Page 6 of Let’s Be Real

Whipping my phone from my pocket, I found Nate Wells in my contacts. I couldn’t remember when I’d added him, but I was certain I’d never texted or called him. I’d known him almost as long as I had Adrian, but he was nothing more than my best friend’s oldest brother. A self-contained enigma who’d always seemed half annoyed by my constant presence growing up. I couldn’t begin to guess what he thought of me now.

Most likely nothing. Despite how close I was to Adrian, and how friendly I was with his other brothers, Ben and Roman, my path rarely overlapped with Nate’s.

Still, when I pressed his name, my stomach quivered. It was silly.

I was a thirty-three-year-old woman. There was no reason calling Adrian’s brother should have made me nervous.

“Hello? Samantha?”

The sound of his voice in my ear sent a shiver down my spine.

“Hi, Nate. I…uh, I need you.”

Chapter Three

Nate

My brothers Ben and Roman had had more injuries than I could count. Considering they had both been professional rugby players at one time—and Ben still was—that tracked.

I wouldn’t have said seeing them injured got easier, though. The last time Ben took a bad hit on the pitch, ending in a severe concussion, I’d wanted to walk out of my skin and never come back.

Not easy, but my mind accepted it. They’d been rough-and-tumble since they’d burst into the world three minutes apart. Skinned knees, dislocated fingers, and head injuries were par for the course.

Adrian was a different story. He had always been circumspect—careful with his personal safety and risk-averse. As a small kid, he’d only go down slides feet first and never let his swing get too high. As an adult…well, he probably got his thrills at his sex club and only there.

Until tonight, I’d never had to worry about him.

Appendicitis, they’d said. Risk of rupture, they’d told us. Surgery was the only option, and it needed to happen immediately.

When he’d admitted to hiding his symptoms for several days, my head had nearly exploded. Samantha’s reaction was the only thing that had stopped me in my tracks.

Standing right beside him, her hand on his shoulder and her other fist clenched, I swore she would have punched Adrian square in the nose if the doctor hadn’t been right there.

At least I wasn’t the only one angry at him.

He’d been wheeled off for surgery a while ago, leaving Samantha and me alone in his private room.

It was dark, and she was sitting with her head pressed against the window. I opened my laptop, deciding if I were going to be awake most of the night, I might as well get some work done.

Except my eyes kept leaving the screen to look at Samantha. She hadn’t moved an inch. Her straight, blond hair was covering most of her face, but her chin poked out just enough for me to see it quiver.

If Roman were here, he would have known what to do or say to make the situation more bearable. Or Ben would have strolled in and cracked a joke, dispelling the thick tension, if only for a little while. There was no need to say Adrian would know precisely how to make Samantha feel better. They were connected like that. Always had been.

I wasn’t the one called in situations like this. Business logistics, I could handle. Emotions? Never. Scads of medication controlled mine, and even then, I barely hung on by the skin of my teeth some days.

Still, it seemed I should have been saying something.

“He’ll be all right.”

There. That was…something.

Samantha jerked, like she’d forgotten I was in the room with her. Her head turned, eyes blinking owlishly.

“I know.” Her fingers twisted together in her lap. “He’s never sick, then suddenly he’s so sick…”

I nodded. “Caught up to him all at once, I guess. He’s actually human like the rest of us.”

She almost smiled and laughed just a little. “He would hate to hear you say that.”