Page 54 of Building Romance
I float on a raft in my parents’ indoor pool. It’s been twenty-four hours since I dropped off Cam. I miss her. I miss her sassiness, her stubbornness, and her sexiness.
“You trying to drown yourself in here?” Spencer’s voice rings out from the far side of the pool.
I look over and see he’s about to dive in and I close my eyes. While we were all on the swim team as kids, none of us ever dive properly into the pool. It’s always a cannonball.
A splash covers me in water droplets.
“Asshole,” I mutter.
“What’s crawled up your ass?” he asks as he swims over to me and treads water.
“Just thinking,” I confess as I use my hands to push me farther from him.
“Don’t think too hard, Fletchy,” Spencer teases, using my childhood nickname.
“Don’t be such a prick, Pencer,” I tease back, using the nickname that came from him not being able to pronounce his own name.
He flicks me off and starts swimming laps. I have no idea how to tell him and Dalton that I slept with Cam. I don’t even know what I’m doing. Do I continue opening the store? Do I sabotage it so I don’t kill her dream? I’m so fucking confused.
“Seriously, what is eating at you?” Spencer says after finishing a few laps.
I sigh and sit up. It’s time to rip off this bandage. I can’t lie to my brothers. They’ll know.
“I slept with Camryn Tanner,” I admit.
He freezes, his face contorting in confusion. “Like, to get more intel?”
I shake my head. “She’s not like how I thought she would be. She’s…smart and savvy, and I like her, Spence,” I confess.
“Shit, bro. That is bad news. She’s going to hate you when we put her out of business,” Spencer says.
“I’m done trying. I’m just going to give it my all with our store, and if it fails, then it fails,” I say.
“No way. You can’t fail. Dad will have a shit fit. What the fuck, Fletcher? You know we need this store to succeed,” he says and I can see him starting to get angry, which Spencer doesn’t do often, but when he does, it’s epic.
I put my hands up trying to placate him. “Listen, I have some ideas. I think we can both be successful. We can…complement each other,” I offer. Do I have ideas? Sort of. Will they be successful? Maybe.
But I’m not letting Spencer be the reason things don’t work out between Cam and me. I really do want to give this a proper try.
“Good luck introducing your new flavor of the month to Dad,” he says and pauses. “You know what, never mind, make sure I’m there and have popcorn.”
He swims to the edge and pulls himself up. “I can’t believe you’d let your dick get in the way of our company. That’s low even for you, Fletch.”
He shakes his head and walks away before I can argue with him. I splash the water angrily and get out. I hate that my entire family holds my misspent youth over my head. I’m not that boy anymore. It’s been well over six years since I acted anything but a gentleman from a well-respected family.
And I would certainly not sleep with someone just to spy on them. What the hell is Spencer even going on about?
I need to talk to someone who doesn’t view me like my family. I just don’t know who…or do I? I decide to text a friend online and seek some advice. Too bad I can’t just ask my own fucking family members.
One hundred dollars says Spencer has already called Dalton.
As if on cue, my phone rings and I see Dalton’s name flash across the screen. Great.
“Yeah.” I pick up as I dry myself with a towel.
“You fucking slept with her!” Dalton yells.
“Calm down before you give yourself a coronary,” I insist with a roll of my eyes.
