Different story. One of the most cutthroatagents in the business, he’s your classic alpha male. But the dude met hismatch in my agent, Banner. She’s one of the best around, but kind with it. Her reputation as the rookie whisperer was in partwhat led me to sign with her when I entered the League. Jared was definitely on my list. It worked out, though, because nowthey own an agency together.

“I’m just saying,” Jared continues, the light, warm breezelifting his hair. “When something or someone is worth wanting, like for real,you go after it…after her. I have a lot of regrets.”

He closes one eye and squints up at the cerulean sky for asecond.

“Actually. Scratch that. I don’t have many regrets,” hecorrects. “That shit’s a waste of time, but of the fewregrets I do have, going after Banner with every breath in my body is not oneof them. And look what you get.”

He pulls out his phone and flips through pics of him andBanner with their daughter, Angela, who is the spitting image of her mother.The three of them are in a swimming pool, and Jared has a giggling Angelahoisted up in the air above his head.

“Thank God Banner had mercy on you and married your ass.”August laughs. “No one else would put up with your shit.”

Jared’s smile fades, but the chiseled lines of his facesoften as he stares down at the phone. “Yeah, she was pretty much my one shot.”

He angles a look up at me, the softness gone and the usualdetermined set of his mouth locking in place. “Moral of the story,” he says.“When you really want something, pursue.”

“Hearing the word ‘moral’ coming from your mouth,” Augustsays, “just feels wrong somehow.”

“Fuck you,” Jared retorts, slipping the phone back into hispocket.

“That’s more like it.” August whacks the back of Jared’shead and, with an eye roll, Jared yields a grin.

Yeah, they’re brothers.

“She’s flying in with Kenan and Lotus?” August asks, lookingout over the startlingly blue water and the boats ofvarying sizes bobbing along its surface.

“Yeah.” I glance at my watch. “Their plane was supposed toland like thirty minutes ago. They should be boarding soon.”

“When I turn forty,” August says, flipping around to prophis elbows on the rail and survey the huge deck we’re standing on, “remind meto do it on a super yacht with all my friends.”

“This thing is massive,” I agree. The sun suspended in acloudless sky glints off the abundance of chrome and the polished wood of theupper deck. “The captain told me it’s three hundred-feet long, has six decks, ahammam spa, a twenty-foot pool, and a hot tub.”

“There’s a helideck,” Jared chimes in. “And a screeningroom. This isn’t the first yacht I’ve been on, but it’s for damnsure the best.”