Page 45 of Worlds Collide

“Are they staying with Clive?” he asks with a curious tilt of his head.

“Yeah, I’m having dinner with them?—”

“Why don’t you come stay at the ranch?” Hawk says like he just had a revelation. “You can stay in the guest cottage, study to your heart’s content while you see the sea, go to the beach or do whatever. You’ll be closer to the Darnells this week, too.” He pauses and must see the trepidation in my face. “Oh, you can at least do something like a trial run this week, and then come back to your apartment if you don’t like it. Or was it my brother that put that look on your face? To be honest, he barely leaves his place. He only goes down to the court or comes over for dinner once a week, so you can probably stay for the whole three months and never see him if you don’t want to.”

The careless wave of his hand does make me feel better, but...

“Are you sure he won’t be mad?”

“Well, Wolfie gets mad about everything, but you’re my friend and as long as you promise that you won’t go bother him on purpose, then you’re more than welcome.”

“I, uh... Can I think about it?” I hedge.

“Sure. You can come by anytime, it’s an open invitation.”

“Thanks.”

I do my best to smile genuinely at him, but the nerves in my belly are making it hard.

I do like the idea of staying at the ranch for some time, of course I do. I’d have one of their guest cottages to myself which would give me peace and time to study. That’s something that I wouldn’t get at my place with Gracie all worried about me, or at Clive’s sincehe’d for sure drag me everywhere with him in the hopes that he can cheer me up. Hawk’s ranch on the other hand, is quiet. Besides, the place is all-around awesome and has everything you could ever want.

Including Wolf.

Nope, bad CJ. I don’t want Wolf.

And that’s the only drawback. But if what Hawk said is right and he really doesn’t wander around, then maybe it could work?

“Why don’t you text Wolf and ask him if it’s okay. If he says yes, then I’ll still keep my distance, but I’ll happily stay at the ranch for as long as you guys will have me.”

Hawk’s smile stretches his cheeks to a crazy-looking degree, so I take it he likes that idea.

“I’ll call him right now!” he says excitedly and jumps up to leave the suite.

I look around and half the women are staring at him with a dreamy tenderness in their eyes, and the other half are looking at me like Adam’s aunt—gossip sharks, and I have the proverbial blood.

Hopefully Hawk gets back soon, because Tate left right behind him and I fear I might need assistance here soon.

FOURTEEN

WOLF

I send yetanother phone call from Birdie to voicemail. Three calls in less than two minutes, is he for real? He’s supposed to be watching his husband decimate Houston’s offense for fuck’s sake.

A minute later my phone vibrates again but this time just once.

“Boy, you sure are popular tonight,” Clive says.

I roll my eyes in annoyance. “I know,” I grumble. Then I check the message and it’s a minute and a half long voice note from Hawk. I hit play without thinking twice about it being on speakerphone.

“So, I know you’re going to jump to conclusions but before you do that, don’t, okay? Just hear me out,” he speaks quickly. “I asked CJ to come to the game with me because you know I’m scared of all the wives and girlfriends, and I just needed someone with me, okay? And also, I like him. And also, I know he’s a good guy.

“I also know you might be mad at him? But I don’t know, since you didn’t want to talk about it the other day, and I respected that. Istill respect that. And before you lose your shit, I’m going to point out that the second he was about to start a conversation about you I shut it down and told him he could never bitch about you in front of me, okay?

“You know, bros before hos or something. Though we both know CJ isn’t a ho. Whatever.” I look to my left and see Clive’s eyes big as saucers, focused on my phone. Yeah, my brother can pack a lot into a minute of talking. “What I meant to say—or ask, I guess—and why I wanted you to pick up the phone so I cantalkto you, is CJ kind of just lost his job because of the pictures and the article and he’s really having a hard time, so I told him maybe he could come stay at the ranch.

“You know, at one of the guest houses. You never have to see him if you don’t want to, and he said if you say it’s okay he’ll stay clear of you and he would really love to stay at the ranch, so what do you say?”

The sudden silence after all those words is startling, especially because I’m actually speechless. What the hell is wrong with my brother?

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