Page 4 of Totally Geeked

“Fine,” I agree.

“Awesome,” Gordon replies, and then I hear someone call out something to him that sounded an awful lot like, “Where’s the bar.” “I’m going to fit in a quick workout. Get here at about seven thirty. I’ll take care of dinner,” Gordon blurts, then hangs up.

“Did someone just ask Gordon where the bar is?” I question Noah, and I swear I catch the slightest of smirks on his lips before he stands.

“It was probably a teammate,” he calls back on his way toward his room. “They’re working out. You use bars and dumbbells, all that shit in a gym. I’m going to take a shower,” he finishes before closing his door behind him.

I think they’re both full of shit.

Chapter three

Harrison

“Harrrrrryyy,” Gordon slurs, slappingme on the shoulder. He and a handful of the other players are already several drinks in. “Get ya self a drink and join the boys out back.”

Gordon is my best friend in the whole world, and overall badass businessman. He inherited some money when his father passed and was smart enough to invest it in a few of those crypto things before they really took off, and he used some of that to start his party planning business. Even with all his money, though, he’s still just one of the guys.

I weave my way through the crowd filling up his living room, toward the bar in the corner. Anyone who has never been to one of Gordon’s places might think he had it set up just for the party, but we know better. Gordon had this place redesigned when he bought it a year ago, and the three bars are a permanent fixture. One on the upper deck overlooking the back, a pool bar so you don’t have to leave the pool or spa to get a refill, and the third to the left of the rear doors leading outside. It’s the perfect party house, and he’s had more than a few parties since he moved in.I’m kind of over the whole party scene and seeing Stevie share pictures of his new little boy in our group chat only highlighted for me yet again how alone I am. But no matter how alone I feel, I’m done filling that hole with random men. Hookups are a thing of my past. Now I’m going to let the universe send me someone thatdeservesme and my amazing cock.

I grab a glass of red from the tray on the side of the bar and head out back. The Animal Control crew are there, sitting in lawn chairs under a big oak tree, laughing about something. Alan jumps up from his seat when he spots me.

“’Bout time you got here,” he says, pulling me into a hug. I get a waft of the beer on his breath as he stumbles and sits back down.

“Don’t worry, boys, the party can start now,” I joke, scanning the people outside. “Shit, Gordon, how do you even know this many people?”

He tilts his head back and frowns taking in the crowd.

“I don’t recognize half of them, but I’m a few ahead of you in the drink department, so I might know them.” Suddenly, his face lights up, and he leaps from the chair and runs through the crowd to the back doors.

He almost slams into a short skinny guy with a wrist cast and glasses before another guy that could be Gordon’s younger, beefier twin gets between them and takes the hit. He swore he had brothers, and there’s a photo of three boys sitting on an old car bonnet he insisted were them. I’ve known him for years, but never met either, and often joked they were total figments of his imagination. But this doppelganger could totally be one. Gordon grabs the uncasted hand of the skinny guy and drags him toward us, their shared red hair the only similarity I can see. He’s keeping his head down and is stumbling after Gordon while the other guy follows close behind.

“This is Arlo and Noah,” Gordon says, swaying a little.

Noah shakes everyone’s hands, but when he gets to me, he doesn’t let go.

“Noah James, how about you and I go get a drink?”

Gordon waves his arm between us. “Nope, Harry is off limits.” He looks me dead in the eye. “My innocent little brothers don’t need to be corrupted.”

I mock insult, pulling my hand out of Noah’s grasp to clutch at my chest.

Noah laughs. “How do you know I won’t be the one corrupting him?”

“You can go back to college now,” Gordon says, and Noah just shakes his head.

“I’m going to grab a drink.” Noah winks at me on his way past, then weaves his way toward the pool bar. Gordon has nothing to worry about. New Harrison isn’t looking to hook up with anyone, let alone his cheeky younger brother.

“Arlo’s my little brother, too, so be nice,” Gordon explains, still clutching Arlo’s other hand.

While Noah was a ball of energy at the outset, Arlo clutches a book against his front with his casted hand like it could somehow create a barrier between him and everything else in the world.

“I’m Harrison, but my friends call me Harry,” I say, and he turns toward me. His big gorgeous blue eyes lock on mine and my stomach does a weird spinny thing. I really should have eaten before I came.

“Hi,” he almost whispers, pulling his hand free of his brother and using it to tuck his red hair behind his ears. He really doesn’t look much like Gordon at all, not like Noah. They both have the same flame-red hair, sure. But Arlo’s is long and hangs loosely around his face like a curtain he can hide behind. It contrasts beautifully with his porcelain skin and bright blue eyes, and I find myself unable to look away. Gordon drunkenly wraps hisarm around his brother's shoulder and pulls him toward the couch and they sit.

“That’s Benny and Alan,” he introduces, pointing at them one by one. “And that one’s Phillip and Arthur, oh and Harry. Wait, you met Harry. Harry, this is Arlo, my little brother.”

Those of us still relatively sober laugh.

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