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Nattie:Fuck that.
Cooper’s phone rings a second later, and I can’t help but giggle. “Nattie, right?”
“Yeah.” He looks at the screen, then back at me. “Don’t leave before I come back inside, okay?”
“Okay.” He turns around, and my insides somersault as I watch him walk around to the other side of the bar, wishing I could follow.
Emerson grabs my arm and squeezes. “Oh my God. That man is even finer in person than he is in pictures. Damn, Carys. Now I know why you’ve spent the last five years lusting after him.”
“Be quiet, Emerson.” I yank my arm away and cover her mouth with my hand. “We’renottalking about this here.” My eyes scan our immediate area to see if anyone heard her. But I think we’re safe.
She licks my palm, and I jerk my hand back and wipe it on her jeans. “Fine,” she pouts. “But we’re definitely talking about it later.”
“Yeah,” I agree, knowing I’m going to need to figure out how I feel before I can talk to her about it. “Later.”
This man has always been forbidden.
Before he was my stepbrother, he was already one of my overprotective big brother’s best friends. He was older. He was cooler. And he was not interested in a theater geek like me. But he was all I saw back then and for so many years since.
When his sky-blue eyes connect with mine from across the bar, logic tells me that he’ll never look at me the way I’ve always wished he would.
But logic has nothing on what my heart wants.
Once I’m done gettingmy ass chewed out by my twin sister for not calling her as soon as I got home, she lets me go with a promise to talk more tomorrow, so we can figure out the next time we’ll see each other. The guys have moved to the back of the bar near the dartboard, but Carys isn’t with them. I try to convince myself I’m just looking because I know what every guy in this bar is thinking after the performance she just gave. But even I know I’m lying to myself when I can’t find her or her roommate anywhere.
“Hey, man.” I move next to Linc, who’s waiting for Jim, one of the guys from Echo Team, to miss a ball on the pool table so he can take his turn. “Where did Carys go?”
“Emerson’s brother came over and told the girls there was a party back at his frat house. Since he was their ride, they left too.”
Jim misses his shot, and Linc moves to line his up.
“The hot little brunettes?” He turns to a few of his own teammates. “We were sad to see them go, weren’t we, boys?” His team agrees, and I clench my teeth, knowing they were looking at Carys.
She didn’t even say goodbye because she’d rather be surrounded by a bunch of drunk and horny college assholes.
What the fuck?
I jerk my phone out to see if she messaged, but there’s nothing there.
Not sure why I expected anything else.
Trick sits down on the barstool next to Rook and Ford. “Don’t look so heartbroken, Sinclair. According to Linc, the lover boy over there, we’re having a party at the house tomorrow night.”
Linc sinks the eight ball, then turns around, his face as red as the three ball. “Whatever, asshole. I needed an excuse to see Emerson again.” If it’s possible, his blush deepens, and I’m strangely relieved to know I’ll be seeing Carys again.
Ford laughs at the utter embarrassment on Linc’s face. “Yeah well, your girl’s roommate sure jumped at the chance for the two of them to come.” Ford throws me a shit-eating grin. “I wonder why the little singer would do that?”
“You owe her one, Linc. Emerson wasn’t sure till Carys said yes.” Trick grins smugly.
Jim pipes up, “We’ll crash your party, kid. I’d be happy to take Emerson off your hands when you can’t figure out what to say.”
Ford shoves him back with one hand to his chest, closing ranks. “Who you calling kid?”
You can be as big of an ass as you want to one of your teammates, but not to one of ours.
Only we get to do that.
My older brother and I were complete assholes to each other growing up, but we never let anyone else get away with that shit. The team is the same way. A brotherhood.
