Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 104766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
I shift uncomfortably, suddenly feeling exposed. “I’d be lying if I said you were wrong, but I’ve been trying to figure things out.”
Drake regards me for a few moments. Crosses and uncrosses his arms. “Out of the two of us, he’s always been the sensitive one. I’m not sayin’ you can’t count on me, but if you ask anyone who’s the most reliable, they will almost always say Drew.”
Silently, I nod.
He’s not telling me anything I don’t already know.
“And before I met Daisy—before we started datin’ and getting to know each other—I knew Drew was going through a tough time. He never said it directly, but I think he was thinkin’ of quittin’ the team.”
My eyes widen. “He was?”
He mentioned something about being unhappy but hadn’t said anything about quitting the team.
“Like I said, he didn’t actually tell me. It’s just a feelin’ I had, and I wanted him to be happy. And so I downloaded the datin’ app and started talkin’ to girls for him, and that’s how I met Daisy.”
This I knew.
“And I got the feelin’ that although he was happy for me, he was a bit crushed that now he’s the only Colter who doesn’t have someone to love—who loves him back.”
I am intently hanging on his every word.
“Look, I know it’s not any of my business, but when Drew came back from Logan’s bachelor weekend—which I would have liked an invitation to, by the way, not that I’m complainin’. But I would have.”
Is this the point he’s trying to make?
I doubt it.
“When he came back from that weekend, he was excited. I could tell. So I don’t know what’s going on or if it has anything to do with the baby? But he doesn’t seem to know what’s going on either, and I know it’s not my business—but it kind of is—you should, you know. Tell him.”
My lips part. “Last night when we were at dinner, he introduced me to a fan as his—”
“Girlfriend?” Drake cuts me off.
“No. As his childhood friend.”
He waits as if there were more to tell. “And that upset you.”
“Sort of.”
“And now you’re letting it fester instead of talkin’ to him about it.”
I know my feelings aren’t trivial, but the reason I haven’t brought them up are because I’m not sure I have a right to claim to be more to him. I know he considers me a friend, and we’ve obviously had a bunch of sex. What if this is a friends-with-benefits situationship?
That is not what I want.
“I don’t want to overthink things. So I’m trying to process it before I bring it up.”
“Well, that ain’t gonna make matters better. Whatever scenario he dreams up in his imagination is gonna be far worse than the truth, as we guys so often do.” He chuckles. “You know, for what it’s worth, Drew’s not great with words. He probably didn’t even realize that introducing you as a childhood friend would upset you. He probably thought it was bein’ polite.”
I smile despite the knots in my stomach. “I know.”
Drake’s expression softens, and he takes a step closer. “You know, I didn’t come in here to poke fun at y’all. If you care about my brother, and I can tell you do, maybe you should take the initiative to start the conversation.” He sighs dramatically. “I feel like a damn relationship therapist.”
I meet his gaze, surprised by the genuine concern in his eyes. “I want to, but I don’t know how to bring it up. It sounds so stupid when I say it out loud. Drew, I hated when you called me your childhood friend. It made me feel like your sister.”
I pull a face.
Ugh.
He smirks again, that trademark expression of his. “Well, you could always take a page out of Drake Colter’s book and just blurt out, ‘Hey, let’s talk about our feelins like adults.’”
“Oh my god, you do not want to talk about your feelins.”
“Well no, I don’t. But sometimes I don’t have a choice. Daisy doesn’t let me stew about shit.” He rolls his eyes. “Bless her heart.”
He sounds so much like his brother it’s bonkers, and all the similarities mess with my brain. The way they start sentences with “well” and the way he sighs and rolls his eyes.
Same eyes.
Same nose.
Same beard stubble on his face.
From the next room, the sound of the shower being turned off has Drake and I glancing at one another.
“I should go before he walks in here. He’ll want to know what ideas I’ve been tryin to fill your head with.” He laughs good-naturedly.
“True.”
“Anyway. Think about what I said. I don’t think it’s a big deal that he called you a childhood friend ’cause that’s what you are, eh?”
“Right.”
But what I am and what I want to be are two different things.
Don’t I wish I were the kind of girl who could just blurt out everything she felt, whenever she felt it?