I’m always nice. And what the hell is it with you guys and ballerinas? First Maverick finds one and now you. Seriously.
Finn
I haven’t found one. She’s my friend. And Jamie’s the dick, this time. I’m gonna need you to be nice this time, brother.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say she liked my dick last night, but even I’m not that big of an asshole. I just happen to have the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old. Dick jokes never get old.
Jamie
I’m not always a dick.
Finn
I’m not going to argue. We’ll be there in a few minutes.
I look across the kitchen island to where Ryker is dipping his grilled cheese in his tomato soup with a shit-eating grin and my lazy brown and white English Bulldog, Gus, sleeping by his feet.
“What?”I sign and say, unsure if he’s wearing his hearing aids today.
“He’s got to be tapping that, right?”he answers before biting into his sandwich, and I can’t begin to explain the red mist I see at the thought of my little brother touching Ashton that way.
“No,”I groan.
In all the years Finn and Ashton have had their weird-ass, codependent friendship, he’s always sworn that’s all it was.Friendship. As far as I know, he’s never made a move and never wanted to. And I’ve asked a few times over the years.
If I didn’t know him the way I do, I’d think maybe women weren’t his thing. He never makes much time for them. He’s always been too busy focusing on his career to spend more than a night or two with anyone. Even so, how he’s never been attracted to this particular woman is beyond me.
If things were different with them, I would’ve never let anything happen last night.
I’m an asshole, but even I have boundaries I don’t cross.
But Ashton is... Fucking hell. She’s gorgeous and feisty and intelligent and kind when she’s not being a raging bitch, which Finn swears she only is around me.
And my little brother just invited her to stay here.
In my house.
Guess she didn’t mention last night to Finn.
Why the hell does that piss me off?
“There’s no way they’re together,”I tell Ryker, who’s watching me with a little too much interest. Like he knows there’s more.“Trust me.”
“Trust you?”Ryker drops his sandwich and stares in disbelief.“And why should I trust you, Murph? You hate that girl, don’t you?”
The bad thing about having friends who’ve known you all your life is they’ve known you all your life. Sometimes better than you know yourself. Ryker’s been like a little brother to me since he was born, sometimes more so than Finn. His olderbrother, Maverick, is my best friend. The three of us have played football together since peewees. We’re on the Philly Kings together. We lived together at Mav’s house with him and his daughter, Rosie, until he married his wife.
When it was time for us to give them their space, Ryker moved into my place instead of his own. A year later, Finn came home from med school to do his residency in Kroydon Hills, and well, I’m pretty sure I’m never getting rid of either of them now.
“I don’t hate her,”I protest, unsure how to explainjust how muchI don’t hate her these days.
Gus lifts his head right before the alarm chimes, and the security screen in the kitchen flashes red, letting Ryker know someone’s walked inside the house, and I turn and stare. Because Finn follows Ashton through the door, the bags I carried for her this morning in one hand and a baby carrier in the other.
Ryker and I look at each other for a second, then scramble out of the kitchen like our asses are on fire, pushing and shoving to get to the foyer first.
Four hours ago, Ashton Carmichael was single, without a kid in sight.
She was also naked and pliant in my arms.
