Over My Brother's Dead Body, Chase Andrews(3)
Author: Piper Rayne

 

The two of them share a look with raised eyebrows.

 

“What?” I ask.

 

“Nothing.” Darius presses his lips together. “Pizza’s good, man.”

 

I cross my arms and look down my nose at them. “Is there something wrong with pizza?”

 

“I love pizza,” Eli says. “But it’s also what my sister orders for my niece and nephew’s birthday parties. I don’t think it’s usually something to serve at an engagement party.”

 

“When my sister got engaged, everything was mini. Mini crab cakes, mini wieners wrapped in dough, mini shrimp thing on a cracker.” Darius looks at Eli. “I did love those mini wieners though.” He stares into space as if remembering them fondly. “Pizza is cool though.”

 

Eli covers his mouth and bends over. “Please stop with the wieners. You’re just asking for it.”

 

“You’re so immature!” Darius opens the fridge, helping himself to a beer.

 

Another knock on the door and my arms drop to my sides. “Well, consider me a trendsetter.” I brush past them toward the door.

 

“Hey, man,” Miles, the team’s safety, says when I open the door. “Fed up already?”

 

“You have no idea,” I grumble, opening the door wider.

 

Miles glances down the hall. “Great,” he mutters and pushes in past me. “I need a drink.”

 

I peek my head out into the hall, although I already know only one person gets Miles all riled up. Sure enough, Bryce is sauntering down the hallway. She works for the San Jose newspaper, and she and Miles go together about as well as ice cream and relish, though no one really knows why.

 

“Miles hiding out from me?” she says when she reaches me. She, too, holds a gift bag, along with another big bag slung over her shoulder.

 

“Guess so.” She’s friends with Shayna and now Violet, which is why I had to invite her.

 

“Hey!” Shayna says behind me and rushes over to give Bryce a hug, Lee behind her.

 

“Can I get you a beer?” I ask Bryce.

 

“There’s light beer or regular beer,” Shayna says in what sounds to me like a sarcastic tone.

 

Bryce chuckles and pulls a bottle of wine from the large bag she’s carrying. “Please. When I found out who the host was, I knew I had to come prepared.” She winks in my direction.

 

Shayna quickly thrusts her beer into Lee’s hands. “You’re going to share, right?”

 

“Of course.” Bryce smiles and they venture into the kitchen.

 

Lee shrugs and finishes her beer.

 

Halfway to the kitchen, Shayna turns around. “Chase, where do you keep your wineglasses?”

 

I arch a brow at her.

 

“Right. No wineglasses. Solo cups it is.” She salutes me and continues to the kitchen.

 

I groan. “This is a fucking nightmare.”

 

“Could be worse,” Lee says with a smug smile I want to punch off his fucking face.

 

“Oh yeah, how?”

 

“You could be hosting a baby shower.”

 

I scowl. “Fuck off.”

 

Then I walk over to the coffee table where I left my phone, pull up the app, and order the pizza. Once I’ve ordered, there’s another knock at the door. For the next twenty-five minutes, I spend my time answering the door and offering drinks, doing my best not to act as if having all these people in my private space doesn’t feel like fire ants crawling up my ass.

 

I’m standing near my door, shooting the shit with a few of the guys on the team, when I hear people talking out in the hall. It sounds like Brady. What the hell is he doing making a ruckus out there? He’s the guest of honor, and I’m pretty sure the sooner he gets in here, the sooner all these people leave.

 

I excuse myself and walk over to the door, whipping it open. “Thought I heard you out here. What the hell, are you trying to piss off all my—” I abruptly stop talking when I notice Miles’s sister, Twyla, standing with Brady and Violet.

 

What the hell is she doing here?

 

“Funny thing, we just met your new neighbor.” Brady thumbs toward Twyla.

 

My stomach lurches. Great, as if tonight could get any worse. Temptation just moved in across the hall.

 

 

 

 

 

Three

 

 

 

 

 

Twyla

 

 

 

 

 

Chase fills the doorway of his condo with his mouth hanging open. My brother, Miles, once told me Chase is one of the biggest tight ends in the league and at six foot four, two hundred sixty-five pounds of muscle, I believe him. But that’s not what’s most intimidating about the man—it’s the constant scowl glued on his face whenever he looks at someone and his short, flippant answers on the rare occasion he talks to you.

 

Still, I’d be lying if I claimed I didn’t have a small crush on the man. It wasn’t anything I worried about before because I was with Mathew and I was only looking. I may have been taken, but I wasn’t dead. Chase truly is the perfect package with his short beard and his trimmed brown hair that’s always lighter on the ends. Add on his stacked frame and deep-brown eyes, and he looks drop-dead sexy in his Kingsmen uniform, but he’s even sexier dressed in regular clothes, like right now.

 

And I cannot believe he’s my across-the-hall neighbor.

 

“Hey, Chase.” I smile widely at him since my arms are immobile from holding a box.

 

He recovers from whatever stupor he’s in, blinking a few times and nodding briskly. “Hey… so you live here now?” He motions toward the door directly across the hall from his.

 

“For the next few months. I’m condo slash pet-sitting for a tech guy who’s in Asia for a while.”

 

The four of us stand awkwardly for a beat, then Brady widens his eyes at Chase.

 

Chase glances at me as if I’m the last kid waiting to be picked in gym class. “You gonna join us?”

 

I cringe. “Thing is… my brother doesn’t know yet that I’ve moved here. And I doubt a party is the best place to tell him.”

 

“Nonsense. Your brother will be excited to see you. Right, Chase?” Violet says.