Hard Luck (Trophy Boyfriends 4)

“If anyone was going to booty call me, I’m glad it was you.”

“Aww.” Another kiss on his lips. “Drive safe.”

“I will.” He begins his jog down the sidewalk, turning back toward me when he’s on the road, hands stuffed into the front pockets of his sweatshirt. “Dream of me tonight, True Wallace.”

“I…”

Will.

Unable to finish the sentence, I give him a little wave.

Eighteen

Mateo

Me: Can I ask you something?

True: Of course.

Me: Why didn’t you get ahold of me after we slept together? What did I do wrong?

True: Nothing. You did nothing wrong.

Me: But you wouldn’t let your brother give me your number. I just—it’s been on my mind to ask because I thought for sure I did something wrong that night. Maybe said something to piss you off.

True: No, Mateo, you didn’t do anything wrong. This was definitely an “it’s not you, it’s me” situation, which sounds cliché but…that’s definitely what it was—me being afraid of my own damn shadow.

True: Plus, to be honest, I was kind of embarrassed that I slept with someone I barely knew. I was scared you were going to tell people and my brother was going to find out and I kind of FREAKED out.

That makes sense, actually.

True: Then I went back to traveling for work, and then I got sick (which we now know was morning sickness), and I came back from a trip and my freaking roommate had defaulted on our rent and we got evicted. It was a blur.

Me: It’s fine—people get ghosted. I just wanted to ask.

True: It was shitty of me to ignore you. The least I could have done was say, “Look, I’m not interested.” But I was immature and selfishly avoiding you because it was the easy thing to do.

True and I are finally at a place where we’re being honest with each other, and I never want that to change. I want it to keep getting better.

I want to be her best friend.

Everyone thinks a guy’s best friend should be another guy, but I always thought it should be their life partner. Just like my mom and dad. Mom and Pops.

I send her a few more messages asking about what time I should be at her brother’s place—today is the day we’re going to tell Buzz about the baby if True can muster the courage. It seems sometimes, where her brothers are concerned, she’s still their younger sister and still afraid of what they’re going to say.

How they’re going to react.

I know it’s going to be really freaking hard because Buzz Wallace is stubborn, proud, and overprotective.

I grab my car keys off the table by the front door of my condo, giving it one last glance to make sure none of the lights have been left on before walking out the door.

The ride to Tripp’s place is stressful. It seems like every song that comes on the radio reminds me I’m about to walk into the lion’s den.

My palms are sweating and my gut clenches a bit, the nerves getting the best of me.

I arrive at Tripp’s place and pull into the driveway, noting the vehicle I’m all too familiar with parked behind True’s car. Jiggle the car keys as I walk up the sidewalk to impending doom.

“What are you doing here?” Buzz demands to know when he throws open the front door by way of greeting.

Goddamn, he’s one rude son of a bitch. “That’s no way to say hello to your best friend.”

“You’re not my best friend, Noah Harding is,” he tells me bluntly, in no mood to joke around.

Shit.

This isn’t going to end well.

If he’s already agitated by the sight of me on his brother’s front step, just think of how irritated he’s going to be when we tell him I got his sister pregnant.

“Tell me how you really feel,” I say, trying to step around him and into the house.

He’s not having it and bars my entry. “Seriously, dude, why are you here?”

“I was invited.”

“By who?” He glances over his shoulder at his sister, who’s now lingering in the doorway of the dining room located just off the entryway.

“By me,” she says, walking forward. “And Tripp, obviously.”

“Let him in, asshole,” comes another male voice from the back of the house.

The dog barks but doesn’t come charging to the door.

Buzz eyes me suspiciously but steps aside. “Something shady is going on and I don’t like it.”

Well, one thing’s for certain—nothing escapes his notice.

“You think because I’m here something shady is going on?”

I mean, he’s not wrong—but super rude of him to be this suspicious. What the fuck did I ever do to this guy? I thought we were friends, and he’s acting like I’m here to bang his sister then steal her away.

Which…I kind of already did.

Ha!

I enter the house, gazing around, seeing it for the first time during the day. Obviously the last time I was here it was the middle of the night, having been snuck in through the front door then snuck up into Tripp’s guest bedroom by his sister.