Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 105306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“I missed you, too.”
Duke isn’t much taller than Dallas, but he’s bulkier.
Darker.
More menacing and serious. I can see it in his eyes.
Bearded.
Over Dallas’s shoulder, those dark eyes meet mine, and he pulls back, stepping around Dallas and advancing toward me, extending his hand.
“You must be Ryann.”
I smooth my hair back before shaking his hand, nervous and terrified, face molten hot.
I want to press my hands against my cheeks to cool them, but instead, I muster the courage to tilt my chin up.
From the looks of it…it doesn’t appear as if Duke is here to chew anyone’s ass out or lecture us, but it’s only been a few minutes and time will tell.
forty-six
dallas
“I’d introduce you to my older brother, but I’d like to keep dating you.”
– Dallas
“You must be Ryann.”
My brother greets Ryann cordially, but I can tell by the look in his eyes he hasn’t made up his mind about liking her yet, which is the exact reason he’s here.
Duke Colter doesn’t make trips across the country for anything but his agent, work, his girlfriend—or family.
We have an audience, of course. The twins have never been ones to mind their own damn business and fade into the background like they should be doing. Instead, they’re perched on the couch, watching the scene as if it were a play.
I glare at Drew, who’s less obviously gawking.
As the youngest, they’ve always been more in awe of Duke than I have. His fame and skill have made him their mentor and hero, but hero worship has never been my vibe.
I rest my hand on the small of Ryann’s back, guiding her to the couch so we can sit, my stomach growling.
“Dude, go make me a sandwich,” I demand of Drake, who instantly shakes his head.
“Dude, do it yourself.”
“Duke is here to see us, not you. I haven’t eaten, so go make me a fucking sandwich.”
Ryann nudges me in the ribs.
I roll my eyes. “Please, can you make me a sandwich?”
If she weren’t here, I’d tackle the cocky little bastard to the ground.
Duke nods at our brother.
Drake stands. Glares.
Stomps out of the room to make me a snack.
“He’s probably going to hock a loogie on the bread. You do realize that, right?” Duke says, chuckling.
He better not hock a fucking loogie in my food!
I crane my head to get a look in the kitchen, but Drake is out of sight, rooting through the fridge for meat and shit. The loud clatter of drawers opening and closing and plates being taken out of the cabinets makes it sound as if he’s never made a goddamn sandwich in his entire life.
“Could he be any louder?” Drew asks.
“Maybe you should go check on him,” Duke says, taking a seat in a leather chair across from the couch.
Drew pauses.
Glances at me.
Rises and shuffles to the kitchen reluctantly, looking over his shoulder like a sad boy who’s being sent to bed during the party.
“So,” Duke begins. “What’s been going on?”
“Shit, where do I begin.” I rest a palm on Ryann’s knee, then watch as my brother’s eyes follow the motion. “Eli gave me a call a few weeks ago. We talk a few times a week now that the Combine is coming up and stuff.”
The Combine is the scouting showcase for the professional football league where college players get the opportunity to perform physical and mental challenges in front of coaches, scouts, and team managers, like a pageant of sorts, but for athletes.
Duke nods. “Okay. And?”
“And…teams had been calling to begin their digging, but there wasn’t much about me and they wanted more, I guess. I had just met Ryann—”
“Diego Lorenz’s ex-girlfriend,” my brother interjects.
“If I may?” Ryann clears her throat. “We were only seeing each other briefly, and the relationship wasn’t…it wasn’t…physical.”
Her hands are gesturing wildly because she’s nervous, feels the need to justify herself to my asshole older brother.
Duke’s brows go up. “Oh?”
“What she’s trying to say is she was probably Diego’s beard. The dude isn’t interested in women, and there was nothing to them dating. They hung out a few times, period, end of story.”
There, I said it. Tore the Band-Aid off and blurted out what I should have told her weeks ago.
“His beard,” Duke repeats in a monotone voice, his brows up in his hairline at the revelation. “That’s a new one.”
“Is it, though?” Plenty of guys on the team don’t want to come out of the closet for various reasons, a big one being not wanting their sexual orientation to take away from their talent by becoming the top story, the main focus.
“Guess it’s not.” Duke concedes, then circles back to the original topic, never one to let things die. “You were sayin’?”
“I met Ryann at a time when Eli wanted me to be seen out with someone who most people consider wholesome, for lack of a better term.”