“Dex!” I chide.
He holds his hands up. “I didn’t know who she was when I slept with her.”
“And who was the guy who said his brother would be mad?” I ask.
He glances at me. “Do you watch football?”
I make the face of the awkward emoji with my jaw clenched and a forced, unsmiling face. “Not really.”
“Well, if you’re living with me, you will.”
“How long am I going to be living with you?” I ask.
He glances at me. “Until the kid is eighteen?”
I laugh, but then I get serious when I realize he’s maybe not joking. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Of course. The guy who said his brother would be mad is Asher Nash, a tight end for my team. His brother is our head coach.”
“Ohhh,” I say, drawing out the word as it all seems to come together. “Will you get in trouble?”
“For punching an asshole at a charity event?” I nod, and he shrugs. “Maybe. Probably. Who knows?”
“Don’t you care about the consequences of your actions?”
“A monetary fine was worth hitting that douchebag for what he said.” He presses his lips together with a bit of finality, as if that’s that on that.
We keep walking until we head inside the New York–New York Hotel and Casino.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask.
“You’ll see.”
I follow him through the casino, and we head up an elevator until we’re standing in line for… “The roller coaster?”
He shrugs. “Life is full of choices and consequences. They’ll be there whether we worry about them or not. Sometimes you just have to let go, say fuck it, and enjoy the ride.”
“By riding a roller coaster?”
“By chasing a thrill. By having some goddamn fun once in a while.” He pays for two tickets, and I guess I’m doing this whether I want to or not.
CHAPTER 10: Dex Bradley
Fuck It
We climb the lift hill toward the peak of the roller coaster with the fake New York skyline to one side and the real Vegas skyline to the other. Instead of watching the hill or either skyline, I’m watching her.
She’s something else. She’s no-nonsense when it comes to Jack, which is probably exactly what I need. She keeps trying to convince me I can do this. She didn’t yell at me for hitting Jensen. She wanted to go home, but she came with me anyway. And now we’re on a roller coaster where I’m teaching her to take more risks in life since she’s trying so hard to teach me to step up and take responsibility for my actions.
Maybe we could each use a little of what the other has. Maybe we could rub off on one another.
I never saw her as anything more than my little sister’s best friend until she walked out in that black dress tonight—barring the ass in the nighttime shorts incident, of course.
The neckline plunges down to her waist but still manages to keep her covered, and all night I’ve wanted that dress to slip out of place.
Is that so much to ask? Just a tiny peek ofher tits?
I raise my hands into the air when we get toward the top, and when she sees me do it, she does it, too. And as we lift over the top of the hill and start the descent down the one-hundred-forty-four-foot drop, I hear her scream, “Fuck it!”
