Page 11 of Now or Never

Antonio shook his head. “Of course I won’t sleep with your girlfriend.”

“Not his girlfriend,” Max said. “He means everyone else’s girlfriends. He’s too ridiculous to find a girl that will date him, as you can see.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “That’s not true. I don’t date on principle.”

A confused look rolled over Antonio’s features. “What principle is that?”

“Here we fucking go with the rankings,” Max said, rolling his eyes.

Antonio exchanged a quick glance with Max. “You rank women?” he said with a laugh. “I bet theylovethat. I have three sisters who’d take your balls off hearing that.”

“I don’t do it to be a dick. It just helps . . . keep things organized. Besides, I’m sure none of your sisters would make the ranking, anyway.”

Antonio’s good-natured smile dropped like an anchor. “What does that mean?”

Adam gained some respect for Antonio at that moment. He was clearly protective of his family, a trait that Adam admired.

“No, you misunderstand—”

The loud crash of the door in the boards closing drew his attention. Adam turned to find Ethan skating toward the group. Perfect. He needed to tell Ethan the good news about his house. And he would rather not explain his ranking system to the new guy, who looked ready to throw his gloves off.

Mental note: never sleep with Antonio’s sisters, no matter how pretty they are or how low they rank.

“Hey, sorry I’m late, guys,” Ethan said.

Adam cocked a brow at his best friend. “No, you’re not. Natalie just left on tour, didn’t she? Which means you weresayinggoodbye—”

“Stop talking,” Ethan said. “And yes,” he added with a smirk, then took in Antonio. “Hey, I’m Ethan.”

Antonio shook his hand, but his furrowed brow remained.

Adam rolled his eyes.

“What did I miss?” Ethan asked.

“Adam was just explaining that he ranks women,” Antonio said.

“Oh man,” Ethan said with a shake of his head. “I forgot about your tier system.”

“You have tiers?” Antonio asked.

Adam exhaled. “Fine. It’s like this. There are four tiers,” he said, holding up four fingers. “The fourth, or lowest tier, is women who hate me and would never sleep with me.”

“The fourth tier is heavily populated,” Max said with a grin.

Adam rolled his eyes and continued, holding up three fingers. “The third tier is women whodon’tdespise me andwouldsleep with me, but they could never be serious. These are your older divorcees and old schoolteachers,” he said with a wink at Ethan, who laughed.

“The second tier is where things get tricky. These are women whocouldbe something serious but have a definitive expiration date. Like women you meet on vacation or something. Even if you did like them, it wouldn’t go anywhere.”

“And the first tier?” Antonio asked.

“These are the women who are smart, and funny, and beautiful, and warm, and are definitelynottemporary. Long-term types, you know,” he said, looking into the distance and thinking how unfair it is that most women fell into that category.

Oh well.

Antonio narrowed his eyes. “So you don’t want first-tier women?”

Adam shook his head. “God, no. I like to keep it to third tier. Every once in a while, I get brave and venture into the second tier. But I avoid first tier at all costs.”

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