Page 6 of The P*ssy Next Door

George reached out, his hand finding Liam's, a silent show of support.

“We've had some news from the doctor,” Liam continued, his gaze sweeping over each of us, lingering for a moment on my face. “And it's good. Really, really good.”

Just like that, I could breathe again. The muscles in my chest and shoulders released, and I pulled my hand from my mother's, needing to shake all that tension away. Good news. The words echoed in my brain like a mantra. Thank the fucking universe. I owed it a cupcake, or a dozen.

Xander let out a whoop and fist bumped the air like he'd just scored another touchdown. Dad gave him a high five and me a smiling wink. Mom's eyes glistened, which was as close as I'd ever seen her to crying. I saw that flicker of vulnerability in her expression, a crack in the facade she wore so effortlessly.

“What exactly did they say?” Dad's voice was gruff with the same emotions we were all feeling.

Liam smiled, a genuine, heartfelt, toothy grin that should have been in a toothpaste commercial. “The doctor gave me a clean bill of health. It seems I'm going to be around for a while longer, much to our customer's dismay,” he added, a hint of humor coloring his words.

Scattered laughs and the rustle of shifting chairs were the only sounds in the coffee shop. The weight that had been pressing down on us lifted, leaving behind a sense of buoyancy that I hadn't felt in far too long.

“Thank the heavens,” George murmured, his voice thick with emotion.

Xander grinned, the tension draining from his features as if it had never been there. “Looks like I won't have to take over the coffee shop after all.”

Liam chuckled, the sound a melody of joy that filled the room. “That's ninety percent of the reason I worked so hard to get better. Nobody wants a bunch of football players serving their coffee.”

George raised his hand. “Excuse me. I would absolutely like that, thank you very much.”

I let out a shaky breath. Had Xan really thought he'd take over the shop? In what spare time? Although, knowing Golden Boy, he probably already had a business plan and was ready to sink his future signing bonus into our little home away from home.

Because it wasn't like anyone was going to ask me to take over Cool Beans. I didn't even want to. I had a whole life, a burgeoning career, and the world to see. I didn't want to be tied down, especially not in Denver.

But I did have a whole week off work, and I was going to celebrate in style. Which was starting with some really long Guncle hugs. Which were the best kind.

“Hey, Wills,” Liam said after I held him tight for about a thousand years, “if you're not too jet lagged, I was hoping you might stick around and work with me this afternoon while everyone else goes to the game. I doubt we'll be terribly busy and it will give us a chance to hang out.”

Party, work at the coffee shop... same, same but different. “If it gets me out of going to the game, I'm definitely down to clown.”

And Liam was exactly the right person to relay the morning, ahem, glory story to. I whispered so Xander didn't overhear. “You won't believe who I saw this morning.”

GOAL SETTER

HAYES

Ihad time for exactly three things in my life if I was going to dedicate my all to them. Family, football, and school.

But I wasn't in school anymore.

Sure, gaming with the boys, keeping up with the social media for our streaming channel, and what my agent scheduled for me to do for sponsorships added some to my schedule, but nothing like school. Especially my last semester when I took as many classes as I could knowing I was going into the draft. Not graduating just because I'd been drafted was never in the plan.

For the first time in my life, I had room in my schedule for a love life. Not just getting laid, although, that was high on the priority list, but a real relationship. I'd seen plenty of guys in college let their game take a dive when a girl got up in their head. It was part of the reason I didn't date.

I knew full well I'd missed out on some very specific experiences when I swore off dating to concentrate on other more important things. That strategy had paid off. Not only had I gotten drafted as a junior, but I was having one hell of a rookie year on the Mustangs.

I made a goal, I went after it, and I accomplished that goal.

Everett told me I was being a punk by thinking I could do the same with Willa Rosemount. I didn't really see why. I just needed to put the same study and effort into learning how to get her to date me as I did football and graduating.

His advice was decidedly different. Normally, I'd listen to the love guru of the family as he was the learned expert. He certainly had the experience with women to back it up, and his advice had helped Chris and Dec get the loves of their lives to fall for them. But this time, he was wrong.

Just being myself with Willa and getting to know her wouldn’t get her to go out with me. We already knew each other, although not very well, and she wasn't all goo-goo ga-ga for me. If that worked, she would've fallen for me back in high school. Not that I had given her the chance. She'd been off-limits then. Friends don't date their friend's little sisters.

But Xan hadn't spoken to me since the draft. And I'd tried. But according to him, we weren't friends anymore. Which meant I wasn't breaking any guy code rules by asking her out. If I could fucking figure out how to do that and not look like a total fool.

I highly doubted a conversation about what she did and didn't like would get me into her bed. Nope. I needed a better plan than that. Especially after how damn awkward I'd been this morning.

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