Page 2 of Risk (Gods #3)

“ I ’m telling you, that man wants you,” Ari says to me once I get her seated on the toilet.

The not-so-glamorous job of the maid of honor is helping the bride take a piss. Not literally, of course.

“He does not,” I tell her, leaning back against the door while she does her business.

“He does,” she says emphatically. “He’s always looking at you, especially when he thinks no one else is watching.”

“Dude, he is not always looking at me.” I would know because I spend a lot of my time sneaking glances at him. “You’re all hopped up on your own wedding happiness, and it’s set you on a romance quest.”

“I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy.”

“Okay, I’ll rephrase. I want you to be dick happy.”

“Dick happy?” I sputter out a laugh. “How much Diet Coke have you had today?” I tease.

Ari doesn’t drink alcohol. She had a drinking problem for many years. Before she met my brother, she got sober through rehab and regularly attending AA meetings, and I’m so proud of her.

“Only a few glasses.” She grins. “I’m not high on caffeine. Just happy.”

“And I’m happy that you’re happy, but I do not need to be dick happy—whatever the fuck that means.”

“It means you need to get laid.”

“I do not need to get laid.” I so need to get laid.

“When did you last have sex?”

I refuse to answer that because it’s been a while. I’ve been busy starting my PhD while working in between, so there’s no time to get laid. Well, I could make time if I really wanted to, but there hasn’t been anyone I’ve wanted to get dicked by.

“I’ll take your silence as an admission that it’s been too long. You want to know when I last had sex?”

“I really don’t.” Because I don’t need another reminder of my brother in that way.

“Last night,” she says, ignoring me.

“Do you want me to puke on you?”

She laughs. “I’m just saying, you need to get laid, and I’m telling you, like I’ve told you before, Kaden wants you.”

I roll my eyes. “You done peeing yet?”

“Don’t change the subject, and, yeah, I’m done peeing.”

Thank fuck. I need to get out of this stall and this conversation.

“I’m not changing the subject.” I totally am.

I help her off the toilet and fix her dress.

“You and Kaden are close though.”

“Not really.”

Ari gives me a disbelieving look. “When we’re all together, you guys are always chatting.”

“Yeah, but I don’t see him outside of our group things. I only see him with Zeus. It’s not like we’re friends outside of that. We don’t text—I don’t even have his phone number. He’s my brother’s best friend, and I want to make him feel like he’s part of our family, not like an outsider.”

I know Kaden grew up in foster care. I don’t know what age he entered the system or why or if he has family. He doesn’t talk about it.

I spent time with him when he was in the treatment center, recovering from his head injury. I’d go visit him, but when he left there and got his own place, I didn’t ever visit him at his apartment.

I know he lived in a rental in the East Village, and when his compensation from the International Boxing Federation was paid out, he bought an apartment on Broadway, but I don’t know where exactly.

I don’t know how much his payout was—because it’d be rude to ask, and it doesn’t really matter to me anyway.

I just hope he got what he deserved for all he had gone through.

Not that money could ever change what he endured, but it’d help his financial security.

The money he could have earned if he continued fighting would have been huge.

So, he deserved every dollar he received.

“He’s been a part of our family for a long time now. You don’t need to talk to him to make him feel that way. He already knows he’s a part of the clan. You talk to him because you like him…” She lets her words trail off.

When I say nothing, she makes a noise of frustration, which would be cute and funny if it wasn’t directed at me.

“Every time I ask you if you like him, you either say nothing or avoid answering me by changing the subject. Which, by the way, tells me that you like him.”

“So, if you already know, then why do you keep bugging me about it?”

“Because I want you to admit it. Wait, did you just admit it?”

“No. Maybe.”

“So, you finally admit that you like him?” Her face is beaming.

“Fine! I like him.” I think he’s the hottest man I’ve ever seen, and I would like to jump his bones in many, many different ways.

“Yasss!” She claps her hands together.

“But”—I give her a stern look to stop her from getting carried away—“he’s older than me.”

“Ares is older than me.”

“By two years, Ari.” I roll my eyes at her. “Kaden is six years older than me. He’s a year older than Zeus—you know, my big brother, who happens to be his best friend.”

“I just married my dad’s starting quarterback. And you’re my best friend, and he’s your brother.”

Laughing, I shake my head at her. “I met you through my brother. That is not the same, babe.”

She pouts. “Maybe not, but I still think your reasons are moo.”

“Moo?”

“Yeah, as the great Joey Tribbiani said, ‘Moo. Like a cow’s opinion. It just doesn’t matter.’”

Do I want Kaden? One hundred percent yes. But I know I can’t have him. One, for all the above reasons. And two, in all this time I’ve known him, he’s never shown any interest in me, aside from friendship. He just sees me as Zeus’s little sister.

“You know, there is this other issue…the fact that he doesn’t like me in that way.” When her mouth opens, I hold a hand up, silencing her. “Because if he did, then he would have done something about it by now.”

She tilts her head, giving me a knowing look. “You mean, like you have?”

Oh. Well…shit. Yeah, she does have a point there.

For a woman working toward her PhD in psychology, I sure can be dumb sometimes.

I can see everyone else’s issues and resolutions, but I can never see my own. I don’t know what that says about me, to be honest.

Willfully blind, probably. Because it’s always easier to sort out other people’s problems than my own.

“Maybe he’s not told you how he feels for all the same reasons that you haven’t told him how you feel.”

Ari unlocks the stall door, and I follow her out to the sinks. While she washes her hands, I wash mine because public bathrooms—yuck.

“Just talk to him.” She hands me a paper towel to dry my hands.

“I don’t know…he’s Zeus’s friend.” I ball the paper towel up and toss it into the trash.

“I’m not asking you to go out and straddle him.

” She laughs, and I give her a playful shove.

“I’m saying, have a conversation with the man.

Put your smart brain to use and pay attention to how he acts toward you when you’re talking.

I know you deal with brains and emotions, but body language tells you everything. ”

I did take a course on body language, so I know the basic signs to look for, but I don’t bother telling her that.

“Fine.” I sigh. “I’ll talk to him, but I’ve talked to him plenty of times before.”

“But this time is different.”

“How so?”

“Because you’ve finally admitted out loud that you like him. Makes it real.” She grins and takes me by the hand, tugging me out of the restroom and back to the room where the wedding reception is happening.

My brother’s eyes are on her the moment she walks into the room, and the smile that lights up his face makes my insides turn to mush—also, I feel a pang of envy.

Because I guess…maybe I want someone to look at me like that. Like I’m the only thing they see in a room full of people. That I’m the only person who matters.

“I’m gonna go dance with my husband,” Ari says, and the giddiness in her voice makes me smile. “Go talk to him,” she urges in a whisper, giving me a nudge before walking over to Ares.

I glance to my left and see Kaden at the bar, talking to Zeus.

Kaden looks so handsome. I mean, he always looks hot, but when he wears a suit, he really fucking wears it. His suit is clearly tailored, as it fits him to perfection.

But I can’t go talk to him now, not with my brother there. Or I mean, I guess I could. It’s not like I was going to go over there and hit on him. I was just going to go and have a conversation.

And he is standing at the bar, and I do need a drink.

Okay, so I’m just going to go to the bar, get a drink, and talk to my brother and his hot friend.

Oh God.

I begin walking toward them, and I swear my ass starts to sweat.

This is stupid. Nothing has changed. He has no clue that I’ve been crushing on him for years.

I mean, not like I’ve sat around and pined for him.

There have been other guys in my life. I was at college, away from home, when I first met him, and it’s not like I see him all the time, but I do look forward to the times when I do see him.

No one seems to hit me with the chest thumps and tingles between the legs like Kaden Scott does.

And after tonight, it could be a while before I see him again. That thought spurs me on to go have a conversation with him. I’ve not had a chance to talk to him all day, so this is nothing unusual.

Kaden’s stunning brown eyes turn my way as I approach, and I feel his look cover me, like it’s the dress I’m wearing. I have to hold back a shiver. Maybe Ari is onto something, saying that he likes me. Or maybe I’m just projecting.

“Hey.” I smile at my brother and Kaden when I reach them. “Having fun?” I ask them both.

Having fun. For fuck’s sake, Kincaid, you couldn’t come up with a better opener than that? All that money spent on a good education, and that’s the best you’ve got?

A small smile lifts Kaden’s lips.

“It’s been a good day,” Zeus says. “Ares looks happy.”

I follow his eyes to where Ares and Ari are dancing together on the floor. “Yeah, he does.” I smile. “He deserves to be happy.”

“We all do.”