The Tight End (Red's Tavern 6)

I tried to whip my thoughts into shape as the car pulled onto my street, rounding the corner and cruising underneath the canopy of amber leaves.

It doesn’t have to mean anything.

Not every little flirtation is a big deal to normal people.

You read too much into things.

Stop. Overthinking. Everything.

When I got out of the car, said bye to Dani, and walked up to my front porch, I was resolute.

I was going to walk in there. I was going to say hello to Brody.

And then I was just going to ask him, plain and simple, if he’d like to go on a casual date with me on Friday. I could be a person who had hookups, too. Why not?

I didn’t give myself time to think about it too hard. I knew if I spent even two more seconds pondering it, I’d get so anxious I’d run down the damn street.

I charged up the stairs inside, unlocking the door to our apartment, my heart beating fast in my chest now. I was going to do it. I was really going to ask a hot guy out, consequences and embarrassment be damned.

The front door shut hard behind me as I walked into the living room. Brody was there, where I expected him to be, sitting on the couch in front of the TV, kicked back and chilled out like he normally was.

But I hadn’t expected him to be sitting next to another guy.

Shit.

In about half a second, my heart dropped from somewhere behind my throat, sinking down like an anchor in my stomach.

“Oh,” I said, looking at the two of them, comfortable on the couch together in front of a box of pizza.

“Logan,” Brody said, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

“Sorry—I didn’t mean to barge in—” I said, scrambling to find my words.

“No, no, that’s okay,” Brody said. “Just didn’t expect you so early. You’re usually at the library. There’s only one slice of pizza left, but you can have it if you want. Hope you like supreme?”

My heart ached. Brody was such a kindhearted person that he was still offering me a slice of pizza while he was on a date with another dude. The guy sitting next to him was very attractive, too. He looked like someone who was more fitting for Brody, anyway. The other guy was big, beefy, good-looking, and athletic.

“Thanks, but I just ate,” I said. The truth was that I didn’t think I could stomach a slice of pizza anyway, right now, with my stomach feeling like a sinking stone.

“Right on,” Brody said, sitting back. “This is my older brother, Roman, by the way. He’s starting his security shift on campus in a couple of hours. I invited him over to finally see our place.”

Oh. Oh.

Realization dawned on me. The puzzle pieces all slowly fit together, and I felt dumb all over again, just in a very different way. It made sense that Roman looked so much like Brody—they were freaking brothers.

I felt like I had whiplash. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. I couldn’t help but smile as I finally let my backpack slump to the ground beside the coffee table. I reached out to shake Roman’s hand and then went and sat next to Brody, sinking onto the couch.

Brody was smiling at me, too.

“Man, you look fucking tuckered, dude,” he said to me. “You all right?”

“It’s just been a long day,” I admitted.

Christ. If this was a normal day in the life of what it felt like to have a crush, I was screwed. I felt like I’d been on a roller coaster that went nowhere at all.

“We’re about to watch an episode of Rome, if you want to join in and tell us all of the things that are wrong about it,” Roman said, leaning over Brody to look at me from the other side of the couch.

“Oh God,” I said. “Brody, you told him I do that?”

“Yes, I told my brother about the way you criticize any historical TV show or movie, and how it’s adorable,” Brody said.

“And now I want to see it in action,” Roman said.

It made me feel way too good to hear Brody calling me “adorable” in front of his brother. I was pretty sure at this point he could call me anything and I’d find some reason to love it.

“Sure, turn it on,” I said. “Rome is usually pretty accurate, anyway.”

“Hell yes,” Brody said.

“I just want to watch it because it has my name in the title,” Roman said.

I puffed out a laugh. Roman seemed to have the same effect on people as Brody did. He looked intimidating, but the moment he spoke, it became obvious that he was kind and easy to get along with. The Bryant boys really did seem like a pair of sweethearts.