The Wrong Quarterback: Chapter 33

My brother was a fucking rock god.

We were backstage, watching him perform. He’d been touring with the Sounds of Us for the past year, and he’d finally made it to Tennessee for a concert.

My chest was tight with pride as he sang to the packed crowd that filled the whole fucking stadium.

Even if he was wearing feathers in his cowboy hat again.

I glanced at Casey as the music blasted through the speakers. She looked mesmerized, her eyes wide, her body frozen in place, like she couldn’t quite believe where she was. I knew she was nervous; she had been the whole car ride here, but now? Now it was like she was in a trance.

I covered her eyes.

“Hey,” she cried, pushing my hands off.

“Cole snores terribly loud, and his farts literally clear rooms,” I told her.

She blinked at me, the same look she always had when I said something fairly crazy.

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked slowly.

“Just making sure…”

She grinned at me knowingly.

Cole was deep into his song, leaning into each note, when suddenly, a high-pitched wave of screaming broke through the music. He barely had time to register the sound before a group of girls burst through the security barriers in front of the stage. They somehow bypassed the security guards and ran across the stage floor with determined looks and hands already reaching out for him.

He froze mid-strum, eyes widening as he took in the scene. The first girl was just a few feet away when Cole’s survival instincts finally kicked in.

“Oh, hell no,” he muttered, and bolted around the mic stand as more girls pulled themselves up onto the stage, their arms outstretched like they were zombie extras in an episode of Walking Dead.

His guitarist started playing a fast-paced riff, adding an absurd soundtrack to the chaos. Cole dashed behind the drum kit, ducking as one girl lunged at him. He laughed nervously, sprinting to the far side of the stage as security rushed in, grabbing fans left and right.

“I’d rather not!” he shouted over his shoulder, just as another fan managed to get up close. He hopped backward, narrowly avoiding her grip. Cole half-ran, half-laughed his way across the stage, dodging the crowd like it was a bizarre game of tag.

Finally, security managed to get a handle on the situation, ushering the determined fans back down. Cole caught his breath, hands on his knees, shaking his head as he looked out at the crowd.

“That’s going on YouTube, isn’t it?!” He laughed into the mic, brushing off his shirt and adjusting his hat with a dramatic flourish. He’d lost a feather while he’d been running, so it looked slightly less ridiculous. “Love the enthusiasm, Nashville, but let’s leave the tackle moves to the Tennessee Tigers when they kick Florida’s ass this weekend, okay?”

The audience roared, and Cole grinned at me before he held up his guitar triumphantly and launched right back into the song.

“Walker is going to hate that he missed that,” I muttered to myself, thinking that a video wasn’t going to do it justice.

“That’s the kind of reaction I want when I walk in a room,” said Jace as Matty gaped at him. “Don’t look at me like that, Matthew, you have a stalker. That’s an affront to nature, especially because of the size of my⁠—”

“Don’t talk about dicks,” I growled, covering Casey’s ears this time.

The three of them laughed at me like I’d done something funny.

The final chord struck, the crowd exploded in cheers, and I grabbed her hand.

“I’ve got a good one for your brother this time,” Jace said. “Want to hear it?”

“Don’t say yes. This one is not good,” groaned Matty.

“Well, now I have to hear it,” I said.

Jace rubbed his hands together, obviously really excited about this one. “Okay, prepare yourself.”

“I’m prepared. Hit me with it.”

“What kind of bees produce milk?”

“I literally have no idea.”

Jace grinned. “Boo-bees.”

Casey giggled, and I glanced down at her, only smiling because of her laugh. And not because it was funny.

“See what I mean?” said Matty.

“Cole’s going to love it. He appreciates me for my comedic humor,” Jace retorted, scowling at the two of us like we’d deeply betrayed him.

“Cole also wears birds on his head, so I’m not sure you can trust him,” I mused as the man in question waved to the crowd and strode toward us off the stage.

I got ready to hug my brother in all his sweaty glory, but to my horror, he had something else in mind.

Before I could blink, he swept Casey up into a huge hug that made her squeak in surprise. “Hello, future sis-in-law,” he crowed as he spun her around.

“Put her DOWN,” I growled, seeing red as I forced myself not to tackle my oldest brother.

Cole’s smirk stretched across his whole face as he set her down and watched as I immediately pulled her against my body. “So touchy about touching,” he said, taking off his hat and pulling back his dark blue bandana so he could use it to wipe his sweat-slicked face.

I took in what he was wearing while he was distracted because one of Walker and my favorite things to do was to make fun of his…colorful style.

I would call this one his hobo cowboy look.

His shirt, some kind of loose linen deal, was unbuttoned halfway down his chest, revealing a glint of silver from a chain with a small emerald stone at the end, swinging slightly as he shifted. His leather pants were so tight that I wasn’t sure how he’d actually gotten them on in the first place.

I snapped a picture and sent it to Walker. His response was instantaneous.

I snorted, and Cole lifted an eyebrow at me. “You’re laughing at me, aren’t you?”

“Only a little.”

Jace started his joke, and I turned my attention to Casey, who had gotten extremely quiet.

“What’s up, baby?” I asked.

She glanced up at me, and I realized she was blushing. Now I really wanted to know what was going on in that gorgeous head of hers.

“He called me his ‘future sis-in-law,’” she whispered shyly, and I brushed a kiss against her lips.

“‘My future wife’ is better, but if the other one gets you going, I’ll take it as long as it gets me to the same place.”

“The same place?”

“At the altar, with you in a white dress, telling me you’re going to belong to me forever and ever.”

“I like the sound of that place,” she said, her blush deepening. I kissed her again.

“That place is going to happen. Soon.”