Page 188 of Let You Love Me

I mutter a string of obscenities as I pull away from Lane, whose cheeks are flushed a bright shade of red, and adjust myself in my jeans before turning. “This better be good.”

Jace stands next to Atlas, and his eyes flicker south. “Well, it’s confirmed. His cock isn’t broken. Congrats, man.”

I scrub a hand over my face and groan. “Seriously?”

Beside him Atlas chuckles, and Lane snorts.

“What? As your best friend, I was concerned for you. Can you blame me?”

“Yeah, I can, actually. Because it was my fucking back, not my dick that got hit.”

Jace shrugs. “You just never know with these things, but I’m glad to see he’s back in business.” He slaps a hand on my chest. “How does that work with a broken back, anyway? Her on top, right?”

“Let it go, man,” Atlas says beside him, stifling a grin.

“What?” Jace shrugs. “I mean, because he can’t—”

“Say another word, and you’ll be the one with the incapacitated dick,” I deadpan.

Jace raises his hands, palms out. “Sheesh. You don’t have to get so violent. I was just wondering,” he grumbles.

Beside me, Lane bites her lip to hide a smile, her cheeks pinken as we rejoin the others in the living room. Between the armchairs and the massive sectional, everyone is spread out and coupled up.

I gingerly sink down onto the sectional and pull Lane beside me as Jace announces, “His cock works.”

“Give me that.” I motion to the throw pillow at Lane’s side and when she hands it to me, I chuck it at his head, wincing as I hit my target.

His mouth gapes, hand flying to the back of his skull. “I hope that hurt.”

“It did. But it was worth it.” I smile.

Graham snickers, and they launch into a story about the time Jace ran out of the showers in the locker room, slipped, and almost face-planted into Graham’s genitals.

I sit back in my seat, laughing along with them as they give Lane the highlights reel of our friendship over the years like they’re sharing a greatest hits album.

The last time we were all together in the same room was my mother’s barbecue, the day I found out the truth about Knox. It feels like it just happened yesterday, yet so far away at the same time. The night we all said our goodbyes around a fire at Crow’s Creek before we parted ways last summer, feels like a lifetime ago.

I can’t help but think of how much everything has changed since then. The crazy boys of Riverside have grown up. Our bond may be stronger than ever, but we’re no longer the boys we started as. We’re men, forged through the fire of tragedy, heartbreak, loss, and everything else life has thrown in our paths.

I glance over at Atlas, his dark gaze glittering as he smirks at some dumbass thing Jace is saying, one arm slung around Mackenzie’s shoulders.

When he bulldozed into our lives more than a year ago and stole Mackenzie from Graham before he could confess his undying love for her, I thought he’d break us. He was arrogant and jaded and tough as fucking nails. As it turns out, it takes a whole lot more than a girl, football, and Graham’s asshole father to tear us down.

And Graham . . . My gaze shifts. His sandy hair falls in his eyes as he presses a kiss to the top of Skylar’s head.

I remember sitting with Sky at our senior football banquet and being so fucking grateful she found a way to bring him back to life when I thought we’d lost him.

Shit, he went to hell and back, and still came out on top. A broken heart, gambling debts, his parent’s infidelity, a surprise half-sibling, thugs, and fires weren’t enough to keep him down, and we were right there with him, every fucking step of the way.

“Babe, you know you love it,” Jace croons, drawing my attention.

Beside him, Brynn slaps him on the chest and rolls her eyes. “Okay, maybe I do.”

“See?” Jace grins like an idiot, and I shake my head.

“Do I wanna know?” I ask, having missed the punchline.

“Trust me when I say, you don’t,” Graham supplies.

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