Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 131789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
“Look at this.” Lawson holds up a picture from the sports section with a picture of Duke at a recent friendly with the soccer team. “Look at your arms, then look at his.”
I’m not out of shape by any means. But I’ve also never needed to work out too hard to maintain a decent build. Duke probably spends four hours a day in the gym.
“Go ahead and strip,” Fenn tells me.
My eyebrows fly up. “Excuse me?”
“Take off your shirt and stand in front of the mirror. Pants, too. We have to see what we’re working with.”
“Damn right,” Lawson drawls.
I turn to glare at him. “You know, I’m not some piece of meat.”
Nevertheless, I pull my shirt off and study myself in the mirror hanging inside my closet door. I’ve always had broad shoulders and a trim waistline. But at the pool I’m one of the least muscular guys on the swim team. I’m built more like a runner.
“I’d fuck.” Lawson grins at me in the mirror.
“Not helpful,” Silas groans.
The three of them spend the next several minutes nerding out over muscle groups and protein ratios, arguing over the benefits of interval training. It’s all nonsense to me, but I appreciate their eagerness to help devise a training and nutrition regimen. I had no idea we were taking it all quite that far. They’re all in, though, and write up a whole calendar, splitting shifts with me in the gym.
It takes a lot to keep my surprise in check. Frankly, I didn’t know they cared. It’s been a long time since I had a group of friends who would stick their necks out for me. I mean, it’s a ton of effort for very little chance of reward. Sort of gets me right in the chest.
“So what happens in the likely event of your demise?” Silas asks and receives glares from the other two. “Will you accept your banishment?”
“I don’t know.” I slip my shirt back on. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
Either way, I won’t be leaving. I’m not getting chased off from here after I just got Sloane back. Despite the bumpy start, I think we could really have something, and like hell I’m walking away with my tail between my legs. If this whole thing goes south, I’ll just have to figure out a plan B.
“And if you manage to pull it off?” Silas asks. “Heavy is the head that wears the crown…”
I bark out a laugh. “No way. I’m not interested in being the new Duke. If I win, everyone gets to go back to living their lives however they want. No one is ruling over anything.” Because it’s damn stupid and this childish tyranny ends with me.
Later, after Silas and Lawson have left, Fenn and I are each in bed on either side of the room. I don’t make it a habit to burden other people with my feelings, but something nags at me that I’ve got to get out.
“Hey,” I say, to see if he’s still awake.
“Yeah?” He sounds drowsy.
“Thanks. For having my back.”
“Of course.”
“I figured you for a stuck-up rich boy who wouldn’t give a shit about anyone else.”
He chuckles in the darkness. “I can see where you’d get that idea.”
“But I was wrong. You’ve been going out of your way to look out for me when you really didn’t have to.”
“We’re stepbrothers. That’s what family does. I got you.”
It never occurred to me that Fenn would ever feel like family. The way we were tossed together overnight, coming from two totally different circumstances with no chance to have a say in our own lives? The chances of developing an actual friendship were slim to none. But here we are.
“You, too, man,” I tell him.
I can’t remember the last time I truly trusted someone. Despite myself, I realize I’ve come to trust Fenn.
What a world.
Chapter 33
Sloane
I don’t get to see RJ again until Saturday night, since I couldn’t sneak out Friday to see him because my father roped me and Casey into watching a movie with him. I get the sense Dad knows something’s up, because he’s been at the house more the last few days and being more diligent than usual in checking up on Case and me. I doubt he has any clue about RJ, but clearly his parental senses are tingling.
The thing that gets me about that, though, is why he even bothers acting all protective. There’s this cynical part of me that suspects the only reason he warns all the Sandover boys away from his daughters, particularly me, is because he’s worried it could affect his position. Not because he cares about my wellbeing. With Casey, I get why he’s overprotective. With me…it feels forced. Fake.
But maybe that’s my bitterness talking. My relationship with Dad has been so strained for so long that I lost clarity about his motives a long time ago.