Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Heat rolled through me, head to toe. “Oh, I see what you’re trying to do here. I can work with this.” My dick began to fill as I savored the feel of him beneath me.
Just as I went to lean down and take his mouth, Kenny said, “Don’t give up now, Ash!”
It snapped me out of the trance Ash always put me under. He said I had some kind of voodoo magic, but I didn’t. It was all him, the fucker.
I rolled off him and onto my stomach because, yeah, the boner was still there. He cocked a brow and laughed. Then I was laughing and Kenny was asking what was so funny.
“Your brother’s face,” Ash teased, shoving off the ground.
“Ha-ha. Very funny.”
“Come on, K-man. Let’s go into the house so Beau can come to terms with the fact that I won.”
“But Beau was winning,” Kenny replied.
“He gave in because he’s scared of me.” Ash laughed, put his arm around Kenny’s shoulders, and the two of them went inside. Little did Ash know he was right—I was scared of him and what he made me feel.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Ashton
Ashton Carmichael used to play like he was in love with the game, and Ashton in love was a beautiful thing to witness!
I adjusted Beau’s cap on my head. He glanced at me from the driver’s seat of his truck, but then his eyes went quickly back to the road. Today had been… Hell, I didn’t really have the words to describe what today meant to me. It had been like I had family for the first time in too long. In some ways, it was even different from my adoptive parents. I loved them, don’t get me wrong. There hadn’t been a part of me that hadn’t, but I’d also known I’d been living Dad’s dream for him. He’d wanted football, and at first I’d wanted it because I wanted to make him proud. Luckily, I fell in love with it. Beau loved football too, but it was different. His friendship—and Kenny’s and his mom’s—wasn’t forged from my play on the field.
“Am I ever going to get my hat back?” Beau asked, breaking the silence.
“Now come on, Campbell. You know me better than that. I always get what I want.”
“And you want my cap?”
I turned to him even though it was too dark to truly see him, and replied, “I want your cap.”
That wasn’t all I wanted from Beau. But considering I was me, I wasn’t sure how deep my want went or if I could handle the answer, so I didn’t add that I really just wanted him.
“So damn spoiled.”
“We’ve gone over this before.”
“Kenny loves you,” he added.
My eyes were drawn to the darkness outside the window, the headlights showing me a group of deer in the field as we drove out to my house.
“I’ve never seen him connect with someone as strongly as he does with you.”
My heart went wild, like the roar of the crowd in a packed stadium. “Well, I’m hard not to love.”
“Be serious.”
“I am. Seriously, have you known anyone who didn’t love me? And don’t roll your eyes at me.”
“You can’t even see me.” There was a chuckle in his voice.
“I don’t have to see you to know you, remember?”
“It’s okay to be vulnerable. You only are when it comes to sex with me.”
Because of course he had to mention that. I already hated the fact that I felt so out of step when it came to fucking around with him. “I liked you better when you were Cranky Campbell.”
“I can be cranky with you. I’m just about there already. Keep ignoring the seriousness of the situation, and I’ll be good and irritable. No one can bring it out of me like you.”
Which I had to admit, I fucking loved.
“Ticktock, Avoidance Ash.”
So I liked things on my terms. Big deal. “I’m not avoiding.” He turned toward me just as another car drove by, enabling me to see his cocked brow. “Okay, so I’m avoiding. It’s weird. Most of the time, I love the attention.”
“But it’s hard when it’s real. That’s how you know when it’s important—when it’s tough. You’re real good at playing the part, but I know you, Ash.”
He did. There wasn’t anyone in the world who knew me like Beau. Even when we were kids, I always felt like he somehow saw through me. I groaned, turned the hat forward, and leaned my head against the seat. “I love your brother. It feels good that he looks up to me. I’m scared to fuck it up, though, man. Or that I don’t deserve it. And then there’s your mom. She treats me like she does you and Kenny. Like…”
“Family?” Beau finished for me.
“I know it’s stupid.” How could they feel like I was family?
“No, it’s not.” Beau reached over and put his hand on my thigh. I set mine on top of his, rubbed my fingers against his rough skin, felt a lump that I knew was a prominent vein he had there, brushed my thumb over his knuckles. “They’ve both fallen for you. You might be stuck with us now.”