Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“Still sure about this?” I asked Tucker again as I drove us to the Salty Pearl, which was one of Venice Beach’s newest hotspots, an oxymoronically hyped “swanky dive bar.”
“Nah. Let’s just go back to your place.” I tapped the brakes, totally on board with that idea, and then Tucker cracked up. “We’re doing this, baby. It’ll be fine. Or it won’t. But there won’t be any bodily harm involved. At least not on my watch.”
I stared flatly at him. “Super reassuring. Thanks.”
“I mean it.” His fingertips landed on my shoulder, moving in soothing arcs as I drove. “Still getting heckled by fans?”
“Not much. I think most of them have moved on to the next big thing.” It’d been rocky for a couple of weeks after the NFL concluded their inquiry, though. I’d seen signs in the stands calling me a traitor or implying I or my parents had bribed the NFL, and that was just the obvious stuff. “The Hardaways breaking up helped a lot.” The famous New York quarterback and his former-model wife had been together forever, so their separation and the subsequent crazy details coming out about mass orgies they’d hosted were all over the news. “I stopped looking at the headlines. I mean, fuck it, I’m just gonna play until I can’t or until I get let go. Everything else is just noise, right?” I glanced over at Tucker to find him grinning at me. “What?”
“Two things. One, would you ever be involved in a mass orgy?”
“Probably not, but shit, isn’t that kinda how we ended up here in the first place?”
He chuckled. “On a much smaller scale, maybe, but yeah. Mostly, we ended up here because your stubborn, jealous ass didn’t want to be one-upped by me.”
I rolled my eyes. “I just didn’t want Monica to experience the inevitable disappointment of going home with you. So, what was the second thing?”
“Hold up, ‘disappointment’?” Tucker snorted. “You saying sex with me is disappointing? Cuz those sounds you make when I’m railing you don’t sound so much disappointed as—” I reached out, clapping a hand over his mouth to muffle him, and felt his laughter vibrating against my palm. “The second thing is,” Tucker said after pushing my hand away, “that you’re nervous as fuck right now.”
“I’m not nervous.”
“Yeah you are, baby. But it’s cool. It’s gonna be fine.”
I was nervous as fuck.
Houston, Cullen, Ramsey, and Garrett were already at a table when we arrived. Unlike the last time when I’d busted in on their get-together, Tucker was at my side. We approached, and they all fist bumped and hugged him before upnodding me and making room for us at the table. Despite the casual ambience, I sat down feeling like I’d just stepped in front of a firing squad.
Garrett smirked. “Isn’t this cozy? Just a bunch of Rush guys and one Royal asshole hanging out.” Ramsey smacked him on the back of the head. “What? Just stating the obvious.”
“Houston’s a Royal, too,” I pointed out, refusing to get my hackles up.
“Can confirm he’s also an asshole,” Cullen said, earning a bird from Houston.
“Hey, everyone’s gonna play nice tonight, okay?” Tucker grabbed a pair of beers from the bucket the waitress delivered and passed one to me.
“You’re no fun,” Garrett groused.
I cracked my beer and set it aside. Time to broach the elephant in the room. “I should probably just offer a blanket apology for the last time we all met up. I was…not in the best headspace, and it was totally uncalled for.”
Houston clinked his beer to mine. “Been there, I get it.”
But Cullen cocked his head. “Patrick Whitt is apologizing?” He shot a pointed look at Tucker. “You got that magic peen or something?”
Tucker cracked up, but Ramsey looked horrified. “I better never hear the word ‘peen’ come out of your mouth again.”
“I can’t wait until we can get out of here and I can play with your peen,” Garrett faux-whispered dramatically before cracking up with delight.
“Swear to god, G.” Ramsey groaned.
“Oh yeah, there’ll be plenty of swearing when I’m handling your peen.”
“It’s always like this, pay no mind,” Tucker said to me sidelong, which I supposed meant my apology had been accepted. Maybe?
“Your touchdown in the second quarter was incredible,” I said to Garrett, trying to move away from peens, because Jesus. Though it was kinda reassuring that the Rush guys descended into dumb jokes as often as the Royals guys and I did when we hung out.
Garrett eyed me up and down. “You trying to butter me up now?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. Is it working?”
“No.”
Ramsey glanced over at Garrett and burst into laughter. “He’s lying. He’s a total praise slut.”
“Maybe you should keep it coming.” Garrett waggled his brows. “You see that interception I had against Seattle?”
“Not as impressive as today,” I replied.
“Shit.” Garrett scoffed, then paused and nodded. “Alright, you’re not wrong on that one.”