AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, and that shit’s no fair,” Wells said. “Thatcher’s like way better than all of us.”
“I can’t help it if ladies love me, my guy.” Really fucking cocky, Thatcher angled over. Sloane had dropped her arms from between Wolf and me, and Thatcher took the opportunity to place his weighted biceps on the only girls in present company. One of those girls was me, and I nearly succumbed to the weight. He squeezed us both. “Let’s win this thing.”
His smile coy, he started to squeeze us again, but Dorian and Wolf tag-teamed the guy. They literally ripped him off both Sloane and me, which made Sloane howl in laughter. The two immediately started punching at Thatcher, and though I probably should have been horrified, I was laughing too.
It was funny.
It was nice to just be a part of something light and nothing stressful. Of course, I had my own friends, but I’d always been uptight. It was hard to let people in, but these particular people made it easy.
He made it easy.
Wolf had Thatcher in a bear hug. Probably because he was so tall but that got him restrained enough for Dorian to hit Thatcher over the head repeatedly.
“What did I say about that handsy shit?” Dorian barked, but he was laughing, smiling. Honestly, Wolf was laughing too, and though Thatcher was basically being assaulted, it didn’t stop his own laughter. Thatcher’s face had charged like a million degrees in color while he pleaded for his life, but that seemed to no avail. Dorian and Wolf didn’t stop until they were good and ready. Meanwhile, Wells gave zero aid.
He was too busy laughing himself.
This was obviously the dynamic between these boys, these brothers. Eventually, Wolf and Dorian pushed Thatcher away, but even after they did, Thatcher was still laughing.
Thatcher’s long earrings danced, his dark hair all over the place. He worked his hands through it. “Uh-oh. Wolfy’s joined Dorian in the ranks with that territorial shit.”
His eyes blazing, Wolf darted in that direction, but Wells did step in this time.
“Relax,” Wells said, chuckling. “Save some of it for the game.”
“Yeah, there’ll be fucking plenty.” And suddenly, Wolf was with me. He brought an arm around me, aterritorialarm, and those goddamn butterflies struck again. He angled a look down at me. “Watch that fucker. He does get handsy.”
Thatcher made kissing noises, and Wolf growled again. I patted his chest. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not, but it fucking will be if this guy puts hands on you again.”
Thatcher mocked faux fear, and even Dorian (who’d definitely returned to Sloane and put an armaround her) was laughing again. He certainly found all this funny too. He found Wolf funny, and I could see why.
Wolf held me to the point of fusing himself to me, and suddenly, I was dreading our talk so much. Maybe it wasn’t what I thought it’d be. Maybe it wasn’t this whole thing crashing around us, our relationship. Maybe it was this, laughter and lightness.
Maybe it was him being as foolish as me.
* * *
So, um, Thatcher was awesome. The dude basically killed it half the night, and it took Dorian, Wolf, and Wells just to keep up with him. I mean, Thatcher was pretty much carrying Sloane and me, but that didn’t seem to matter to him. If anything, he got off on embarrassing his friends, and Wolf, Dorian, and Wells were getting increasingly frustrated as the night went on. There were a lot of grunts and growls on their end. Especially from Dorian and Wolf, who did it any time Thatcher got anywhere remotely close to Sloane and me. Sloane was obviously used to this because she took every opportunity she could to “poke the bear.” At one point, she even hooked her arm on Thatcher’s shoulder, which got her Dorian’s arm permanently around her waist. The two were freaking hilarious, and I’d pay attention more if I didn’t have my own distraction with Wolf. His disagreement with Thatcher’s proximity was minimal since I didn’t poke, but that certainly didn’t keep his attention off me.
I seemed to have it every shot either he or I took, and I was starting to want this game over to talk to him.
Did he want to make this real?
He might. He could, and if he asked, I wondered what I’d say. I mean, did I want this to be real?
You know that answer.
I studied him across the pool table, all smiles after the shot he made. He even did a little victory dance, and I saw so many changes in him. He wasn’t nearly so abrasive. Especially when it came to me.
I mean, he had his arm around me all night.
He had, a permanent fixture like Dorian and Sloane. The only reason he wasn’t doing it now was because it’d been his turn.
Our gazes clashed just then, a hard hold. He passed a wink at me over the table before Dorian said something to him, and I think the only reason I looked away was because Sloane poked me.
“I got an idea,” she said, exchanging a glance between me and the other side of the table. I was sure she caught me looking. She smiled. “It’ll get us a leg up. Just watch and learn from me.”
