Page 220 of Branded
“Why are you up my ass about a picker—which is the dumbest thing I’ve ever said, by the way,” Cas muttered.
“Definitely not the dumbest,” Theo said with a smirk. “You forget that I’ve spent time around you when you’re drunk.”
Cas glared at Theo but didn’t comment. “I’m not the only single fucker on this team. Just because you and Marcel are settled doesn’t mean the rest of us?—”
“One,” Smitty boomed, “you’ve said multiple times you want to be settled like Marcel and me. Two, your picker sucks.” A wave of his hand. “Hence my list from before.”
“And I’m just saying that I’m not the only one who’s single,” Cas grumbled. “Theo is free and loose. Raph is probably ready to get back in the saddle. Bug him, or Walker, or—” He froze, probably because Smitty and Marcel had both deliberately glanced away from Cas and me and miracle of all miracles, Smitty began getting dressed (Marcel was just finishing buttoning his shirt) without adding further comment.
The avoidance gave me a whole new appreciation for Pru and Hazel and their relationships with their men. I also had to add Kailey—Smitty’s other half—to the list, because the quiet woman, who occasionally hung with Pru, Hazel, and Beth (though she was closer to Oliver, Hazel’s husband, since they bonded over nerdy things like spreadsheets and video games) was somehow keeping Smitty in check.
He’d clocked my interest.
He could be letting the gossip flow.
But Kailey was quiet, very quiet, and preferred to keep her business to herself.
So that and Hazel and Pru clearly getting how big a step last night was for me and Beth must have convinced their men to keep it under wraps.
I was going to buy them flowers.
Or maybe Hazel flowers and Pru that new hockey stick she was lusting after and Kailey, who I suspected had managed the biggest feat of all—getting Smitty to shut it—I was stocking her up with gift cards for her dragon game.
I watched Cas’s brows pull together, probably mentally recounting what he’d just said that had Marcel and Smitty avoiding his gaze. “Walker?”
“Not interested in settling down,” Walker chimed in, teeth flashing as he ran his hand through his hair, leaving the locks in a haphazard arrangement that I had heard more than one female fan sigh over.
A beat as Cas processed that.
Then Cas’s eyes found mine, surprise in the forest green depths. “Raph?”
Smitty—somehow—didn’t say a word.
It was Theo that let the gossip loose, the fucker.
“It’s Beth.”
I glared at my teammate.
Cas blinked—once, twice, and then his mouth curved. “I knew it.”
“Oh yeah, brother,” Smitty said, seemingly deciding that since Theo had let the cat out of the bag that he was going to chime right in. “Totally perfect for him.”
“Christ,” I muttered, shoving my feet into my shoes. “Is this really what passes for locker room talk nowadays?”
“Fuck yeah, it is,” Cas said, probably just relieved the attention had turned from him.
I sighed but didn’t engage. That was the best-case scenario when it came to Smitty.
“You know it is,” Marcel said quietly, though he was smiling widely, the fucker.
“I’m more interested in hearing who Smitty thinks Cas should date,” Theo said.
That worked for me and it pulled my friend out of the dog house. Marginally, anyway, considering he’d spilled the beans in the first place.
Apparently Smitty talking about Cas and his picker was more interesting too—either that or he was afraid of fallout with Kailey—because he grabbed onto that conversational gambit, detailing who he, if he played matchmaker, would set Cas up with—a woman with a great laugh, a hard worker who was smart, and tall with great tits and a nice ass wouldn’t go amiss.
I agreed with most of the list.
