Page 7 of The Cheerleader is Off Limits

My older brother interjects in our group chat, and I already know that my answer is going to cause them to gang up on me.

Me:

I decided to stay the weekend.

Rowan:

For no reason other than to get laid, I’m sure.

Ellie:

Didn’t we talk about this!?

Me:

Talk about what?

I roll my eyes inwardly, thinking about the last conversation I had with Ellie after a few too many beers, when I broke down and told her that I did want to meet someone, but evidently, my intimacy issues and“my inability to approach anyone over the age of twenty-two”make it impossible.Ellie’s words. Now, she’s made it her mission to press me about it every time I fuck someone.

“Don’t you want to settle down?”

“Maybe you should start dating women who are closer to your age?”

Yes, I would like to meet someone, but can’t a guy have fun in the meantime?

Was last night even that fun, though?

My phone comes to life in my hand, and while I know Ellie means well, and I’ve grown to love her like the sister I never hador wanted, but semantics,sometimes she can be a pain in my ass.

“Yes, mother?” I answer, while rubbing my forehead.

“I want to set you up with someone,” Ellie declares immediately.

“No,” I respond without another word because I’ve already gone out with three women Ellie set me up with, and while I did fuck two out of the three, I felt nothing. And I’m fairly certain the third one was in some sort of cult she spent the entirety of dinner trying to recruit me for. “Unless it’s Jacqueline.” I smile, knowing that the only way I could get a date with Ellie’s best friend wasover her dead body.

I wasn’t even particularly interested. I just loved to get under Ellie’s skin about it. Jacqueline was hot and smart and had breasts worthy of grade A porn, but she’s also a psychologist and, just like Ellie, has tried to decipher myissueson more than one occasion.

“You’re the worst,” she deadpans. “I’m serious!” she adds with a more excited lilt.

Movement in my periphery catches my attention, and while I was already well on my way to tuning Ellie out, the blonde who just sat down diagonally from me at the bar has just demanded all of my attention with one glance. Her lips tick upward slightly in a way that’s almost a smile but could also be construed as a smirk before stunning blue eyes with long lashes flick downwardtoward the menu that the bartender has just placed in front of her. I find myself still staring at her, long after her eyes have left mine, my brain still trying to memorize that shade of blue that I could only compare to ocean waters. Only when her eyes flit back to mine do I detect a hint of nervousness, I assume due to my blatant staring, so I turn my attention away from her and back to my beer.

“Ellie,” I start, not even realizing if I’m interrupting her because I haven’t been listening for the past thirty seconds. “I’ll swing by when I get home. I should be there by nine. You can lecture me then.”

“I’m not lecturing! You made me promise to hold you accountable because you want to meet someone within the next year.”

“I need to stop talking to you after I’m six shots deep,” I grumble as I vaguely recall the conversation she’s referring to when I may or may not have gotten emotional over the fact that my oldest niece, Margot, was graduating from high school this year, and my younger niece, Isla, was damn near driving.Okay, she’s seven, but still, I remember the day she was born.I’d gotten in my feelings over the fact that my older brother had three kids that I loved like my own.But they weren’t my own.And for the first time, I allowed myself to admit that I did want children. It didn’t help that Ellie was still in her twenties and about to marry my brother and probably pop out three more of his children if the way they go at it was any predictor.

I’m thirty-eight, and I’ve only been in one serious relationship back in college with a girl who broke my heart, sending me on the clichéd journey of becoming a fuckboy to protect myself from ever being in that position again.

Ellie and Jacqueline’s words, naturally.

“I have to go. I’m boarding soon,” I tell her. It’s not for another hour, but I wanted a pre-flight buzz, and talking to Ellie about my commitment issues would surely derail that plan.

“Okay, have a safe flight and text us when you land,” she tells me before we hang up, and I turn my attention back to the blond woman, who’s staring down at her phone as she sips her water.

She looks at me from the corner of her eye, and when I smile at her, she sets her phone down and turns her focus toward me. “Have we met before?” she asks, and the slight raspiness of her voice stuns me, as I was not expecting that to come from her. She sends a shiny blond curl behind her shoulder and raises an eyebrow at me.

She’s insanely gorgeous,and when her lips tilt upward, a faint dimple appears in her cheek. My dick instantly hardens because if you looked up my type, there would be a picture of this woman.