“You look like hell,” Wes said as he dropped into the booth beside me. We were on the road in Philadelphia and he insisted we stop for a cheesesteak and beer at his favorite dive bar. Seth and Chris sat across from us.

“You really do,” Seth said. “I was just too afraid to say it in case you did something to me in my sleep when we got home.”

“Whatever. You’re all assholes.”

Wes threw back his beer and drained half of it. “Yes, we are. But you still look like hell.”

“It’s not affecting your game though,” Chris said, hands up.

Well at least I knew this wasn’t an intervention about my career.

Just my life.

“As much as I enjoy hearing about how shitty I look, I think I’ll head back to the hotel . . . ”

Wes clapped his big ugly hand down on my shoulder. “Stay.”

Fuck.

“What’s going on?” Chris asked. He was probably the most out of the loop since he wasn’t friends with Zoe and he didn’t live with me.

So if I was looking for a bright side in this incredibly uncomfortable discussion, it was that my friends weren’t gossiping about me behind my back.

“This stays between us,” Wes said. He sat up taller like he was some sort of club president calling a secret meeting.

Whatever. I didn’t care. “You know Zoe?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Pretty little thing that works for Eve?”

To my credit, I did not crush the beer in my hand. “She used to work for Eve. She’s a very successful writer now.”

“And yes,” Wes grinned, “she’s that pretty little thang.”

Because he said that specifically to get a rise out of me I didn’t punch him, but I imagined punching him right on his pretty little jaw.

Chris looked back and forth between us. “You banging her?”

Fuck me. These bastards were going to kill me. “No,” I gritted out.

“But he wants to be.”

“I swear to god I will kill you, Wes.” I closed my eyes and imagined choking him.

“Ah, so you’re sexually frustrated,” Chris said. “We can help find you some relief. There are a few very hot waitresses in here who I’m sure would be thrilled to spend the night with Erik Cassidy.” Chris batted his eyelashes and turned falsetto.

“Eyes on me you little shits.” I waited until I had all of their attention. “I am not in the mood to be made fun of. I do not want to sleep with a waitress. What is happening between me and Zoe is between me and Zoe. If you want to help, you can put a pause on being assholes while I eat. I’m sure that alone will reduce my stress level.”

Seth snorted. “Told you.”

Wes grimaced, then pulled five bucks out of his wallet and slid it across the table.

“What. The. Fuck. Is. That?” It was clearly a bet, but on what?

Seth grinned as he shoved the money in his pocket. “I bet Wes that you want to make Zoe your lady and that you wouldn’t let us talk smack about her.”

I glared at Wes. “You bet against me? You know . . . I told you!” I was so angry there was nothing but half-words coming out of my mouth now.

And stupid Wes? All he did was shrug. “And it was worth five bucks to me to find out for sure. How else would I get these morons to help me set you up?”

I took a few seconds to cool my head. “Stop,” I growled. “Stop this shit now. No more games. This isn’t funny.”

“I know that. Don’t you get it? This woman you want? She’s basically my little sister. I love you, man. Love you like a brother, but this is not something I’m going to just be cool with.”

“Fuck.” It was impossible for me think of Zoe as someone’s sister now. She was a woman. My woman. “This is rich coming from you.”

I had a feeling he would have punched me for that if we weren’t sitting side-by-side in a booth. “You want to repeat that outside?”

Damn, he was genuinely pissed. I wanted to irritate him, stick him where it hurt, but not send him into a nuclear rage. And right now, he was borderline.

I held up my hands. “Sorry. That was low.”

“Even before Carrie,” he shook his head, “I was never a jerk. The using was mutual.”

“I know.” Wes loved women and as far as I could tell he usually made sure everyone had a good time. From the moment he met Carrie there was no one else. He was a totally reformed asshole completely loyal to his wife. “Carrie is off limits. I know that.”

“Never forget that.” Then he relaxed. “And I will stop with Zoe now.”

“Thank you.” I tried to do the friendly thing and let the whole subject drop, but apparently Wes couldn’t let it go. I was halfway through a nice, calming gulp of beer when he cleared his throat.

“So what’s the plan?”

“Plan?”

Wes shrugged. “You like her, she likes you, but you’re not dating yet. So what’s the plan?”

Chris and Seth grinned. Apparently my love life was entertainment for everyone.

“You can’t be serious.”

“What?” Seth shrugged. “Wes is married and boring now that he won’t tell us anything. I keep going back to Grace even though we’re a disaster. And Chris here has become a monk. You’re the most interesting thing we’ve got going right now.”

“That’s because Chris went and moved to a remote island. What chance does he have for love?”

“It’s not remote. It’s barely a longer commute than Randy has up in north Tampa. It’s a totally populated island. I’ve always wanted to live on an island.”

That was way more explanation than I expected from my dig. “Feeling defensive there buddy? Something you want to share?”

He glared at me. “You want some fishing tips? Because that’s what I’m doing on my days off.”

“See?” Seth groaned. “Boring monk.”

“Why do you keep sleeping with Grace?” Maybe if I kept bringing up stuff until the food arrived they’d forget to bug me.

He shrugged. “The sex is amazing. We just can’t do anything outside the bed together. She’s a bitch.”

“And you’re a loser,” Wes shrugged. “Makes sense. She freaky?”

“Just because you alone keep the sex toy industry in business doesn’t mean we all do,” I said.

“Hey,” he spread his hands wide, “I may not be able to offer any fun stories anymore, but I am happy to provide product reviews.”

“No thank you,” Chris muttered, sitting back so our waitress could put all our food down on the table. It also allowed him a good vantage point for admiring her assets. The man may be a monk, but he wasn’t blind. Not sure what was going on with him, but it was something.

My hopes for food distraction were immediately dashed. “So tell us about her,” Chris said.

“I’d tell you to read one of her books to get to know her, but you don’t read.” I knew there was still a long list of things to learn, but her books said a lot about her. Her humor. Her intellect. Even the way she spoke came across in the dialogue.

“No,” Chris said, holding up a French fry, “but I do watch movies. If they ever make one of her books into a movie, I’ll watch that.”

“They actually are. A big studio bought it right away and they already have the movie moving forward.”

“Really? What’s it called?”

I didn’t know why it would matter to Chris but I answered. “The book is called The Fight at Midnight Springs.”

“You’re shitting me.” He dropped his fry. “Seriously? Your lady wrote that book?”

Since it wasn’t even out yet I was seriously confused how Chris, a man who did not read, knew that. “Yes . . . ”

“My brother Scott is in it. He’s one of the executive producers, too.”

Wes started laughing. “I fucking love our small little world. Zoe’s going to lose it when she realizes that connection.”

“I read some lines with him two weeks ago when we were in LA. It was intense.”

A little bit of jealousy hit me in the gut. Chris had read something of Zoe’s that I hadn’t. “She’s a great writer.”

“You should read one of her romances,” Wes quipped. “Try one of the Mayhem series. It will help you improve your game.”

Chris threw a fry at him. “I don’t need any help with women.”

“You’d be surprised how much you don’t know about women until you read a book written by a woman about what women want.”

Chris and Seth both looked at him like he was nuts, but I knew he was right. At least about Zoe’s books.

“So what’s the hold up? She not into you?” Seth asked, turning conversation back to my dating life.

I could feel Wes’s eyes on me.

Waiting for me to say the wrong thing so he could beat the crap out of me. I made a mental note to be nicer to my sister’s boyfriends and husbands.

“She’s got some baggage.”

Chris waved at me to continue. “Does she have a kid or something?”

“No. I don’t know for sure but . . . her ex was a problem.” I didn’t want to make guesses.

I looked up from my food when I realized everyone was staring at me. “What?”

“He hurt her?” Seth asked really quietly.

I shrugged. “I just told you I don’t know for sure.”

“What do you know?” Chris asked.

I noticed Wes just kept staring at me.

“I know she doesn’t feel safe alone with men. I know she left everything behind three years ago and you don’t do that unless it’s bad. I know she’s scared shitless of feeling anything.” I balled up the paper napkin in my hand and threw it on top of my half-eaten sandwich.

My appetite was gone.

“Fucker,” Chris muttered. The look on Seth’s face was equally disgusted.

And this was why I hung out with these guys off the field. They weren’t perfect, but we all shared the same general outlook on life.

“When I saw her last weekend I could see how torn up she was and I realized this isn’t something I can push too hard for. She still gets scared alone with me. Me.” I was a big guy, but I wasn’t scary. I generally thought of myself as the opposite of scary. “So for now we hang out. And we’ll hang out until that changes.”

I didn’t know what Wes was thinking until after we paid our bill and headed out. He stopped me at the curb outside our rental car. “Thank you,” he said, raw emotion breaking the words up. Then he hugged me hard, once, nodded, and ducked into the car.