Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
I wish he wasn’t here. I can feel my bravado slipping, but Brock keeps his arm wrapped tightly around me, and I’m thankful it’s keeping my legs from collapsing.
“Oh my god,” Hartford’s voice sounds from somewhere far behind me. “Unhand her, Brock.”
Brock and I spin around to spot Hartford and Anya standing there, their eyes assessing the situation with laser-focus.
“What are you doing?” Anya asks, her eyes trained right on me.
“Brock and I are dating,” I say, my voice thin and threadbare now. My confidence is shot.
“Since when?” Hartford asks.
Brock only tugs me closer to his side. “It’s still new. We didn’t want to tell anyone just yet, until we knew this thing was real.”
I love how quickly he’s coming up with all the lies.
“But you two hate each other,” Anya says, and I blow out a breath of exasperation.
“Sexual tension,” I tell her, and I smile when I get the reaction I was hoping for.
Anya turns her nose up and makes a face of disgust as her boyfriend, Griffin, walks over and drapes an arm over her shoulders.
“What did I miss?” he asks, searching the faces of the small crowd we now have forming.
“Brock and Willow, apparently they’re a thing. You realize your couple name is Brillow, right? Like a Brillo Pad.”
“A what pad?” Brock asks.
Anya pulls me aside, and I was honestly waiting for this. She’s going to be the toughest sell of this whole façade. “Are you kidding?”
I worry my bottom lip between my teeth, wondering if I should just come clean with Brock’s older sister.
Anya and I have been besties since the second grade. She’s got five brothers, and I’ve also got five brothers. We found each other, and had so much in common, how could we not relate?
I met Hartford through Anya. Through the Atwood’s, and now as Anya stares at me, wondering how on earth I’ve come to start dating her younger brother, she’s furious.
She can tell I’m lying. I’m sure of it.
“Remember how you and Griffin kept your relationship a secret from everyone?”
Anya parks a hand on her hip. “We kept it a secret from my brother. I still told you, though.”
I swipe my brown curls away from my face. “I should have told you. It’s so new. I didn’t want to have anything go wrong between us if things didn’t work out.” Yes, this is a perfect angle I can use. So now, I drive my point home, “You’re my best friend. I had to be sure what Brock and I had is important enough to tell you, because if it isn’t I don’t want to risk our friendship.”
Anya’s eyes soften. “You can always tell me anything. When Brock and Millie broke up, I didn’t fault her for it.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Anya smiles. “It’s just going to take some getting used to.”
Hartford joins our little huddle. “Are you seriously dating him?”
Anya nods, completely on board and I breathe a sigh of relief. “Yes, they are. She didn’t want to tell us because she was afraid it wouldn’t work out between them.” She smiles at Hartford, and then focuses her attention back on me. “How long have you two been…” her words fall away, and omg, I know exactly what she’s thinking.
She’s thinking about Brock and I having sex.
Gross.
“We haven’t done that yet,” I rush out. “We’ve barely done anything at all. Mainly just talking, getting to know each other.”
Anya and Hartford share a look.
“Maybe that all changes this week,” Hartford says with a waggle of her eyebrows.
“Gross,” Anya and I say in unison.
Anya gives me a look, probably wondering why I’m saying gross to sex with a man I’m currently supposed to be dating.
I need to get my act together.
I giggle, like it’s all a big fucking joke, and return to Brock. Lake has left, but now Brock’s youngest brother, Tripp has joined the cluster.
“Hey Willow,” Tripp says, and he glances over at Paxton. “Anyone seen Callum?”
Paxton shakes his head. “He’s coming in a few days before the actual wedding. Says he couldn’t leave the brewery that long.” Paxton rolls his green eyes, and Hartford wraps her arms around him.
“You know how devoted your older brother is.”
Paxton huffs. “I thought he’d be able to take off one fucking week.”
I watch as Paxton and Hartford look so in love with one another. It makes me wonder if I should be groping Brock more.
I don’t.
I’ve known the Atwood’s for a very long time, and Callum’s the eldest brother. A true workhorse. He started the brewery with his two younger brothers, Shepherd, and Paxton, and their good friend, Griffin. Together the four of them made Atta Boy Brewery and Restaurant what it is today.
Once Brock turned eighteen, he started working there. He’s now twenty-two, and I’m twenty-four. Not a huge age gap, but I’m sure I’ll get some robbing the cradle jokes soon enough.