AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But what’s the real reason you don’t like him?” I asked Zane.
“His face is stupid.”
Gray and I traded a look.
Zane wasn’t great at using his words, but he wasn’t as moody and angry as everyone assumed. He was guarded as fuck and didn’t trust anyone who hadn’t proven themselves to him. Once he did trust you, he would protect you with his life, no questions asked.
But, he was also one of the most stubborn people I’d ever met, and once he got an idea in his head, it was nearly impossible to change his mind. If he’d decided he didn’t like this Rath guy, then one of two things would happen. This guy would reveal himself to be whatever had triggered Zane’s instincts, or we’d find out the dude was harmless and hadn’t yet figured out that you didn’t touch murder kittens’ toe beans or try to give them belly rubs.
Either way, this guy was in for a rough go. I needed to get all the tea from Gray later.
River was staring at his phone and frowning. “You okay?” I asked. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” He put his phone on the table next to Zane’s. “Had a date tonight but she canceled.”
“Shit. I’m sorry. That sucks.”
He shrugged and stripped off his jeans, leaving him in a pair of tight capris. “It’s fine. I kinda figured she was going to. We made plans to meet up last week, but she stopped messaging me back a few days ago.”
“Did she at least want to reschedule or have a good reason?”
“Nope.” He smiled, but it wasn’t his usual buoyant one. “Last time I checked she’d left me on read. Just looked again and she unmatched me. Message received.”
“Seriously?” Gray asked. “How long had you been talking?”
“Only a few weeks. At least she didn’t stand me up. That’s way worse than being ghosted. I need to stop telling girls I strip.”
“Is that usually when things go sideways?” I asked.
River was one of the sweetest and happiest guys I’d ever met, even with his murder-kitten tendencies. He was also drop-dead gorgeous, loyal to a fault, and would happily give anyone the shirt off his back if they asked.
Even with all that going for him, he had the worst luck when it came to dating. He wasn’t the best at understanding social cues, and that made having text conversations with people he didn’t know difficult. He wasn’t the dumb jock people assumed he was and didn’t deserve to be constantly ghosted or stood up because people couldn’t look past the surface and see what an amazing person he was.
“Usually. It’s weird because some girls are super into it at first but then they seem to change their minds and suddenly it’s a problem. Or they do what this chick did and just go dark.”
“Anyone who can’t accept all of you isn’t worth your time,” Zane said in that soft voice he reserved for River. “If she has a problem with your job, that’s on her. Not you. You’ll find your person, but she obviously wasn’t it. Better to learn that now and not after wasting time or energy on trying to build on something that isn’t there.”
“Yeah. I know.” River smiled, this time a real one. “And it’s not like I’m not used to this. I’m fine.” He glanced at Blaze, who was glaring at us impatiently. “We’d better start before Daddy gets mad.”
“I heard that.”
“Sorry, Daddy.” River winked.
“I thought I was Daddy?” Gray punched him in the shoulder. “You cheating on me?”
“Only ’cause you cheated first and started banging your stepbro.” River punched him back.
“Yeah, I’m going to need all the story time on that.” I poked Gray in the side.
He pinned me with a flat look. “Only if you tell me yours.”
“Deal.”
“Are you done lollygagging?” Blaze griped.
“I’ll give you something to lollygag on.” River grabbed his own crotch.
Blaze opened his mouth like he was going to correct him, but just shook his head in defeat.
