Dating the Defensive Back (The Nash Brothers Book 1)

When Your Brother Blows Your Big Plans

I’m still staring out the window, this time with a glass of gin glued to my palm, when my phone rings.

I glance at the screen and slide it to answer, clicking the speaker button. “Hey, Ash.”

“What’s up, G? A few of the guys from the team are meeting over at the Gridiron tonight and wanted me to extend the invite to you,” my brother informs me.

Fuck.

I feel a little stuck.

I don’t want to go out tonight, but I know how this works. The more times you tell someone no, the less likely they are to ask the next time.

This isn’t my brother extending the invitation. It’s our teammates. They want to get to know the new guy, and they’re issuing the invitation through Asher.

Which is fine. It’s good. It’s great. Whatever.

I need to get to know these guys, and I need to get my ass over there. But I’m still reeling over the confessions Ava made on the couch earlier tonight, and I’m not really in the mood to put on the Grayson act where I’m everybody’s best friend when I just want to drink some gin, tug on my dick, and call it an early night.

I guess I’m letting my little brother blow my big plans for the evening.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll be there.” I hang up without thanking him for the invitation. It’s rude, but I’m already halfway to drunk and only have a few fucks left to hand out tonight.

I take a shower, which sobers me right back up, and then I order up a car to take me over to the bar. I draw in a few deep breaths before I get there, and I force myself to call up the act.

The one where I’m the boisterous, loud, fun-loving brother, the guy everyone loves to be around, the guy sought after by women, the guy who can make anyone laugh. Tonight, and most nights since last Friday, I’m feeling much more like the introspective guy who just wants to sit in my hotel suite on a couch opposite Ava, our legs tangled together while the lights of the Strip blink outside and her face lights up everything inside as we talk about nothing and everything.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

I need to shake that shit right out of my head.

That’s not who Grayson Nash is, and it’s not who I’m here to be tonight. I’m here to get to know my teammates, and I want them to see the fun side of me, not this whiney little sap one night with a virgin has turned me into.

I get out of the car and hold my head high as I head inside, and I beeline for the same table in the back where I sat last time. It must be a standing Aces table because it’s already filled with guys I recognize, some who were here last week, and some who weren’t.

And the reason I beeline for that damn table? It’s so I don’t have time to stare at the place where I met Cookie…or, rather, the place where I re-met Ava Maxwell. The woman who had a dream that night, the woman who asked me to forgive her for leaving out details that would’ve prevented that dream from coming true.

Is she right?

It’s not over the top to think that yes, absolutely she was. It’s not out of line to think that if I would’ve known her name, I never would’ve fucked her. And what’s more, if I’d known she was a virgin…

Well, I can’t say I wouldn’t have fucked her if I knew she was a virgin but didn’t know she was Ava. But I might have handled things differently. I might’ve been more careful, or gentler, or maybe I would’ve talked to her longer or given her more foreplay or stopped before I stuck my dick in her.

We’ll never know the answer to that since she didn’t trust me enough to give me the whole story. And to be honest, I can’t really blame her for that. I can’t be mad that she didn’t want me to know she was a virgin when she willingly gave it up to me.

And she said I made her dreams come true.

I don’t know if that was just lip service or if she meant it, but these are the things I’m quietly processing while I prepare to project the persona I’m really not feeling at all tonight.

“What’re you drinking, Nash?” Travis Woods asks me from across the table as the server approaches. His arm is slung around a woman, and I’m not sure if she’s his girl or just some conquest for the night.

“I’m a gin guy,” I say more to the server than to him.

I slide into the booth beside Patrick, the only other guy on D here besides me, and I spot my brother across the table in the corner. I give him a nod even as I make a face at him when I look at his choice of shirts this evening—a button-down with rather large dinosaur faces.

Does he really get pussy dressing like that?

“Really, man? Gin?” Patrick asks, making a face at me.

“What are you drinking?” I challenge with a laugh.

“Tequila.” He holds up an empty glass.

“I’ll stick with my Hendricks, thank you very much. Bad memories with tequila. Or, rather…no memory.”

He laughs. “Been there, my friend.”

We get to talking about our backgrounds and where we’ve played, and I start to relax a little. It almost feels like, at some point, I might even find my place with this team.

Asher holds my gaze as he nods over toward the bar.

Clearly, he wants to get me alone to tell me something, so I nod, and we head up that way without another word.

“What’s going on?” I ask him once we’re standing out of earshot of the other players. There are a lot of people around, but between the music and the loud din of the place, we’re safe to have a quiet conversation even in this rather large crowd.

“Be careful, man.”

My brows pull together. “With what? Getting eaten by one of the dinosaurs on your shirt?”

“Fuck off. I mean, be careful with these guys. Getting too close. They’re all great, but they’re playing a game, too. They’re being careful with us since we’re related to the coach. You got me?” he asks.

“Why the fuck did you invite me out tonight if you just wanted to warn me not to get close?” I can’t help the rather annoyed face I pull at him.

“I haven’t had much chance to hang out with them given my suspension. But I did have a hard time fitting in when I got here, and I think it’s because they put up a wall around me thanks to Lincoln.” He shrugs. “I guess I just wanted to warn you, but I also wanted to give you a shot at developing your own friendships here since I know they all meet here fairly often.”

“Well…okay. Thanks, I guess?” I say it more as a question than out of actual gratitude.

“You’re welcome. And by the way, what the hell is up your ass?” he asks.

“Nothing’s up my ass. What’s up your ass?”

He rolls his eyes. “You think I can’t tell when something is going on with you? You’ve been all stiff and just…not yourself since you walked in here. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I mutter, honestly a little surprised that my little brother not only recognized that I’m all fucked in the head, but he also called me out on it.

I turn to head back to the table, and wouldn’t you fucking know it?

Out of the crowd appears none other than the woman throwing me all out of sorts herself: Ava Maxwell.

I blow out a breath.

I can’t fucking get away from her.

My big plan to get to know my teammates as I try to push her out of my head appears to have been blown to bits once again.