Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 100060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Tobias, Banks and Gabe trade long looks, going from questioning to resigned to determined in the space of a few seconds. “We’ll keep our egos at home tomorrow night,” Banks says. “This is about you. Not our male pride.”
“My ego doesn’t detach,” Tobias says, rolling a single shoulder. “That being said, it bothers me that we have upset you and I don’t anticipate doing it again. At least not by trying to pull you apart like a wishbone. I can’t help what comes out of my mouth.”
“We noticed,” I say, trading a smirk with this man I used to fantasize about daily.
The way he holds my gaze, subtly licking the corner of his lips definitely doesn’t raise the temperature of my skin to sizzling. Definitely not.
Lies.
“I’ll need to find a way to get you added to the guest list,” Gabe says, splitting a glance between Banks and Tobias. “I don’t have that kind of pull on my own.”
Wheels turn swiftly behind Banks’s eyes. It’s like looking in a mirror. “I’m the head coach of the New York Flare. We’re always looking for a good cause. Reelecting the mayor who has been a vocal supporter of the team is as good a cause as any.”
We simultaneously look at Tobias. “I’m the ultimate novelty. I’ll get in.” He huffs a laugh. “Coincidentally, I’m a novelty because I always get in.”
I don’t give him the satisfaction of reacting to that. “I don’t know. It’s still…a lot.”
“We won’t make it obvious.” Banks tips his head to one side, a corner of his lips quirking up, his manner sort of cajoling. He’s been so intense since we met, the charm hasn’t quite made an appearance, but here it is. He’s barely turned it on and my stomach has flipped over. “One more chance, Elise?”
“If I say yes, will you leave?”
“Yes,” they reply in unison.
I circle the three men, poking each of them in the shoulder. Their very hard, very muscular shoulders. Goodness. “I am not, under any circumstances, going to end up in a long-term relationship with you three. This is…I don’t know. An experiment that probably won’t go beyond tomorrow night. A diversion. I don’t have time for group chats and your knucklehead friends. Okay?”
“I don’t have any friends,” Tobias brags. “Does that give me an advantage?”
“Goodbye,” I call on my way toward the door, phone in hand. Is it my imagination or do they all seem to sniff me as I pass? “Gabe, which number is yours? I’ll air drop you mine.”
He lists the last four digits of his phone number and I shoot him my contact information.
“Ah, I see how it works,” says Tobias. “Steal from the lady. Start a fight during the orgy and still be the one to win her number. I’ve been going about this all wrong.”
“Apparently we both have,” Banks tacks on, dryly.
“See you all tomorrow,” I toss over my shoulder, not quite able to stop the smile that blooms on my face. But it fades in degrees when I find Karina watching me from the opposite end of the hall. She doesn’t look angry. No. Although she does raise an eyebrow at my askew clothing, not to mention the bickering male voices coming from the kitchen behind me. And while she doesn’t say it out loud, I can hear her reminding me about the article she suggested I write, instead of the deputy mayor/union boss exposé.
A week in the life of a woman in a quad.
After emerging from the kitchen looking like I bumped into a tornado, it’s going to be very hard to deny that I am in some kind of entanglement with them.
But a relationship?
No way. Nah. Never.
Chapter Seven
Banks
* * *
I’m not one hundred percent focused on practice. Closer to forty.
That much is obvious when I find my players breakdancing in the middle of the pitch when they’re supposed to be running a long passing drill. I fumble my whistle slightly on the way to putting it in my mouth, my clumsiness unusual. I issue the two, shrill staccato blows that my team is well acquainted with. It means I’m not happy.
“If you’ve got so much energy,” I shout across the freshly manicured grass. “You’ll have no problem running stadiums. Last man back runs it a third time.”
Another blow of the whistle cuts through their groans, but they waste no time sprinting off toward the stands, running up and down each row of stairs in a haphazard line. Truthfully, it’s not their fault I can’t concentrate enough to run a decent practice session today.
It’s her fault. Elise’s. Theirs, too.
Might as well get used to Gabe and Tobias. They are clearly as invested as I am.
And Jesus, I am very invested. It’s Saturday. Tonight is the mayor’s reelection gala. I’m attending as a designated fifth wheel. I should be exasperated or humiliated by my willingness to attend a date Elise is having with someone else, yet I find myself checking the time on my phone every eight minutes, approximately. Anxiously waiting to see her again.