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I was somewhere around the Js when I stopped looking.
Jackie, Jada, Jayla, Jasmine, Jess, Jocelyn, Josie, and Juliana were all unique and I’m sure lovely women, but to be honest, I can’t recall specifics about a single one of them.
I called Lincoln a few days ago and let him know he could have my plus one ticket back, and I opted to go solo. Maybe I’ll find someone there, maybe not.
I don’t know what he did with it or if he gave it away, but I guess I’ll find out if someone is beside me when we take our seats tonight.
“Ready?” my dad asks. He’s wearing a boring black tuxedo, and he gives me a once-over. “The fuck you wearing?”
“It’s paisley,” I say, glancing down at my jacket. “The invitation said it’s a formal event, so I skipped the animal faces tonight. What’s wrong with this?”
His brows quirk, but he holds up a hand as he raises his brows and sighs as if he can’t figure out where he went wrong with me. “Nothing,” he mutters. “Let’s go.”
I smile as he turns. There’s something really satisfying about annoying my father purely with my choice of clothing.
We’re photographed on the red carpet as we walk into the star-studded event, and I’m interviewed by my sister-in-law, Jolene, after I walk into the hotel where the event is being held.
“Who are you wearing?” she asks, and I tell her. She asks me a few other questions about who I’m hoping to see tonight, and I give the standard answers about my teammates who are like brothers to me when, in truth, they’re not.
Grayson retired, as predicted at the end of last season, so my actual brother isn’t my teammate anymore. I can’t count the head coach as a teammate, and my real teammates don’t really seem to like me all that much, with the exception of a few of the wide receivers I’ve gotten friendly with.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m the coach’s brother or if it’s because I was suspended for a year, but either way, I often feel like an outcast. And if you can’t be a part of the brotherhood with your own teammates, well, you’re pretty much fucked.
But I’m here tonight, and I find Grayson and Ava by the bar when I walk in, which is where I plan to be stationed all night.
I head in that direction, and I greet some teammates along the way with a friendly nod of my head or one of those close-lipped smiles.
Ava gives me a hug, and Grayson slaps me on the back as I nod at the bartender.
“What’s on tap?” I ask.
“Stella, Coors Light, Michelob Ultra, Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, and Guinness.”
I’m not picky when it comes to beer. Sometimes I like an IPA, sometimes I prefer a lager, and sometimes I’ll really throw things off and drink whiskey just for fun.
And as I glance around the room tonight, I can’t help but think it’s a whiskey kind of night.
“Whiskey,” I say, and the bartender nods with a chuckle.
“Ice?”
I shake my head and toss a bill into the tip jar. When he sees the denomination of the bill, he pours a little more into the tumbler.
He hands it over with a smile, and I stand chatting with Grayson and Ava for a while until Ava sees some of the other football wives she wants to catch up with.
“What’s going on, man?” Grayson asks. “How was mandatory minicamp?”
I roll my shoulders and reach up to massage one that’s got a knot in it from a week of training. “Same shit every year. You’d think at some point I’d be smart enough to stop putting my body through it, but it’s the addiction to the game. How’d you give it up?”
He laughs and holds his drink in the air toward his wife. “I found a woman I was more addicted to than I was to football.”
As he says the words, a woman with long, red hair wearing a gold dress that offers see-through peeks of her skin walks up to the bar. She tosses that long hair behind her shoulder, and Ilisten, mesmerized, as she orders two drinks: a shot of vodka and a dirty martini, extra dirty.
She picks up the shot of vodka while he makes the martini, and fuck, she’s sexy. I watch her as she taps the shot glass on the bar, then tips it up to her lips. She sucks back the liquid, swallows without a flinch, and slams the glass back on the bar without even wiping her mouth.
“You know what I mean?” Grayson says. “Ash? Asher? You with me?”
I clear my throat as I tear my gaze from the woman and force it to my brother. “Huh?”
