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“I’m sorry I yelled, Sugarbear. Please join me on the couch.”
I nodded. “No worries.”
Releasing me, he took both our glasses and the bottle to the couch.
I loaded the few dirty things in his dishwasher, dried my hands, and joined him.
The pleasant surprise came when he pulled me over to him. “We should talk.”
I’d wanted those words desperately, and I snuggled up against his muscular frame. All the places we touched warmed me with a feeling I hadn’t felt in way too long.
I purred and snuggled closer. Tonight was about closeness and talking.
* * *
Adam
Her finger pausedits circuits of my thigh.
“He may be your brother, but Dennis is an asshole with zero morals,” I began.
Her hand left my leg. “He is not. You just have to give him a chance, and you’d see he’s a principled guy.”
I held out my right hand with the silver ring. “You asked about this ring. It’s a reminder of what that fucker took from me.”
Her hand came back to my leg as she snuggled toward me. “I’m listening.”
“A scout for the Cowboys gave me this ring junior year.” I stopped to gather the strength to recount the story. “I’d had a really good game at the Rose Bowl. All the scouts were there.” I smiled, recalling how wonderful that day had been.
Her arm over my chest pulled her closer.
“I was pretty sure I’d get drafted after my senior year if my stats stayed as good as they had been. I was going to have a shot at the NFL—a real shot.”
Kelly didn’t say a word.
“And your fucking brother ruined it.” I tensed as my anger boiled up. “At the beginning of senior year, he jumped me, and that’s when I got injured. Torn ACL. No games senior year, no NFL. It was all over.”
After a few seconds of silence she asked, “What was the fight about?”
“It wasn’t a fight. It was an ambush.”
“But why?”
“Complete bullshit. He thought I’d raped my girlfriend.”
The word triggered her to jerk up. “Rape?”
“He had it all wrong. Celeste, that was my girlfriend, had told me a week earlier that another guy, Alex, had forced himself on her—sort of. She didn’t use the wordrape, but what she meant was pretty clear. So, me and my roommate chased Alex half way across campus before we lost him. He was going to get a beatdown he wouldn’t forget. He left school right after that. All I could ever figure was that your brother heard the wrong name and decided to come after me. Asshole. Cost me my shot at the pros.”
She went back to hugging me. “I’m so sorry.”
I blew out a breath. “So now you know.”
“Did you ever confront Dennis about it—the mix up I mean?”
“What would be the point?”
She didn’t answer, because there was no answer to that question.
