Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 131271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
“And the pictures of Shawn?”
“From before we got together,” I say. At least that softens Dad’s expression. He must have thought that Shawn was being unfaithful.
“Riley, I’m not saying they’re bad guys. But this? It’s messy. Complicated. And you’re the one taking the brunt of it.”
He must have read the comments, and as I predicted, it’s going to be me who takes the hit. For Shawn, two women in his bed made him a stud to be celebrated, even revered. Me having three men in mine is about to unleash the full weight of hell’s judgment.
I look away, his words sinking in like stones.
“Just... think about it,” he says, standing. “Think about whether this is worth it. Because if it’s not, you need to walk away before it hurts you more than it already has.”
***
In my room, the weight of his words presses down on me. I risk a look at social media and find everything I expected. The speculation. The vitriol. The disgust.
“This is gross. I can’t believe the university is letting this slide. They’re supposed to be role models.”
“Three brothers and one girl? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Hope they’re ready for the fallout.”
“Riley playing 4D chess while the rest of us are stuck on Tinder.”
“The Draytons out here proving teamwork makes the dream work.”
“Anyone else thinking how stretched out she must be?”
“Coochie like a wizard’s sleeve.”
I cringe, mortified that my vagina is now the subject of speculation. And worse, there’s footage of Hayes and Forester facing off, and barely avoiding physical violence. There were too many people on both sides who stopped it before it could escalate.
My ego is bruised, and the varnish that protected our relationship has been well and truly tarnished.
The love, the connection, the passion with the Draytons is real, but so is the scrutiny, the judgment, and the whispers that’ll follow me.
It takes a long time for me to find sleep.
32
JACOB
She sent a message in the night.
Riley: Dad knows.
It’s the first thing I see, followed by a litany of other messages from friends and acquaintances asking, ‘Is it true?’ like any of the people asking are entitled to know about my private life.
Fuck them all. And fuck Shawn for being such an ass. When a person is a bad drunk and they’re responsible for a secret, they should know to stay sober. The dude has more apologizing to do, and he’ll be lucky if Riley doesn’t chew him up and spit him out after all the stress he’s caused her.
Jacob: I’m sorry, honey. Let’s discuss and maybe it’s time for us to come over and talk to your dad. Make him see that we’re serious.
I type it out so easily and then study the words as they’re delivered. Serious. It’s a word that defines me to the core. There isn’t much in my life that I’m not serious about. Hockey. My brothers. My friends. My education. Riley. And not in that order.
I have zero qualms about speaking to her father and telling him that she’s ours and we’ll do whatever it takes to win him around. The last time we were in the same room, we were kids, not the men we are today, and when he meets us and listens to what we have to say, I know we’ll have a good chance of convincing him of our intentions.
Or maybe I’m just fucking deluded. My brothers always tell me I can’t will everything I desire into reality simply by being pigheaded. I like to think about it as having a singular focus and a tenacity that can crush steel, and a desire to win that’s so strong it could obliterate the universe as we know it, but there you go.
The edge of a headache comes into focus, and I sit up, dropping the phone into my lap so I can chug a bottle of water and take some painkillers. A clear head is required for challenging days and today is going to be one of the worst.
We have a game tonight, and Coach called us in for a briefing. We’ll have to face our teammates, who by now must know everything. We’re going to have to face Coach, who was mad when Shawn’s pictures caused a scandal and will no doubt be furious now three of his players’ sex lives are being debated on social media.
I scan through some of the comments, dreading what I might find.
“Wow, talk about messy. Isn’t there some kind of rule about dating three men? This is giving Jerry Springer vibes.”
“I thought the Draytons were all about hockey, not some reality TV drama. What a disappointment.”
“Riley’s clearly a gold digger.”
“No one’s going to want her stretched out p*ssy after they’re done with her.”
I swallow the bile that’s risen in my throat because the criticism of us is about our professionalism, but the negative comments leveled at Riley are personal. Who the fuck thinks they have a right to debate my girl’s vagina on social media? Cowards hiding behind their stupid anonymous usernames. If I could find out who they were, I’d tear them limb from limb.