Page 84 of The Friends and Rivals Collection

EPILOGUE

THE LUCKY GUY

Jason

That is an excellent question.

With a very complicated answer.

Is there a guy I hope shows up? Yes. But will he bid on me, or expect me to bid on him?

No idea.

I still don’t know what Beck wants from me or what I want from him, even after the night he banged on the door at my place and told me the truth about what happened a year ago.

That night he confessed to a lot of things that surprised the hell out of me.

And, admittedly, excited me too.

But a few weeks later, I’m still trying to figure out the other starting quarterback in San Francisco. Like I said, it’s complicated.

“There might be someone in particular,” I tell Emerson.

She nudges my arm. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

I lean closer, whisper in her ear. “I promise to tell you. . .when I figure it all out.”

“You better figure it out soon. I want to know!”

“Of course you do,” I say, then add with a sigh, “And so do I.”

“Well, I hope that happens sooner rather than later,” she says.

And she’s not the only one who wants to know what’s up in my love life, since when my friend TJ joins us at Gin Joint a little later, he proceeds to grill me about the auction. “So, what’s the verdict? Have you decided?”

If only this were as easy as knowing who to throw to on the football field. “On a suit, yes. On a plan, no.”

TJ chuckles. “So, basically you have no fucking clue what you’ll do if Beck bids on you tomorrow?”

“It’s pretty much going to be a line of scrimmage decision. But hey, feel free to attend tomorrow and find out who bids on who.”

“Maybe I will,” TJ says, then my brother tears his attention away from Emerson and Jo, and back to me.

“I could offer a cooking metaphor for you, Jaybird. Like, maybe you need to let this romantic situation marinate a little longer,” Nolan says.

“Or he could take it off the heat,” TJ offers.

I grin, maybe a little wickedly. “I do like the heat though,” I say.

That’s another reason why I’d really like to figure out what Beck wants from me, and what I want from him. But for now, I focus on my brother, and all our friends.