Southern Hotshot (North Carolina Highlands 2)

I can’t stop thinking about how Emma looked at Samuel over the dinner table tonight. She was lit up. Eyes glowing and full, like she was so happy she might cry. I heard them flirting, talking about all the ways they’ll fuck tonight.

A slice of searing, urgent pain rips through my torso. I grab the bottle and drink, and drink some more.

“Hey.” I startle at the voice behind me. I turn to see Rhett looking at me, his brow furrowed with concern. He gently takes the bottle from my hand and sets it down. Crossing his arms, he leans his back against the counter. “I’m sorry that happened, and I’m sorry you’re hurting.”

I nod, swallowing hard. “Me too.”

He dips his head toward the whiskey. “Please tell me you aren’t going to cope by drinking yourself into a shame spiral.”

“I’m giving the shame spiral twenty-four hours, max. Then I’m hitting the road.”

“Oh? Where ya going?”

I lift a shoulder, eyeing the bottle. “Not sure yet. Someplace where there’s a bar on the beach and beautiful women.”

“The best distractions in the world.” Rhett nods. “Let’s start in the Bahamas. Paradise Island.”

“We?” I arch a brow. “Who said you’re invited?”

Rhett grabs the bottle and takes a swig, smacking his lips. “I did. I have three months until training camp starts. Besides, someone needs to babysit you at that beach bar. You won’t be able to pick up all those beautiful women if you’re wasted.”

I laugh, the tightness inside my breastbone loosening ever so slightly. “Stop. You just wanna be my wingman.”

“Well, yeah.” My younger brother grins. “If I happen to meet a lady or two while I’m making sure you don’t give yourself rum poisoning…well, I won’t hate it.”

“Okay.” I take the bottle from him. Take a sip. “The Bahamas. Then where?”

“We’ll go around the world, obviously. Hop from the Bahamas to Ibiza. Then Mykonos, and the Seychelles…Bangkok. Australia. Hawaii. Final stop—”

“Vegas,” I say.

Rhett’s grin deepens into a smile. “My adopted hometown. Perfect.”

He plays for the pro football team that recently moved from California to Las Vegas. Rhett’s got a definite wild streak, so the new location suited him just fine.

Me? I’m an old soul. While I had my fun in Sin City, I never really got why my teammates and college friends were so obsessed with it.

Maybe this trip will change that.

I hold up the whiskey. “Let’s do it. Think you can leave tomorrow?”

“Hell yeah, I can.”

I take one last pull of whiskey before handing the bottle back to Rhett. He drinks too, and for several beats we stand there in silence.

I don’t know what he’s thinking about, but as usual, I’m thinking about Emma. How I don’t want to go on this trip, and I don’t want to leave Blue Mountain, because she’s here. She’s been the bright spot in my days. The reason I jump out of bed in the mornings more excited and invigorated than I’ve felt in years.

It happened really fucking fast, me falling for her.

I don’t fall easily. Not like that. Not for someone who doesn’t want me back.

But it happened, and now my head won’t stop spinning, and I can’t stop hurting. The embarrassment is real. So is the pain. This is horrible.

I never, ever want to feel this way again.

I want to forget.

“Make me a promise,” I say.

“Shoot.”

“Don’t let me do anything really stupid.”

“Like?”

I look him in the eye. “Like fall in love again. That shit—Rhett, it hurts something fierce.”

Rhett frowns. “Hank,” he says softly. “You can’t punish yourself like that. Yeah, you obviously need to give your heart time to heal, but don’t cut yourself off that way. You’re a good guy, and you deserve to be happy.”

The words he doesn’t say hang in the air between us. You deserve to be happy the way Samuel and Emma are happy together.

I swallow again. Look down at my feet and shake my head. “Just—promise me, okay? That’s all I ask.”

I feel his eyes on me. A heartbeat passes. Then another.

“Okay,” he says at last. “But that promise expires at the end of this trip, you hear? Then all bets are off.”

I wave him away. “By then we’ll be in Vegas, and who falls in love there? I’ll send over the flight details when I have them.”

It’s a gamble, running away like this. What will happen to my job? And what about my relationship with Samuel? Will me being gone really help all of us heal?

I have no idea. But leaving is a bet I’m willing to make.