Page 111 of Never You

“So, you’re really done with Emily?”

“Have been for a while now. She has hopes we will get back together every time we have another bullshit fight. She doesn’t want to break up, but I’m not in love with the girl. Never have been. We were still together to make sure my father’s election didn’t get jeopardized, but I can’t do it anymore. I can’t give up Rae. I want her, man.”

“Yeah, no shit, Jensen. You look like a lovestruck teenager.”

“What?” I bellow, disbelieving. “I do not!”

Hunter holds his fist in the air, raising up a finger with every sentence that comes out. “You touch her every chance you get. You can’t stop looking at her. You’re smiling so much it's starting to scare the living shit out of me because I know you as a brooding son of a bitch.”

“Like you?” I counter.

“Exactly like me! I was a fucking Grinch until Charlotte and I finally got together. Until I finally admitted what everyone knew all along.”

I eye him, taking another pull of my beer. “You sound like Bodi.”

“Bodi is right.”

I grunt, rolling my eyes. “If I’d get a grand every time someone says that.”

“Well, Bodi is a bit brighter than you are, so don’t blame yourself,” Hunter taunts, and I hit his snapback off his head.

“Ay!” he chuckles, grabbing it from the floor to put it back on his head. “So where’s he anyway? Hooking up with Rae’s cousin?”

“Yup, hernineteenyear old cousin.” My lips lift to my ears, my brows moving up.

A whistle flies over his tongue. “Maybe he should move in with Jason. They can pick up tail tag teaming.”

“Those two are way too nice to fuck a new girl every night.”

Hunter hums in agreement. “That’s true.”

“Besides, Bodi is moving to Atlanta. His dad lives in a facility there. Wants to stay close. He actually mentioned we should all hang out soon, we haven’t seen Jason in a while.”

“Me neither, he’s busting his ass to get a promotion at Valor. I told him he should start his own agency, but he’s convinced he needs to learn more first.”

“You think he’s gonna stay in LA?”

“For now, yeah. One day he’ll be back. He’s like me. We love the glitz and glam of the big city, but deep down we’re country boys at heart. We can never grow roots there. We belong here.With her.”

I study his features.

He’s come a long way from the tortured kid I moved in with when I signed with the Knights. It was temporary housing,something the American Fighting Association and the coach of the Knights cooped up to keep the costs low, but when I had the resources to get my own place, I didn’t.

Living with Hunter and Jason made me feel less lonely. Like I had allies in my best friends, knowing they’d have my back because they didn’t want anything from me.

They didn’t need anything from me.

Just like Rae.

I have nothing to give her but myself and a whole lot of headache that will sure come my way when I pursue this, but she hasn’t given me the feeling she has anything to gain by being with me.

She makes me feel wanted forme.

There is no hidden agenda when it comes to Rae Stafford.

And it makes my heart beat faster for her every day.

Hunter’s snicker pulls me out of my daydream and I look up as he puts his beer to his lips.

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