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The reluctance was still there. Unmoving. I tightened my hold on the steering wheel for a beat. “How about we can get into my shit at some other point?” I slid a sideways glance her way.
It worked. She was fully invested in me, her cute little face puckered in concern. Her own worries were cast aside. She was fucking adorable.
She said, her eyebrows pinched together, her nose wrinkling up, “How about we get into your shit now. Why don’t you have friends?”
“I thought I told you this before.”
“Not having friends doesn’t mean actually having no friends. There’s always one or two. Right?” She was watching me, waiting.
I sighed, my hand relaxing on the wheel. “I got a few buddies, but I wouldn’t call them friends. They’re guys I know. We call each other if we need a favor.”
“What about your half-brother? Or that guy who called you? I thought I heard you laughing.”
I frowned, “Monroe?”
“Whoever he is. What about him? And your brother?”
The mention of my brother wiped everything out of me. I was void inside. “My brother was a monster. He wasn’t a friend to anyone.”
Billie’s head moved back, hearing my flat tone. She said, hesitantly, “No. I meant—”
“We’re here.”
We were pulling up to the Reeves’ gate. Before I could roll my window to press their buzzer, the gate was already opening for us.
Well, there you go. Perfect fucking timing.
41
BILLIE
Olvander was the first to approach us in the Reeves’ backyard, and normally I would already be in full geek moment. I wasn’t. I felt off. I couldn’t get Brett’s words out of my head. That he didn’t have friends.
He had buddies who he called for favors and vice versa.
That was… I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that at all, and he didn’t want to talk about it. After he said it, I knew why he said it. He wanted to distract me, and he had, but he hadn’t meant to say what he said. It slipped out.
But Olvander had an arm around a very beautiful woman. Dark brown skin and an angular face with high cheekbones. Kind eyes. Her braided hair was up in a bun set high on her head.
“Kayla, this is Billie,” he said. “She let me cry on her shoulder one night about how I thought I’d messed up with you. Billie, this is my wife.”
Sigh. This was totally a woman that I would have a girl crush on. Not in a sexual way, but in a friendship way. I’d crush on becoming a friend with her. I beamed at her, holding out my hand. “Hi. It’s so nice to meet you.”
A wide smile stretched over her face as she shook my hand. “If I’m to believe what Ole said, he received sound advice from Broudou’s soon-to-be woman. That’d be you then.”
Brett moved more firmly into my side, his hand on the small of my back, and I felt how the last of his tension melted. He was okay for now. I glanced up, sharing a look with him. We’d continue our conversation, but later. Not now. Now, as I caught the amusement in his gaze, he was letting me know that I could fully go into my geek-out moment. I plunged into that and my stomach acted like a rooster let loose for the first time in the hen house. I didn’t know where to go, what to say, how to act, but I was giddy happy.
I also had a slight urge to hump Brett.
Kayla frowned at my silence, glancing to Olvander.
“Is she okay, Broudou?” he asked.
Brett let loose a hearty laugh, his hand pressing more firmly against my back. “She’s a football geek at heart, so she’s the opposite of okay. This is her adorable quiet because she’s bouncing around inside of herself like a kid eating ice cream in a bouncy house. Give her twenty minutes before she remembers how to act normal again.”
Kayla’s smile was blinding. She linked her elbow with mine. “Then on that note, I’m taking over with Billie. You guys go and discuss how the grill works.”
Brett and Ole shared a look.
