He gave her his number?
I run my tongue along the front of my teeth.
Yeah… Riley Donovan and his shit haircut can suck it.
14: Mae
“Still hate shellfish?” Cam asks me, peeking over his menu to wiggle his eyebrows.
I deadpan him. “With a passion.”
“Yep, I was right. Moving to Colorado didn’t magically give you taste.”
Ignoring him, I sip my ice-cold water and order a chicken curry. “So,” I ask, shooting him a wry smile, “how’s the love life going?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
Cam’s been single for a while. He swore off relationships altogether after discovering his girlfriend of four years was cheating on him. I know it hurt him—more than he let on.
Charlotte and I were friendly, but I knew she walked all over my brother, and because he was in love, he allowed it to happen. There was nothing I could say or do to change his mind. It wasn’t until afterwards he admitted to me just how toxic their situation had been.
She was training to be a professional dancer, though, and my mother obviously loved her. Hearing about their breakup had sent her into a moody spiral, and she wanted nothing more than for them to rekindle things.
It isn’t going to happen, though. Cam has made that very clear.
I shrug. “Just wondering if you’ve met anybody. You know I want you to be happy.”
“Mae-Mae, Iamhappy. I don’t need a woman for that.”
“You mean you don’t need to be in arelationshipwith a woman for that,” I correct him. I’m well aware he sleeps around now, but after what Cam’s been through, he deserves to have a little fun—Charlotte was while he was ring shopping for the woman he thought he was going to spend the rest of his life with.
“You want to talk about the women Ifuck?” Cam chuckles, and I fake a gag, waving my hands to stop him from talking.
“No, thank you. I’m good.”
“Don’t ask, then.” He sips his bubbling beer. “How’s Nathan?”
Lately, it seems all people want to do is ask me about Nathan Slater. Frankly, I don’t know how he is because he’s almost impossible to read. Just when I think he’s dropping those heavy, rock-hard walls of his, he says something that makes it clear they’re very much still up—impenetrable and unyielding.
He wears his icy exterior like armour, his defences pushing anyone within a two-metre radius back.
And then he has the nerve to call me princess.
And act jealous when Riley Donovan is flirting with me.
He looked fucking hot doing it, though.
I knew I was never going to call Riley. He isn’t my type, but when Nathan stormed over to embarrass him in front of all of us, I wanted to fall out of the booth with laughter.
Because there’s one thing I hate, and it’s cocky, egotistical men.
“Still looks at the world like he wants to punch every person in sight, but other than that, I think he’s fine.”
“I mean, he has a reason to look at the world like he does. Have you met his father?” Cam laughs.
I shake my head. “Thankfully, no, but I haven’t heard great things.”
My brother shuffles his chair forward, pressing his elbows into the table. “He barges into the team’s locker room almost every game and speaks to the guys as if he’s their coach.”
