Page 82 of Burnout
Pulling out a chair, I tip my head for Avery to take it and then I sit directly in front of Brogan just in case I need to kick him under the table.
“Thank you for dinner. It smells so good.” She leans closer to her plate and inhales. “I miss homemade meals. I mostly live on Jimmy John’s delivery and the salad bar at the cafeteria.”
“It’s Knox’s recipe,” Jane offers. She’s sitting with her elbows on the table and her fork dangling absently from her fingers. She’s clearly more interested in our guest than eating.
Avery steals a glimpse at me.
“I got it off the internet,” I say with a shrug.
Her lips curve like she’s amused by me cooking or looking up recipes. A man can only eat so many frozen pizzas and ordering takeout every night is expensive. I’m not a chef by any stretch of the imagination, but I figured out how to make a few things with the help of Google and a lot of trial and error.
“So, Avery,” Jane prompts. “How long have you been doing gymnastics?”
I hold in a sigh and shoot my future sister-in-law a glare that would intimidate most people. Unfortunately, she isn’t scared of me because she knows Hendrick would castrate me if I so much as touched a hair on her head.
“Since I was three.”
“Competing since she was six,” I add, then pause. How the hell did I remember that?
“That’s right.” Avery smiles at me. “It’s the only thing I’ve ever been any good at.”
“I can think of at least one other thing,” I mumble just loud enough that only she can hear me.
No one else is paying attention to me because Jane launches back into the conversation.
“I love gymnastics,” she says. “I watched you during the last Olympics. Your beam routine was so good I had chills. And you had the best hair too.”
“The best hair?” I mouth at Hendrick. He shrugs, but I see him fighting to hold in a laugh.
“Thank you.” Avery seems genuinely thankful for the compliment as she beams at Jane. “I love your hair color. Is it naturally that blonde?”
I lean back in my chair and watch as the two girls chatter on about hair shit. Here I thought Jane was fangirling over Avery, but it looks like it’s a mutual adoration.
My brothers and I all exchange a look of amusement.
As soon as there’s a break in the conversation, Brogan clears his throat. He’s been quiet too long. I should have known it was about time for him to pipe up. “Ave, do you have any video of Knox doing gymnastics shit?”
“Her name is Avery,” I say it slowly for him and point my fork at him. “And no. She’s not giving you footage of me making an ass out of myself so you can blackmail me.”
One corner of his mouth lifts. “I like Ave. I’m gonna call you that. So do you?”
“Well, that depends. What’s it worth to you?” Avery asks.
My jaw falls open and I turn to her as everyone else at the table bursts into laughter.
“Oh, it’s worth a lot,” Brogan tells her.
When I look around, my family is staring at Avery like her willingness to go along with a blackmail scheme against me makes her more endearing. Fuckers. Even Flynn is grinning.
It’s hard to keep the smile off my face. These people are everything to me and she fits in so seamlessly. It’s a relief and also a surprise. I couldn’t be with a girl, even if it’s just hooking up, knowing my brothers didn’t like her.
“Speaking of Knox,” Archer says, looking at Avery. “Do you go out much? Parties? Bars?”
Avery glances between us, but she makes a point of facing Archer directly before she answers. “Not that often. Practice and school keep me pretty busy.”
“How is that related to me?”I ask and sign to Archer.
His lips twitch and then pull into a smile. “I just wondered if she knew there was a whole bunch of way cooler guys oncampus. You don’t need to slum it with him.” He looks back at her. “I could introduce you to some teammates.”
