Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“We’re thinking September for the families,” Orrin tells the group. “Toward the middle of the month, probably. Dec, we’ll defer to you on that because Blakely is the only one in school.”
Declan nods. “Yeah, if we do three or four days, she can miss a Thursday and a Friday. Not a big deal. Kid’s smart as a whip.”
“Oh, we know.” Brooks laughs. “She’s too smart for her own good sometimes.”
“I’m thinking she needs a little help with her spelling,” Ryder jokes.
“And you.” Sterling points at me. “Get a handle on those golden tickets, will you?” he says, barely containing his laughter.
“At least I used a golden ticket,” I mumble under my breath. What I don’t tell them is that it’s been far too long since I’ve needed to use a golden ticket. That was the second week of October, and it’s late August. Hooking up just doesn’t have the same appeal that it used to. The gold ticket fiasco put things into perspective. I don’t need to bring that shit around my family. If I’m being honest, I don’t want to bring it around me either.
“You okay, Mav?” Archer asks. “You look like you’re thinking awfully hard.”
“I’m good. Just realized you fuckers are rubbing off on me,” I confess. These are my brothers, my best friends. I can tell them anything.
“How so?” Rushton asks.
I shrug. “Hooking up is losing its appeal. Blakely and her golden ticket put a lot of things into perspective for me. I don’t want to bring that around the family. The kids especially.”
“That’s one reason. Maybe it’s also because of a cute little blonde who’s new in town.” Merrick smirks, tipping his beer to his lips.
“That’s right,” Deacon chimes in. “I hear you’ve been seeing a lot of her.”
“Nope. Not seeing a lot of her.” Not really. I mean, it’s been a week since I’ve laid eyes on her. That’s not a lot.
“Really?” Ryder jumps in. “Jordyn says you’re Stella’s savior.”
I roll my eyes. “I helped her out. That’s not recent news. Hell, I brought her to Kincaid Central and let her meet all of you. I was running late, and I thought it would be good to introduce her since she was new in town. There are a lot of us; I thought that might make her feel like she wasn’t so much of an outsider.”
“You were awful attentive,” Sterling teases.
“I was being a nice guy. Dad, help me out here. You raised us to help those in need.” I give my father a pleading look, hoping that he’ll jump in with some of his words of wisdom and bail me out.
“Your mother and I tried to instill that in each of you. I think we did a pretty damn fine job, if I do say so myself.”
“Told you,” I sass my brothers.
“You’ve taken her to dinner, right?” Sterling asks.
“I did. Her and her daughter. I thought it would be nice to celebrate her job with Jordyn. I know she’d been stressing about it, and like I said, she’s new in town.”
“She stayed at our place after girls’ night,” Merrick reminds everyone. Not that they needed the reminder.
“Yeah, Ada was sound asleep, and she was exhausted too.” Instantly, my mind takes me back to that night. Not that it’s ever far from my thoughts. For the rest of my life, I’ll never forget the image of Stella straddling me while I made her come.
I expected things to be strained between us, and I think she was pulling away a little, but I refused to let her. She promised me that things wouldn’t change, and I made damn sure of that. I smile when I think about last weekend and our trip to get ice cream. Ada taking so many steps. It was cool to get to be there for that.
“Maverick, brother, it’s okay to admit you like her,” Brooks says gently. “Trust me, man. I’ve been there. Hiding it is so much work and puts a strain on your relationship.”
“I hear what you’re saying, but that’s not where we are. We’re friends. Her kid is cute as hell. That’s it. That’s all there is.” It doesn’t matter that I know what her pussy tastes like or that, with the help of her daughter, I tasted her lips again. Both were onetime incidents that I know I’ll never have the privilege of again. There is no point in mentioning it. Stella and I are friends. We’ve crossed a line or two, but friends are what we are. I’ve never had a female friend, and I’m digging it. I like spending time with her and Ada. I’m not screwing that up for a piece of ass.
“Leave him be,” Dad tells them. “He’ll tell us when he’s ready.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
Thankfully, Ryder’s phone rings, breaking up the conversation and giving me a break.