Page 66 of The Road Trip Romance

“Fuck off, guys! You don’t go by your real names either,” Penn grumbles.

I see Sophia arch an eyebrow and she looks over at me.

“Meet Pennington Adam Bakerfield, Rexton Marshall Hutchins, Jordan Asher Quincey, and…” I pause because I haven’t exactly told her my real name yet, and now I feel silly.

“Wait, Tate’s not your name?” she asks, her eyes widening.

“Brooks Tate Anders,” I explain.

“Brooks…” She lets my name roll off her tongue and I smile. I like her saying it.

“Well, nice to meet you all,” she says as she narrows her eyes. “I can’t believe I’ve been with you guys a whole week and no one bothered to mention your real names.”

We laugh, but I stop when I see Sophia’s eyes. She’s hurt. I turn toward her and take her face in my hands.

“Look, none of us typically go by our real names unless we need to shield our identities or we’re in court or something. I haven’t gone by Brooks since high school, and even then, I’d sometimes go by Tate.”

She sighs. “I just wish you would have told me,” she murmurs as she looks into my eyes. Fuck. I hate that she’s upset. I gently kiss her lips.

“I’m sorry, M. Come on, let’s finish making Penn an account and then we can sort out everything for Jordan,” I suggest.

She nods and we spend the next hour doing just that. She laughs with the guys and shares little inside jokes. I really do love how she gets along with them. I see the hurt dissipate as the guys tell her funny stories of how they ended up shortening their names to what they are now.

She eventually curls back up against my side and I tuck her in tightly under my arm as she leans against my chest and naps while Penn takes a turn driving us. There’s so much we still have to learn about each other, but for the first time in a long time, I’m excited to start from the beginning, to take my time now and learn everything about this woman. I know I can’t stay on the East Coast forever, but I do want to stay for a little while if I can.God, I hope I can.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN

Sophia

After a meal of burgers at a drive-up restaurant, we head to the hotel in Cleveland that Rex booked us…fine, Rex broke down and called his assistant who booked it. At this point, I’m pretty sure that all four men are being tracked by their people via their cell phones. They’ve all been yelled at by agents, assistants, and security. But at some point, before we reached Devil’s Tower, I think their staff finally realized these men were going to do whatever these men wanted to do.

I admire that about them. They are trying to be free, and I don’t think that they’ve had a chance to do that in a long time.

“Damn, that was a good burger,” Tate says as he rubs his belly.

I poke him above his belly button and he grins at me. “You just ate your weight in grilled cow. I think we might have to roll you into the hotel tonight.”

“It was good. And I don’t have to film anything for a bit, so I indulged,” he mutters.

I lean against him with my head on his shoulder. “I’m glad you indulged. You need to indulge a little more in life. It’s too short to never do what you want to do.”

Penn pulls us into the hotel parking garage. I sit up and Tate leans over.

“Oh, I’m going to do what I want to do in just a few minutes,” he whispers with a wink.

I blush as I get out of the car.

“I’ll go in and grab the keys,” Rex says.

“You sure?” I ask as I look around the half-empty parking lot.

He lowers his baseball cap and nods. Rex hasn’t shaved in days, and he looks more mountain man than movie star. In fact, all of the guys seem to have adopted this persona.

Penn opens the back of the car, and we unload our bags. It feels like a routine now, and if I’m being honest with myself, a big part of me is going to miss this when I get home tomorrow.

Rex comes back after a few minutes and hands out the key cards.

“We’re leaving at five in the morning,” Penn says as we all head into the hotel.

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