Page 4 of Undeniable Love

“It’s never been wrong,” Cameron finished for him.

“You’re screwed, kid,” Dalton added.

I was never laughed at, but I tried to play it off. The fact that everyone who knew Meredith knew what was going on and they thought it was hysterical left an uncomfortable itch between my shoulder blades. That one place that could never be reached.

My smile fell and my lip curled. “Why can’t we be friends?”

And what was this gift?

“I can’t be your friend, Tuevo.” She grinned, beautiful lips stretched into a wide, perfect smile and her hand settled on my shoulder. The first contact with her erased that itch, chilled the sweat, and left my heart racing. “Because someday, you’re going to make me your wife.”

Her brothers busted out in guffaws behind her, Cameron now bent over, hands to his knees as he tried to catch his breath. I scanned the table, the group, and my gaze settled on Hailey.

Her lips were pressed together, and her eyes were large, brows raised.

“What the fuck?” I stepped back.

This wasn’t funny. There was nothing funny about this. I took another step back, but it was Caleb who stopped me. The asshole.

“You can run all you want, but my brothers and I would like to go ahead and welcome you to the family, bruh.”

“You’re all fucking nuts.” None of this was funny. Some lame damn joke I was supposed to go along with? Fuck that. “Screw you,” I told Caleb and then glared at Meredith. She was chewing on her bottom lip and shrugged. “Screw all of you.”

I turned, snatched my beer off the table, and got the fuck out of there.

I was never getting married. I was attracted to Meredith. There was nothing unattractive about her, except for maybe the gift she claimed she had. And the worst part? Her brothers were in on it. What was this, one last prank of Caleb’s before we parted ways and became friends who would play against each other a handful of times a year?

He knew.

He knew how much I despised the very idea of marriage. No way in hell was I ever going to put a woman in that position. Not now. Not with Meredith. Not for all the money in the world and most definitely, although last on that list, never while I was in the profession I was in.

Ever.

Fuck Caleb and his pranks.

Fuck his brothers.

And fuck Meredith for going along with all of it.

CHAPTER 3

Meredith

Well, that hadn’t gone the way I expected, but I probably handled it badly. In my defense, I hadn’t thought the gift my family and friends gave me shit for was actually a thing, and I certainly never expected it to work on myself.

How damn ironic.

Tuevo hightailed it out of there so fast it was like he was on the ice, skating toward the goal, a breakaway with the puck with two seconds left on the clock and one chance to score a game-winning goal.

“Well, shit,” I whispered.

Caleb’s hand landed on my shoulder, shaking me without even meaning to, he was just that strong. “Want me to go talk to him? Explain?”

I shook my head and took a sip of my drink. “No. That’s okay. Probably could have handled that better. You mad?”

“What? That you’re going to marry my friend someday? Only that we’re now rivals, which means I’ll see you even less.”

I chuckled, took another sip of my drink, and rested my head against his shoulder.

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