Carried Away: A Small Town Romance (The Moore Brothers Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

were happy now, but true love doesn’t exist. Not the kind that can survive year after year of being with the same person day after day. How could Ian not see that?
    James tossed his phone back in the locker without responding and headed out to the gym. Any response he sent would just lead to a slew of questions about how he was doing and then Ian would just get all bossy big brother on him and give him a bunch of advice he didn’t need. He had a long day ahead of him and it was going to be made all the longer because he was so fucking hungover. The last thing he wanted was a lecture from Ian.
    After the gym, he had a several hour session with his MMA trainer scheduled—another one of those bad decisions Ian was always going on about. And those MMA sessions hurt on a normal day, leaving him bruised and sore and hurting in ways he didn’t know he could hurt. He was really going to feel it today after what he’d done last night.
    But, he had another night planned with Ethan and Oliver once he’d had some dinner and a shower and that was always something to look forward to. Sure, they were terrible influences, but that was a huge part of the fun. He’d spent a decade with the same girl, making safe decisions, doing the so-called right thing. He had a lot of wasted time to make up for. And that meant a day focused on the gym and learning how to take some hardass hits to the body and still deliver his fair share back, followed by a night at the bar, laughing with a bunch of assholes and picking up women. As long as he was too drunk to miss Erin by the time he got back to the house that wasn’t a home anymore and crawled into the bed they used to share, he was good to go. As long as his body hurt more than his soul, he could cope waking up alone in the room she designed.
    Besides, everyone deserved to make a few bad decisions in their life, didn’t they?
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    “ W hat about that one , right there, with the legs?” Oliver pointed across the bar at a waifish brunette who kept hitting James with that look he had learned meant she was more than a little open to him coming over for a visit.
    “Nah. Too skinny. I want something to really grab hold of.” James flashed back to a very blurred memory of having Ellie Charles’s breasts in his hand.
    “What about her friend? That blonde isn’t bad.” Ethan waited for James to respond and finally put his drink down. “What’s with you, man? A chick is just a place to put your dick. Why are you suddenly so picky?”
    James took a long drink of his beer and inwardly cringed at how sore his arms and back were already. His knuckles throbbed from where he had pummeled the body bag today. “Just been a long day.”
    “Nah, nah, nah.” Ethan waved his hands and shook his head, a look of disgust igniting a flare of anger in James’s belly. “You’re not gonna go get all mopey again. I can’t handle another round of so sad James.”
    “Your brother getting on you again? About the wedding?” Oliver took a drink.
    James just nodded.
    “Fuck him,” said Ethan. “He’s being a dumb shit and you know it.”
    James did know it. Love sucked. “Yeah, he is. But you don’t get to talk about my brother that way.” He leveled a finger at Ethan and then emptied his glass before signaling to the bartender that he was ready for another beer. He had a ways to go before the alcohol numbed him enough to matter.
    “You’re family still on you about being worried about you and shit?” Oliver asked.
    James nodded while the bartender put another bottle down in front of him and then took a huge swig of beer. “All the time. I think they’re afraid I’m gonna self-destruct.”
    “Well, here’s what you do.” Ethan sat back and folded his arms over his chest. “You get one of these girls…” He gestured around the bar. “Any of them, and you just pretend to settle down with her. Take her to your brother’s wedding. Make her feel good. String her along until your family stops