Page 45 of The Billionaire's Commitment

“Is that a compliment?” I asked.

“It’s a statement of fact. You seem happy but conflicted. Don’t worry too much. Trust what you feel for her and that she’ll figure it out.”

“I’ll try,” I admitted.

“Good,” Eric said, took the vodka from me, and headed back out to the bar. I watched him go and didn’t follow for a few moments. I had a lot to think about with what I wanted, what I wanted to give to Zoey, and how I could have it all.

Chapter 22

Zoey

“And that, my friends, is how you smoke someone at beer pong,” Grace said as she gave me a high five.

“She got lucky,” Logan said, but he smiled at me as he did.

It was late in the afternoon on Sunday, and I was hanging out at the bar with Brody, Eric, Logan, Amber, and Grace. It had been Logan’s idea to have a little contest between us all to see who was the best beer pong player. I had no idea that it was going to be me.

Brody had been all for it and had made a bracket of who would play who and when. He got teased by Logan for being such a pencil pusher, but I had found it sexy. Brody had smiled at me and kissed me passionately when I had told him so. It would have been fine, and I would have gladly enjoyed it, if he hadn't done it right in front of all of his friends.

It had been a little over a month since I had started sleeping with Brody. I had gone over to the bar to hang out with him that afternoon like he asked. Grace and Amber had both been there, and I got the impression that Brody told them I was going to be there as they were very excited to see me.

Grace was busy training Randy, but when she wasn’t, she came over and talked to Amber, Logan, Brody, and me. The guys had to go in the back to take care of something, and it gave Amber and me a chance to talk. I found her easy to talk to, and we knew a few of the same people as we both worked in and around the courts. She shared a few funny stories with people I knew and made me like her even more.

The afternoon had been fun and easy. I hadn’t made any friends when I came to the city, but it was nice to have Brody and for him to introduce me to his. It made me feel closer to him but also that I was obligated. I wanted to be around him, I wanted to be around his friends, I wanted them to be my friends, but I wasn’t sure how wise that was.

Every day, most certainly every night I was with Brody, only made me fall for him more. He was the best boyfriend a girl could ask for, and he was my boyfriend; he was quick to introduce himself as such. I was thrilled when he did, and it was exactly what I wanted him to be. I didn’t do casual, or I never had, and I wasn’t doing that with Brody.

I should. It wasn’t going to last, and every moment I spent with him felt like it had an expiration date. I tried not to dwell on it, but the more I was around him, the more I could see how much I would miss him when he wasn’t there. I knew I shouldn't get too attached to him, but it was hard, and I kept pushing the thoughts and worries down.

“It’s not that difficult. I think I just got lucky,” I said.

“She’s just trying to make me feel better. I think we have a ringer here,” Logan said.

“Do you really think she was hiding the fact that she was secretly good at beer pong to win the competition?” Amber asked.

“No,” Logan admitted.

“He needs to feel better about losing. He was top of the class in SEAL training,” Amber said.

“In fitness,” Brody piped in.

“Where it mattered,” Logan countered, and we all laughed.

There was an ease, a comfort between the men, that I admired and respected. It was close to what I had with my sister, but she was my sister, my family. With them, I could see it was the same thing, yet somehow deeper. They loved each other; it was evident in how they teased and supported each other. They knew each other extremely well and even finished each other's sentences. There was trust between them, and there were times I felt like I saw entire conversations happen between the three of them with only looks.

I was sure it came from them being in the Navy together. They had to rely on each other to stay alive and probably saw things I never wanted to think about. It would connect them in ways that would bind them to each other for the rest of their lives. It was probably why they were so good at working the bar together and it was a success. In order to survive, they would have to know their own weaknesses and count on the other’s strengths. It wasn’t the same, but it would be easy to transition that to owning a bar.

It wasn’t just the men who were close but the women they were with. I had been surprised by how affectionate both Logan and Eric were with Amber and Grace. They were always standing next to them and would take their hand or drape their arm over their shoulder or around the waist. If they were seated, they would reach over and hold their hands.

Grace and Eric seemed to have a shorthand with each other, and she could tell him to do something or not with a look. He wasn’t much of a talker, but she didn’t seem to mind. It was like she could figure out what he wasn’t saying as much as what he was. Amber and Logan were more flirty and teasing with each other. She seemed to be just as competitive as Logan was, which was probably a good thing so she could hold her own with him.

I could tell how much Brody wanted me to like his friends, and I did, but it also made our relationship all the more real and yet not. We weren’t as close as the other couples were. Brody was as affectionate with me, but I wasn’t as comfortable with it. We didn’t talk and tease the way Logan and Amber did, nor could we talk without saying a word like Eric and Grace. I wanted that, but I also didn’t.

The fact that we weren’t close made it easier to think that this was just some fun we were having. We might be in a relationship, but it wasn’t one that was going to go the distance that the others were. It was just hard to remember that when I was around them.

Brody hadn’t pushed for me to hang out with him and his friends; it just sort of evolved that way. Amber invited me to meet her for lunch a few times during the week, and Grace suggested we try a yoga class with her sisters after work. One day when I was talking with Logan, he found out I liked classic rock and suggested I come and listen to the band play on Friday night. It had ended up being a late night as I stayed with them until the bar closed in the wee hours of the morning.

In the time that we had been lovers, Brody had stayed at my apartment more often than not. Over the weekends, we would go over to his place as it was closer to the bar, but he seemed to understand that I wanted and needed to be at my place and closer to work during the work week.

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