Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“Hey,” his best friend answered. “Fucking Ruiz. You made the right call. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Is that how that saying goes?”
“Something like that.” Madden eyed himself in the rearview. “Had a little dustup with him in the locker room. Should be sporting a shiner by tomorrow morning.”
“No shit? He hit you?”
“He’s better at pitching,” Madden said dryly, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel, a prickle of nerves tightening his scalp. “Do you think Eve will mind that I’ve got a black eye on our wedding day?”
“Nah, I doubt it.” A long pause, followed by something being knocked over in the background. “Wait, what? Did you say wedding day?”
“I did.” Pride stuck in Madden’s throat so firmly, he had to wait for the obstruction to clear. “In two days’ time. As soon as I can drive back to Rhode Island.”
Elton laughed incredulously. “Two days? I’m so lost.” A silent sputter ensued. “Have you been seeing her behind everyone’s back? You have to be leaving out ninety percent of the story.”
“All you need to know is she’s marrying me.” Madden’s fingers went still on the steering wheel. “But we’re not telling people, so it needs to stay between us.”
“What? I already group texted everyone in my contacts.”
Madden’s spine snapped straight. “You didn’t.”
“Nah, I’m just messing with you.”
He slumped back into the driver’s seat, left hand to his pumping chest.
Elton was silent a moment. “Anyone with two eyes could see there was something between you and Eve for the longest time. I figured you two decided it wasn’t worth the risk of losing the friendship. What changed?”
Madden considered telling Elton that Eve had avoided anything romantic with him for so long because Skylar had been nursing a crush, but he liked Skylar too much to give her brother that kind of ammunition to use against her. And he would.
Besides, Eve’s reluctance to give him a real, authentic chance wasn’t solely about Skylar anymore. Eve had been ostracized and mocked in Cumberland for so long, she now believed herself a liability. Madden swallowed the rising tide of anger on Eve’s behalf. Anger at himself for not being capable of shielding her from the hatred.
“I’m marrying her for financial security. She’s got the kids now.” Jesus, saying the rest made him vulnerable, a place he did not like to be, but he needed to offload to someone. “But I wouldn’t mind it being real.”
“Wouldn’t mind it?”
“Prefer.”
“Prefer?”
“I’d sell my soul for her. Are you happy now?”
“When am I ever happy, my dude?” Elton coughed. “What about her? Is she strictly business about this?”
“Yes,” Madden said. His physical relationship with Eve was nobody’s business but theirs. He didn’t even want another man thinking of Eve in terms of who she was sleeping with and when. Not even Elton, who treated Eve like a second sister. That was Madden’s business and his business alone. “There’s no way you can make it to Rhode Island for the ceremony, right? Are you on the road?”
“We’re home for the next three games.” Elton paused while he presumably checked the schedule on his phone. “Can you wait a week?”
Hell no. Three days was a stretch. “Absolutely not.”
“Okay, turbo. Let me talk to the coach about missing practice. It’s not every day my best friend gets hitched in a top-secret ceremony.” He made a disappointed sound. “There isn’t even time to throw you a bachelor party. What is the point of having a best friend?”
“I wouldn’t have allowed you to throw me one, anyway.”
“Of course not.” Elton sighed, but there was a smile in the sound. “I’ll text you once I’ve talked to Coach.”
“Grand. And Elton, remember, we’re not telling anyone about this.”
“How am I going to explain to my parents why I’m in town?”
“Tell them you’re homesick.”
“Real talk, I wouldn’t be lying. My balls sweat enough in Florida to fill a kiddie pool.” He carried on, as if that imagery didn’t have Madden on the verge of dry heaving. “Eve said you could tell me about the marriage?”
“Yes. She’s telling one person too. That was the deal.”
“Is she telling Skylar?”
“Not yet,” he hedged, not sure how to tell Elton that his stepsister had been crushing on Madden for the better part of a decade. “I think Eve would rather wait and tell Skylar in person. She’s telling Veda, this new friend slash babysitter of hers. I think she’s coming to the wedding.”
“Veda. Is she hot?”
“She’s too young for you.”
“Does she have a sister?”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re coming here to be my witness, not get laid.”
“Fine. Jesus. If it happens, though . . . it happens.”
“Okay, I have to go. Maybe see you soon. Not sure I want to anymore.”
They shared a laugh and hung up, Madden checking his phone calendar for the date, as if it had changed since the last time he looked.