Page 6 of The C*ck Down the Block

“Not a damn thing.” I tossed the ball onto the couch and shoved my hands into my pockets. I never lied to my brothers because anytime I tried, they called me out on my shit. It was the only reason Everett already knew exactly how I felt about Trixie.

But I was the oldest, and even if Declan and Everett both outweighed me and had since high school, I could still kick their asses. Partly because they knew better than to do anything other than protect the health and livelihood of their quarterback.

“Good try, dude. Spill. I’m not hanging out with a stressed out QB all night.” He wrinkled his nose at me like I stank. “It repels the women.”

“I don’t repel women.” I had thousands of adoring fans who were ready and willing to flash their tits or throw their panties at me like I was some kind of rock star. Women weren’t my problem. One woman was.

He raised his eyebrow at me and took a long slow slug of the beer while he gave me a side eye. “You’re the worst. What’s the last date you went on?”

I didn’t have to answer that. He was my god-damned baby brother. I used to scare him by flushing the toilet and telling him there was a lion in the bathroom.

“Mmm-hmm.” He took another swig as if this was a conversation about when the last time I ate a greasy cheeseburger was and not my heart. “That’s what I thought. You need to get laid, man.”

Okay, so not a conversation about my heart. About my dick. That I could handle. “I get laid fine.”

Declan crashed through the front door like it was the San Francisco offensive line. “Who’s getting laid?”

Everett pointed at me with the mouth of the beer bottle. “I live across the street from you, and you’re bad at hiding shit. So no, you don’t. You never bring women home.”

That, he was right about. I didn’t bring women or anyone not inside my inner circle to my home. I didn’t even allow people I didn’t know and trust to rent or buy in our entire neighborhood. It even irked me that Everett brought so many women here. He didn’t have the same circle of trust that I did. “Just because I don’t have twelve different women in my bed every night, doesn’t mean I don’t get laid.”

Because I wanted to actually care about the person I slept with.

“Are we getting laid tonight?” Hayes sauntered in, looking like he’d barely remembered how to put on a tie. He rubbed his hands together. “Then let’s get this show on the road.”

“We’re waiting for Trixie.” The moment I let her name roll off my tongue, I knew I’d made a mistake. Shit. I should have told these yahoos to go downtown without me. The fuck had I been thinking?

The four of us almost always went to team stuff together, and being the oldest, and the one who hated to be late, I drove. Standard operating procedure. But tonight was not a standard event.

And I invited Trixie.

As if I’d opened my mouth and crowed like Luke Skycocker, each of their faces turned toward me and stared. Hayes’s mouth hung open like he was waiting to catch flies in it.

“Shut up, the lot of you.” I brought out my best impression of dad and glared at them all. “It’s not like I don’t invite Trixie to do stuff with us. She comes to game night all the time. She’s my friend and I thought she’d like to come along tonight. That’s it.”

Declan grabbed the beer from Everett and gulped down the second half. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but I wasn’t having it.

“Shut. Up.”

Hayes gave me a look that said he thought I was a complete dumbass, Deck glared like I’d stolen his lucky underpants, but Everett, he knew. The fucker was too intuitive for his own good. That’s why he was a stellar football player and was even better with the ladies. If he wasn’t my little brother, I might have already gone to him for advice.

Nope. No. I didn’t need advice when it came to Trix. I wasn’t lying. She was my friend. Probably my best friend.

I wasn’t subjecting Trixie to the Kingman inquisition they were about to dive into. With three taps on my phone, I had an Uber Black XL ordered for them, and once she was ready, I’d get a second one for the two of us. We’d arrive later, which was fine. Didn’t make my eye twitch at all. Fashionably late. I was a sports star, I could get to the party whenever I wanted to. Twitch.

“Your ride will be here in ten minutes. Julio will pick you up in a black Escalade with license plates that start with ILV. Now get out of my house before Trixie gets here.” I pointed to the front door.

Hayes wasn’t fazed. He never was. “I call shotgun.”

He and Declan headed out to the front porch, but Everett didn’t move a muscle.

I glared at him. “Git.”

He pushed off from the counter but as he walked by me, he did the two fingers to his eyes and then pointed to mine. What the hell did he think he needed to watch me for? Asshat.

Once they were all out the door, I called Trixie. “Hey, you almost ready? I’m calling us an Uber.”

“Umm. Maybe. Let me check.”

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