Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
I laughed. Tucker was cool. I liked him a lot already. “Man after my own heart.”
“I’m guessing you’re not gonna tell me the real history with you and Big McRae.”
“Big McRae? You’ve seen him naked, too?”
Tucker chuckled, rubbing a hand over his buzzed head. “I bet you get him all riled up. Houston needs that, and I gave him that name because we have Baby McRae now.”
“I bet Garrett loves that.”
Tucker pumped his brows. “That’s why it’s so fun.”
Oh yeah. Tucker and I were gonna have a lot of fun together. I didn’t know what it was about the Rush, but it felt different here, better. I needed to remind myself not to get too comfortable. If it wasn’t for Houston, I might have already been tossed out on my ass. I never really connected with guys on my teams. This likely would be the same.
“Welp, since I can’t get laid tonight, I’m hitting the sack. Gotta be rested up for the game tomorrow.”
“Yeah, same here.”
We hit the lights, and he pulled up his covers. I couldn’t sleep, though. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and saw a text from my sister.
Charity: Roommates and fake dating. Do you know what you’re doing, Cull?
No, no I didn’t. I sure as shit wasn’t going to tell her that, though.
Me: It’s no biggie. I have it under control.
I closed out of the message and went straight to Houston’s name.
Me: Hey, boyfriend. Miss me?
Houston: Nope. I was actually just thinking about how quiet my condo is without you.
Me: Lies.
Houston: You wish.
Me: Dick pic?
Houston: No.
Me: You rolled your eyes, didn’t you?
Houston: Go to bed.
Me: Not until you admit it.
Houston: I can just ignore you.
Me: But you won’t.
Houston: Don’t congratulate yourself too much. When do I not roll my eyes at you? Go to sleep. You have a game to win tomorrow.
Me: What are you going to give me if I do?
Houston: Wouldn’t you like to know…
My pulse spiked.
Me: Really?
Houston: No. Goodnight, Cullen.
Me: Goodnight.
I went to sleep with a stupid smile on my face.
“What’s up, future brother-in-law?” Garrett wrapped an arm around me, then tried to give me a noogie as if we’d known each other for ten years. I nearly tripped over the bench in the Jacksonville locker room, but he caught me.
“What the fuck?” I laughed, playfully pushing him away. It was crazy how different he was from Houston sometimes, but other times, I saw the similarities between them. While I knew he liked busting my balls, and everyone else’s if he could, I also thought he was giving me so much shit to help me feel more comfortable here. That was something Houston would do, too.
“Just being social to the fam.” He winked, both Tucker and Ramsey rolling their eyes.
“You tease him about Houston, I’ll remind him that we gotta win this fucking game.” Ramsey was hot as fuck, but he was looking at me with all sorts of seriousness right now, radiating distrust. He was letting me know without words that he didn’t have faith in me. I sure as shit wasn’t going to let that slide.
“I’ll make sure we win this game. I can promise you that.”
The right side of his mouth twitched just enough that I knew he was trying to hold back a smile. Ramsey liked me but didn’t want me to know he did. He was at least amused by me, and he had to know I was fucking good.
“I’ll hold you to that, Atwood. I’ll do my part. You better fucking do yours.”
“I will. I wouldn’t want to let my future brothers-in-law down.” I eyed both him and Garrett. “We can celebrate by having you guys over to Houston’s and my place one night when we get back.”
“I can’t believe you’re dating McRae,” Cross, our tight end, said. “The Big McRae, I mean. They have magic dicks or what? Everyone wants a piece of them.” He chuckled. It was nice to know he wasn’t a homophobe.
“It’s more like they have good taste in men.” I waggled my brows and was surprised when Ramsey gave me a high five.
“I almost said I like the magic dick option better but then remembered I’d be talking about my brother’s cock and…yeah, not going there. Though now I can see why me and Ramsey’s sex talk freaks Houston out so much.” Garrett gave a dramatic shudder.
“You know we can always talk about football instead of who’s fucking who,” Ward said.
“Jealous?” Garrett and I asked at the same time before we both cracked up laughing.
It was Coach Baker clearing his throat that got everyone to pay attention real fucking quickly. “You all do realize this is a professional NFL locker room, right?” he asked, everyone replying that we did. “Then act like it.” He eyed me, and I couldn’t help but feel the pressure weighing down on me. Fuck, I needed to get my shit together and make this work. Houston had put his ass on the line for me, making up the lie about us dating and being willing to keep it going for the rest of the season. I couldn’t stand the thought of letting him down. I felt like that’s all I did when it came to him.