Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
Dunc presses his lips together for a half second before grudgingly spitting out, "Fine, but take a look at how you feel about Sadie, and that's how I feel about Fleur. She doesn't have an older brother. She has a negligent mom and her mom's shady boyfriend. And that's only the most recent one. Her mom goes through men like you go through jock straps."
"Not sure why you're keeping count of my sports underwear, Dunc." I heft a new cue. It doesn't feel as heavy as I'd like. "But I'm touched you care."
"This is why I never talk to you."
"I wish you kept to that principle but, Dunc, you've done nothing but talk since we got in here. I've racked, broken, and sunk four balls, and all you've done is twist the cue between your palms."
"I let you rack."
I sigh and lean my new cue against the side of the table. "When the parentals said that they wanted us to bond, the pool table was the wrong thing for them to buy, wasn't it?" Duncan Donovan is good at many things. He built Sadie this desk that has a fold-down table, and even I can admit that shit was cool. He's also pretty smart even though he doesn't want to go to college.
I, on the other hand, will be attending college because I can catch anything and I'm faster than most humans. Plus, I can't even build a Lego kit. But I'm athletic and have superior hand-eye coordination, which makes me a natural at pool. This is not Duncan's sport.
"We're in here because you hate the ATVs."
Outdoors is Duncan's sport. "I could die on an ATV, and then my pro career would be over."
Duncan manfully fights back a sneer of disgust at my ATV aversion. "They're very safe."
"When I retire from the NFL with my four Super Bowl rings, we will go on all kinds of adventures on your ATVs."
"Great. I'll hold you to that, but in the meantime, about Fleur—"
"I will shove this pool cue down your throat if you say her name one more time."
"She doesn't think you're serious," he continues in total disregard of my threat.
"I know."
Dunc blinks. "You...know?"
"Yeah, she thinks we're fake dating, and I let her think that because otherwise she would run and hide."
"Oh."
"Right. We done here?"
"Are you going to tell her at some point?"
"When she's ready, but that's for her and me to decide, not you. I don't interfere in your relationship with my actual sister and you don't interfere with my relationship to your not-sister. That's the only way our agreement works." I don't even know when the right time will be to tell her that I'm serious as hell. Last night was a step in the right direction. She let me touch her, let me make her come. She slept in my arms, but the next morning she ran out of the house like I'd burned her clothes and destroyed her laptop instead of shaking up her notions of how we fit together—but again, that's for me and her to figure out. We don't need outsiders trying to fix things for us, no matter how well-intentioned they are. My watch buzzes.
"Time’s up, bro. Have to go pick up Fleur."
"From what?"
"Her newspaper club thing is over in ten minutes. She might want to go home and check on her mom, and we can't have her alone in the apartment with the shady-ass boyfriend, can we." It's not a question.
"You know her weekend schedule and everything," Dunc says with a little wonder in his tone. "You really do like her."
"No shit, Sherlock. I've been trying to tell you that for a while."
He holds up his hands. "Sorry, man, just trying not to be an asshole. Listening to the good angel.”
“We both know that’s a lie. You don’t have them, remember?”
“I’m cultivating them right now.” Dunc pats his right shoulder. “The good angel is all of fifteen minutes old. You’d be amazed at what kind of advice it gives me.”
“I know you’re deranged, so any advice coming from your fifteen-minute-old good angel is going to be just as insane. It’s a good thing I’m leaving so you can have some alone time.” I open the door, and Sadie almost falls in. “Why didn’t you just sit in the corner inside so you could hear better?”
She flushes but slides past me to hook her arm with Dunc’s. “I didn’t want to make it seem like we were ganging up on you.”
“As opposed to whatever this is?” I wave toward the both of them and then shake my head when Sadie tries to speak again. “Forget it. Talk to Dunc about his fifteen-minute-old child. I have my girl to rescue.”
As I’m leaving, I hear Sadie say, “You have a fifteen-minute-old child?” to Duncan. I allow myself a small smile.