Page 57 of Resisting the Running Back

But this is a cold wake-up call back to reality.

I'm getting confused by the mixed signals flying between us in this kitchen this morning. And maybe it's stupid of me to even consider what I'm thinking, but I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

I will do anything for this woman.

“It’s not exactly what I want, but I think we could make it easy on ourselves and just do something in Vegas.”

“Then let's go to Vegas today,” I suggest.

She looks up at me. “Are you serious?”

“As my half-brother Spencer would say, serious as a W2.”

“Does he really say that?” she asks.

“He does,” I confirm.

She laughs. “Well, then I guess my question to you is whether you really want to go through with this. I keep thinking I can't do it to you, can’t actually get you involved in this sham, but then you keep saying it's fine.”

“If I can do this to help you out and find my own benefits from it, then why not? I’m the last of the Nash and Banks boys to find someone, and…” I trail off.

I stop myself before I say the words that are on the tip of my tongue.

I actually found my other half long before any of my brothers found theirs, but I was too stupid and scared to act on it. And maybe this is my way in. Maybe that's why I'm so set on agreeing to help her out because it isn't just about helping her. It’s me finally getting the one thing I've always wanted, even if I'm coming by it in a nontraditional way.

It's probably better to just admit the truth to her, especially after last night. The truth is always the right road to take, but I haven't done it in the sixteen years I've known her, so why start now?

“I know what I get out of it. I get my parents off my back. I get to make Tyler seethe with jealousy. I get to prove what I saidwas true. I even get to try something I’ve written in my books. But what do you get out of it?” she asks softly. “I know you said it opens doors to sponsorships, but I just…I don’t know. I need you to convince me that this is a good idea.”

“Because I love you, Soph,” I say simply. She assumes I mean as a friend. “I’ll do anything for you, even if it’s some crazy experiment to help you come out on top after what that dick did to you.”

“I love you, too, Miller.” She presses her lips together, and she lets out a breath as she pauses to think things over for a few seconds. “Okay. Let’s go to Vegas.”

I sit back, surprised. “Yeah?”

She nods. “Let’s find a place and a date to do this thing.”

“What place?” I ask.

She lifts a shoulder. “The Bellagio is nice, isn’t it?”

I nod. “Very. But it’s also sort of Tanner’s place with Cassie.”

She taps on her phone and flashes me a picture of a room set up for a wedding. It’s sophisticated and elegant with a high ceiling and large windows on either side of double doors opened to a garden.

“Where’s that?” I ask.

“Venetian.”

I pick up my phone, and I find the next flight to Vegas leaves in less than two hours. I book us each a seat. We pack a few essentials in case we decide to stay the night, and we take off for the airport.

I text my half-brothers who live in Vegas on my way to the airport. I always try to see them when I’m in town. Lincoln is out of town with his wife and their kids, and Grayson is at the bakery he owns with his wife, Ava, all day, but Asher is in town and free to meet up with us for a late lunch.

We spend the most time with Spencer since we’re on the same pro football team, but both Tanner and I are developing relationships with all four of our brothers. It may be a strange dynamic, but it’s working for us. And since our biological father died, I feel like that’s brought me even closer to my brothers. It made me realize that while I didn’t get the time with our father, maybe we never really needed it. He wrote us off, but the second our brothers learned about us, they welcomed us in.

And that means something to me.

It’s a brotherhood nobody else could understand, and I enjoy bonding with them as we get to know one another and make new memories.

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