Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Wait…there are straight men in Fever Falls?” Ash asked, and it earned another round of laughs from all of us.
“Ugh. I miss Rush,” Linc grumbled.
Beau put an arm around him and kissed his forehead. “He’ll be home tomorrow.”
“And we have a Skype sex date scheduled for later.” Linc waggled his eyebrows, and damned if I didn’t feel my cheeks flush, thinking about what I’d done with Carter.
I felt Cam’s eyes on me, and he cocked a knowing brow. He would never tease me about that in front of everyone, though. That wasn’t how my brother worked.
“Are you guys just going to block my bar all night?” Jude asked.
“Yes,” Cam replied.
“Carter was great up there,” Dax added, and my eyes shot to him. Was he looking at me when he said that? Did he know about us? Not that it mattered, and no, he wasn’t looking my way. I was pretty sure he was just proud of his friend.
“Yeah, he was,” Jace replied. “I think he’s fitting in nicely here.”
Dax rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t count on it. He’s having fun for now, yeah, but I don’t believe for a second Fever Falls will hold his attention for long.”
It was as if someone had dropped a weight into my gut. It wasn’t something I didn’t already know. I’d thought it plenty of times myself, but it was different hearing it from Dax. Carter was too damn big for the Falls. He had too much… Fuck, everything. How could a place like this hold his attention? How could I?
Did I want to?
“How’re the wedding plans going?” I asked Ash and Beau, hoping to change the subject.
“Fucking great!” Ash replied, and you could see how serious he was. He couldn’t wait to be married to Beau. “He’s really fucking lucky to be marrying me,” Ash added.
“Oh, screw you,” Beau replied. “You’re the lucky one. I’m the only person who could put up with your shit.”
Ash grabbed him, pulled him close, and nuzzled him. “You like dealing with my shit. Wait. That sounds weird. I didn’t mean it like that.”
There was a round of laughter around the bar. Jude passed out drinks to everyone, and Ash and Beau spoke a bit more about their upcoming wedding in November. Kenny and Linc were Beau’s best men, and Rush and Ash’s friend Wyatt were his. Wyatt didn’t spend much time with us. He and his wife, Holly, just didn’t quite fit in with our group, but he and Ash had been best friends growing up. They’d gotten closer again since Ash’s return to Fever Falls.
A few minutes later, I heard, “Um…why are you guys acting like you can have fun without me?” and looked up to see Carter approach. His face was clean of makeup, and he was back in his usual clothes—jeans and a nice fitted tee.
“Fun without you? That’s possible?” Dax teased him.
“No, not really.” Carter’s eyes darted toward me before he settled in beside me.
“You wanna sit down?” I found myself asking as I scrambled off the barstool. It was just a reflex, but I felt the eyes of everyone in the bar—okay, maybe just everyone in our group—on me. “Just being polite. He was the only one of us in heels tonight.”
“Do I not count?” Serena asked.
Fuck. I hadn’t noticed her approach.
“Thanks, sugar.” Carter winked playfully. I could tell he was trying to turn it into a joke and pretend my offering him my stool was nothing.
“Here you go, Serena,” Cam got off his and offered it to Dax’s mom. My brother was the best.
“You didn’t offer me a stool,” Ash joked.
“Shh! We’re not acknowledging that Carter and Sawyer have been hanging out. They’re friends,” Linc said, and I wanted to strangle him. I saw Dax look at Carter, but Carter ignored him.
“You guys are gossips,” I said.
“Never underestimate the power of the gayvine.” Linc grabbed his glass and held it up. “To the Saturgays—minus Rush, who’s the best member of the Saturgays, and ugh, I miss him. I’m not afraid to admit it anymore!”
Everyone laughed again, and we held our glasses up and clinked. After that the conversation went on about other stuff besides Rush and, thankfully, me or Carter.
It wasn’t long before Linc said he had to go. Rush was on the West Coast, so it was earlier for him, and as we already knew, they had a Skype date coming up. He was killing it this season and had the points lead. His injury last season had screwed him out of the championship, but he was hungry for it this year, and I had no doubt he would get it.
Everyone else mumbled that they were ready to go too, except Cam, who said, “I’m going to keep the resident straight guy busy,” and nodded at Jude. “I’ll call you tomorrow, BB.”